Notebook: M. Hockey Claims ECAC's Top Seed on Senior Night

Make it 10. With a decisive 6-3 victory over visiting St. Lawrence on Saturday night, the No. 3 Harvard men’s hockey team ends its regular season schedule on a 10-game win streak and a 12-game unbeaten stretch.

The Crimson (22-5-2, 16-4-2 ECAC) will enter the ECAC tournament as the top seed, and the team has earned a first-round bye for its efforts during the regular season. After rattling off three unanswered goals in the final frame Saturday, the No. 20 Saints (16-11-7, 12-6-4) made things a bit more interesting, but it was a story of too little too late for the St. Lawrence team, which will also enjoy a bye week as the four-seed.

“[St. Lawrence] plays with a lot of pride,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “They’ve got a lot of guys who are warriors…. There’s a lot of competition built up with that team.”

MORE HARVARD HARDWARE

Co-captains Devin Tringale and Alexander Kerfoot each lay their hands on the stand-in trophy for the Cleary Cup. By Thomas W. Franck

The Harvard icemen, already owners of a 2017 Beanpot championship and an Ivy League title, may need a new shelf on their trophy case after this regular season. With a win to conclude its schedule—and a bit of help from Ivy League rival Cornell—the Crimson nabbed a share of its first Cleary Cup, given to the regular-season ECAC champion. Harvard last topped the ECAC in 1994, but the trophy had not been named after Bill Cleary ’56 until 2001.

“For this group, it’s been a long, long time—much like the Beanpot—since we were able to get the regular season title,” Donato noted, “and finish the regular season without a loss at home. I think that was important to this group.”

While the Crimson was mounting a blowout at the Saints’ expense on Saturday night, a game just as important was taking place in Ithaca, New York. Harvard found itself in an unusual position: cheering for the Big Red as Cornell faced off against Union in a match with ECAC implications.

The Crimson entered its season finale trailing the Dutchmen by one conference point. While it took care of business on its own end Saturday night, Harvard needed a Union loss or tie to move into first.

Cornell, often an obstacle in the Crimson’s quest for conference dominance, did Harvard a favor by tying Union, 3-3, and clinching half of the Cleary Cup for its Cambridge-dwelling adversaries. While the Crimson will share the Cleary with the Dutchmen, it owns the ECAC tournament’s top seed on account of a tiebreaker over Union: Harvard finished 5-1-0 against teams in the ECAC’s top four, whereas the Dutchmen were 1-3-2.

The Crimson has now won the ECAC regular season a conference-best 14 times, with 10 of these successful campaigns occurring in a span of 13 seasons in the ’80s and early ’90s. This season marks Donato’s first Cleary Cup as a coach, but he won two as a skater for Harvard in 1988 and 1989.

“I think [the Cleary Cup] is significant…in relation to the accomplishment of our seniors,” Donato said. “This group of seniors now will be able to say they won a Beanpot, they won a regular season title, they won a tournament title…they’ve been in the NCAA tournament—it’ll be three times.”

SENIOR SEND-OFF

Harvard's eight seniors line up with the Beanpot, the Ivy League championship trophy, and a stand-in for the Cleary Cup (from left to right). By Thomas W. Franck

Saturday night’s win was followed by a ceremony honoring the eight seniors on the 2016-2017 team.

The Class of 2017 has helped Harvard to 72 victories so far in its four-year stint in the crimson and white, the most for a senior class since 2008’s seniors amassed 73. In the past two decades, the class of 2006 is responsible for the most program victories with 82.

“Tonight, with everybody’s friends and family in the house, in front of a great crowd, I thought our seniors once again had us emotionally charged and focused for the start of the game,” Donato said.

While Saturday night may have been dedicated to the Crimson seniors, it was a rookie who started the scoring for Harvard. This year’s Beanpot MVP, Nathan Krusko, made no mistake of burying senior Phil Zielonka’s feed from behind the net and registered his ninth tally of the season.

Co-captain Alexander Kerfoot made his presence felt shortly after the Krusko strike, notching a goal of his own just three minutes later, becoming the only member of his class to bulge the twine on Senior Night.

This season, the Crimson’s soon-to-be graduates outpaced all Division I senior classes in combined point scoring with 157. Luke Esposito, Sean Malone, Tyler Moy, and Kerfoot account for 84 percent of this total. Along with co-captain Devin Tringale and Clay Anderson, the only blue-liner from the Class of 2017 to start a game this season, Harvard’s seniors have registered 14 game-winning goals this year.

Kerfoot, who leads the Crimson with 37 points, appeared on the score sheet in 22 of Harvard’s 29 regular season games this year. A 12-game point streak from Nov. 4 to Jan. 7 accented his consistent scoring season. The New Jersey Devils property owns Harvard’s longest individual scoring stretch this season, having surpassed fellow senior Moy’s eight-gamer that started the season.

Perhaps Harvard’s most productive trio this season, the all-senior second line of Esposito, Malone, and Moy has combined for 95 points to date, good for a team-best among all of Donato’s pairings.

“The senior line with Esposito, Moy, and Malone was a threat all night,” Donato remarked. “Our depth at scoring is what makes us dangerous.”

Among Harvard skaters, seniors own either the outright or shared lead in points, power-play tallies, game-winning strikes, and plus/minus.

Despite their on-ice accomplishments, the seniors provide the Crimson with more than just production. While Kerfoot and Tringale wear the C, all of the four-year veterans contribute invaluable leadership to the locker room.

This season alone, the seniors have led the team to its first Beanpot victory in 24 years, an Ivy League title, and a share of the Cleary Cup.

“It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work from a lot of guys. Our leadership group is unbelievable,” Tringale said. “There’s a lot of experience on this team; there’s a lot of character…. We don’t have this kind of success unless we have that leadership that we’ve been able to build.”

The Crimson Class of 2017 is set to make its third straight NCAA tournament appearance—Harvard’s 24th all-time. When this year’s eight seniors arrived in Cambridge, the team hadn’t seen a tournament berth since 2006.

—Staff writer Spencer R. Morris can be reached at spencer.morris@thecrimson.com.