The back-to-school festivities have died down, and Halloween decor has begun consuming the nation’s front yards. For college hockey fans, this time of year also signals that the puck has finally dropped on a new season — for most teams, anyway.

October’s arrival has ushered in the annual waiting game endured by the six Ivy League teams in Division-I hockey. Limited to just 29 regular-season contests, compared to 34 for most other squads, the ECAC’s Ancient Eight representatives watched longingly as NCAA play kicked off on Oct. 6.

For Harvard, workouts, skates, and film sessions will have to suffice until Oct. 27, when the team finally begins its five-month campaign with a visit to Ivy rival Dartmouth.

“People are anxious to get [the season] going,” co-captain Lewis Zerter-Gossage said. “When we have that extra month, it’s something that we can use to our advantage, but at the same time...other teams have five, six games under their belts when we come in. In a way, it could be a disadvantage, but we’re going to try and turn it into as much of an advantage as we can.”

While the delayed start comes with its slew of challenges, there are multiple silver linings. For example, the Crimson’s shorter season keeps players fresher late in the year, and the excitement when the campaign finally does begin can provide an early-season spark on the ice. Another positive is that while Harvard eagerly awaits the Big Green, there is ample time to preview the season ahead.

LESSONS LEARNED

A talented 2017-2018 squad finished a single game above .500 (15-14-4, 11-8-3 ECAC), bowing out to Clarkson in the semifinal round of the annual conference tournament in Lake Placid, N.Y.

In some respects, 2017-2018 was a tough year for the Crimson. A team billowing with talent learned the importance of closing out games and not playing down to inferior opponents. By Timothy R. O'Meara

Throughout the campaign, the Crimson sought stability but never attained it for long stretches. A rigorous early-season road schedule made it difficult for Harvard to find its groove. Uncertainty in net and the temporary absences of two of the squad’s marquee players, Ryan Donato (Olympic Games) and now-junior Adam Fox (IIHF World Junior Championship), were also instrumental in the lack of consistency.

In the aftermath of the up-and-down season, the Crimson’s takeaways were numerous. But most commonly, team members lamented the critical mistakes that plagued the group in some of its defining contests.

“What we had this year was way too many mistakes that were huge,” said now-co-captain Michael Floodstrand last April, reflecting on the 2017-2018 season. “There wasn’t a game that we played where we were completely out of it…. It was just a culmination of some bad decisions…[and] small mistakes that we couldn’t come back from.”

A last-second loss at Cornell and a season sweep at the hands of Yale support Floodstrand’s regretful sentiment. Even Harvard’s promising run in the ECAC tournament ended in a fittingly crushing fashion, as the team squandered a three-goal lead in the third period and ultimately lost in overtime.

The immediate aftermath of the last-second goal that propelled Cornell over Harvard in the teams' 2017 clash at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. By Courtesy of David Burbank

The takeaways from last season are difficult lessons to learn, but they are lessons nonetheless. So the Crimson heads into this season a bit wiser, despite being a great deal younger.

“Last year’s season didn’t end the way we wanted it to, and I think a lot of guys were disappointed in that, especially my class,” senior goaltender Michael Lackey said. “Since we’ve gotten here, we’ve had a pretty successful couple of seasons. We did learn that you can’t take it for granted. There are a lot of great teams. Especially in the ECAC, you could lose or win on any given night.”

THE SCHEDULE AHEAD

Unlike last year, in which Harvard slogged through a program-record nine-game away slate spanning November and December, the Crimson will benefit from a more player-friendly schedule this season. This is especially true early in the season.

The 2018 portion of the docket features only casual road trips, such as the Yale-Brown weekend and a mid-week matchup at nearby Bentley. The notoriously long drives to Cornell and the “North Country” schools, Clarkson and St. Lawrence, occur after the new year.

“Any time you have to go on the road, it takes a lot out of you, whether it’s on the ice or in classes, too,” Zerter-Gossage said. “So the fact that we don’t have that much of a jammed-up schedule early on is definitely going to be helpful.”

Over Harvard-Yale weekend last year, the Crimson tripped to Minnesota to face a formidable foe in a hostile barn. The result was a pair of losses and the first four-game skid for Harvard in over two seasons. By Courtesy of Jim Rosvold/USCHO

That is not to say, however, that Harvard’s schedule is devoid of intense matchups early on. The Bright-Landry Hockey Center will first host Quinnipiac, a team looking to make a statement after logging a sub-.500 record for the first time in its Division-I history last season. Princeton, last year’s ECAC playoff champion, will storm the Crimson’s barn the following evening.

One of Harvard’s most intriguing matchups in 2018 is, in fact, against a familiar foe. Over Thanksgiving break, the team will meet storied rival Cornell in Manhattan for the Frozen Apple, a clash under the historic roof of Madison Square Garden.

This game will count as an extra third meeting between the two teams and will not have ECAC implications. Nevertheless, it’s a circle-your-calendar event for all involved.

“[The Frozen Apple] is going to be great,” Zerter-Gossage said. “Any time you get to play in a NHL rink, whether it’s the Beanpot or at MSG, it’s a really special experience. A lot of people are going to have family there and different friends, so I think it’s going to hold a lot more value in that way, too.”

It won’t be long before the Crimson is once again staring down the ice at the Big Red. Just a week after the Frozen Apple, Cornell and travel partner Colgate will trip to Cambridge in early December. Harvard will look to avenge two series sweeps from last season — both teams’ lockdown defenses stifled the Crimson in 2017-2018.

After the four-week winter recess, the squad will ring in the new year with a pair of home games, including a matchup with cross-town rival Boston University. A long-standing tradition between the two squads, not to mention a double-overtime loss in the 2018 Beanpot semifinals, will motivate Harvard in that mid-week contest.

A mid-week clash in early January provides the Crimson with a chance to avenge last year's dramatic Beanpot semifinal loss against BU. By Timothy R. O'Meara

The matchup with the Terriers kicks off a stretch of formidable opponents, including road bouts with Princeton, Quinnipiac, Cornell, and Colgate throughout January. When the Crimson returns home, Clarkson and St. Lawrence will be waiting for them, and so will the student body, returning from a lengthy winter break.

The following Monday, the Beanpot will seize the attention of New England’s hockey fans, as it does each year. This season, Harvard will battle Boston College for a spot in the final a week later. The two teams skated in last year’s Beanpot consolation game, and neither squad wants to play in the subordinate game in an eerily quiet TD Garden this time around.

Three weekend back-to-backs, including two in upstate New York, conclude the regular-season schedule for the Crimson. As in every campaign, the group will then turn its attention to the conference tournament, with the goal of reaching Lake Placid for the fifth straight year.

“Our goals were made pretty consistent throughout my time here,” Floodstrand said. “Obviously, a National Championship is something that we’re talking about…. We want to win our league, we want to win the Ivy League, and we want to win the Beanpot.”

FRESH FACES TO FILL EMPTY SPACES

One of the central questions surrounding the Harvard program has been whether the group can continue replacing the talent it loses each year to graduation and professional hockey. Having iced the likes of Jimmy Vesey ’16, Kyle Criscuolo ’16, and Alexander Kerfoot ’17 in recent seasons, it is only natural for this concern to arise.

“You look around and you don’t see some of the familiar faces, and you wonder who’s going to fill those voids,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “It also brings with it an energy with a lot of new faces and young guys…. I think last year we [replaced players effectively]. Two years ago, probably even more so with all the guys we lost.”

Former program standouts such as Jimmy Vesey '16 (left) and Alexander Kerfoot '17 (right) are always difficult to replace. By Y. Kit Wu

Entering the 2018-2019 campaign, the Crimson is tasked with filling voids left not only by the class of 2018, but also by a pair of forwards who are not rejoining the team.

At the end of last season, the group’s most potent weapon up front, then-junior Ryan Donato, put his degree on pause to pursue a NHL career with the hometown Boston Bruins. Meanwhile, forward Ty Pelton-Byce, a would-be junior at Harvard this fall, failed to meet criteria for academic eligibility and will no longer don the crimson and white.

These departures, numbering nine in total, do not impact the roster evenly. The blue line looks to be the strength of this year’s iteration of the Crimson, whereas scoring depth is less certain.

“When you lose a guy like Ryan Donato, that’s obviously tough because you have to put the puck in the net a lot,” Floodstrand said. “But we’ve lost guys in the past before…. As far as coming back, I’m super confident in this group. I think that we have what it takes to win a National Championship and win the league, and definitely give everyone a lot of trouble.”

The team returns five of its six defensive mainstays from last season — seniors Adam Baughman and Jacob Olson, juniors John Marino and Fox, and sophomore Reilly Walsh — and should have reasonable depth at the position thanks to returning players and viable freshmen options.

Freshman Jack Rathbone, a 4th-round selection in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, is the front runner for the final spot in the top six and has skated alongside both Fox and Marino in pre-season practices.

Would-be junior Ty Pelton-Byce was a front runner for the first-line center position this season but is no longer with the team due to academic eligibility violations. By Timothy R. O'Meara

“I kind of have a sense of what they’re doing on certain plays,” said Lackey on the benefits of a playing behind a familiar, veteran blue line. “I know their tendencies, how they play certain situations, so I can get a better read off of what they’re doing.”

The forward ranks provide more opportunity for players to break into the lineup. With Donato’s early exit for the NHL and Pelton-Byce’s unforeseen ineligibility, the group promises to be especially young down the middle. During Donato’s Olympic absence last season, Pelton-Byce thrived as the first-line center, implying he would man the post full-time this year. Plans have changed, of course.

Sophomore Jack Badini will build upon a solid freshman campaign as he pivots the top line. Early indicators suggest that rookie Jack Drury will command the second-line center spot for much of the season, with primarily underclassmen contending for bottom-six center roles.

“Our team is relatively young, but we’ve got a lot of new offensive threats coming in from the freshman class,” said Lackey, challenging any doubters of the team’s scoring capabilities.

Hence, while co-captains Floodstrand and Zerter-Gossage and junior Nathan Krusko will provide experience up front, the forward corps will be relatively young overall. In addition to Badini and Drury, sophomore Henry Bowlby and freshmen Baker Shore and Casey Dornbach should be integral parts of the team’s attack this year.

Senior net-minder Michael Lackey earned himself some starts last season, competing under then-tri-captain Merrick Madsen. Now, with Madsen out of the picture, the starting spot is his to lose. By Timothy R. O'Meara

Between the pipes, Lackey will assume starting duties now that Merrick Madsen ’18 has walked the stage. The Washington, D.C., native, who will also sport Madsen’s former No. 31, played in ten games last year and finished with a 2.72 goals against average and a .899 save percentage.

With an ostensibly more stable starting role, Lackey will look to improve upon these numbers, which understate his effectiveness in the majority of his 2017-2018 appearances.

Only time will tell whether the Crimson has replaced — or even improved upon — important lost pieces. Despite the fact that program culture may not vary much from year to year, a unique squad with its own playing style will inevitably take the ice on Oct. 27.

SPEED KILLS

While most characterizations of the team are pure speculation until the games start, fans can expect this year’s version of Harvard hockey to play a faster style than the group that coach Donato iced last year. Young forwards will fill spots left by checking-line players, and what the back end lost in size with the departure of the towering Wiley Sherman ’18, it gained in speed and puck skills in the newcomer Rathbone.

“What we’re going to want to do is be a team that is extremely fast, extremely high-paced, loves to play off the rush, loves to have a quick transition game, and then [be] a four-line team that can keep coming and coming and coming,” Floodstrand said. “Speed, relentless work ethic, and depth are things that we definitely can have and are going to work towards.”

This year's crop of freshmen promises to contribute right away, both up front and on the back end, and add an element of depth to the Crimson's roster. By Amanda M. DiMartini

Over the summer, Harvard made a key change in its staff, welcoming in new Assistant Coach Jim Tortorella upon Associate Head Coach Paul Pearl’s departure for BU. In addition to a younger roster composition, the new voice behind the bench may be another cause for tweaks in the Crimson’s systems.

“Coach Tortorella is a very good coach. He’s a detailed guy, and you could tell that right away,” said Fox, just one week after first taking the ice with the 2018-2019 squad. “It’s good to have him around [to] understand the little parts you might not be paying attention to.”

Through the first few weeks of practice, coach Tortorella has reemphasized structure on special teams, among other strategic adjustments. The delayed start to the season will allow the team to hone its systems more closely, although there will be more to modify once the games start.

“As an older guy, it’s more of a responsibility in guiding the younger guys into it,” Zerter-Gossage said. “It’s kind of cool to be on the senior side of that spectrum, but I think guys are fitting into the system pretty well so far. Obviously, you can’t really say much until we’ve played a real game.”

BREAKING OUT OR BREAKING IN

Skaters who have been permanent staples on the starting roster have a chance to make significant strides this year. These year-to-year improvements would not only propel the individual players to new heights, but would also be instrumental to Harvard’s team-wide success.

Chief among the players on the cusp of a breakout year is Zerter-Gossage. The newly minted co-captain attended his third NHL Development Camp this summer and honed his game throughout the off-season. Teammates have taken notice that the Montréal, Qué., native is leading by example.

“LZG has been looking pretty good,” Fox lauded. “I know he’s been putting a lot of work in in his free time. I think he did pretty well at his [Pittsburgh] Penguins Development Camp.”

The 2018-2019 captains, Michael Floodstrand (left) and Lewis Zerter-Gossage (right), are optimistic for their Crimson squad. Their leadership will be crucial in incorporating the freshman class — a key to the team's success this year. By Amanda M. DiMartini

With Ryan Donato, Zerter-Gossage’s linemate for the better part of two seasons, no longer in the picture for the Crimson, the senior will have an opportunity to flourish as the go-to option on his line and on the powerplay, where he has historically used his size and his hands to score gritty goals down low.

Based on pre-season practice lines, Zerter-Gossage will almost assuredly flank a young centerman and wing, meaning that his mentorship will be as crucial to a potential break-out season as his production.

Of course, Harvard will need more than a stellar solo performance from its co-captain to achieve its National Championship aspirations. The team will also look to Krusko for significant top-six scoring this year.

The undersized but crafty winger has skated with the first and second lines in pre-season practice. As a freshman, Krusko took home Beanpot MVP honors and showed his knack for potting pucks. The following year, the Alpharetta, Ga., product was more so a playmaker whom coach Donato used in multiple roles.

“As far as personal development goes, I think every guy on the team would say that they want to find a way to contribute more,” Krusko said. “I really want to take a more offensive position this year and find ways to contribute more offensively. The coaching staff has given me some insights, and they’re thinking the same way.”

Substantial roster turnover is a pre-season trope that most players, coaches, and fans are tired of hearing. For some members of the Harvard squad, however, it offers the break they have long been waiting for.

The bulk of the team’s production will likely come from returning weapons, such as Zerter-Gossage, Krusko, Badini, and Bowlby up front and Fox and Walsh on the blue line. That said, opening-night roster spots are still up for grabs for skaters who have less in-game experience. Junior Colton Kerfoot, sophomore Jack Donato, and freshman RJ Murphy have battled throughout the pre-season for the final few starting slots. Junior Frédéric Grégoire and sophomore Benjamin Solin, both of whom showed promising flashes last season, are also favorites to crack the opening-night lineup based on early practice lines.

“I think the games give us a much better indicator from an evaluation standpoint, but I do think the guys recognize there’s a pretty big void of, let’s say, important minutes that went out the door last year,” coach Donato said. “There’s guys with designs on filling those shoes, which is great. That’s what feeds good teams, is an internal competition.”

The play of left-side defensemen like senior Jacob Olson (pictured) will be crucial to Harvard's success this season. By Timothy R. O'Meara

Defensively, Harvard’s right side of Fox, Marino, and Walsh is arguably one of the strongest in college hockey. That is not to say, though, that the left side lacks talent. A major component of the Crimson’s success this season will be the play of Baughman, Olson, and Rathbone alongside this stellar right side.

Ultimately, each new season is riddled with as many opportunities as it is unknowns. If the Harvard program is determined to return to the success of 2017’s Frozen Four run, it will have to close out winnable contests and rely on players to thrive in their new roles.

“You can see the hunger from all the older guys and the young guys as well,” Drury said. “[There’s been] a lot of reference to the spot the team was in two years ago, and getting back to that spot — the Frozen Four — and then capitalizing on that. But it’s a long way to go, and we have to follow our process here in the beginning of the season and take care of business.”

—Staff writer Spencer R. Morris can be reached at spencer.morris@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @SMorrisTHC.