Men's Hockey Joins ECAC Elite

It’s fair to say that few people predicted the No. 4/4 Harvard men’s hockey team to start the season off how it did: scorching hot. Wins over traditional powers Boston College and Boston University highlighted a 9-1-2 start in the team’s first 12 games, five of which came against opponents that are currently ranked by U.S. College Hockey News.

Yet, some skeptics still hesitate to place the Crimson among the elite teams in the conference just yet.

Because of the program’s meteoric rise over such a small period, doubters have been waiting all season for the other shoe to drop. Common sentiment remained that the performance of the team was unsustainable—that its days atop the standings of the ECAC were numbered.

This reality is reflected in polling discrepancies that have existed throughout the campaign. In the Dec. 1 USCHO poll, Harvard received the second-most first place votes, yet it came in at ninth overall.

The showdown at Madison Square Garden against archrival Yale seemed to support these skeptics (at least those guilty of confirmation bias). With a chance to send an emphatic message to the rest of the league, the team balked. The Crimson was lucky to limp away with a 4-1 loss, having been outshot two-to-one that night.

To add injury to insult, junior defenseman Patrick McNally—the leader in points per game amongst defenseman in the ECAC—left the game in the second period and did not return. The rumblings that Harvard couldn’t play on the big stage with the big boys got louder.

A week later, a solid win against then-ECAC fourth place Clarkson was overshadowed by a four-goal loss against St. Lawrence at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

The Crimson tried to respond in front of the most hostile fish-throwing fans in the country at Lynah Rink in Ithaca. With the game seemingly headed to overtime, Cornell center Eric Freschi beat junior goaltender Steve Michalek nearside in the final seconds to hand Harvard a type of loss that could deflate the momentum it had held all year long. The Crimson had lost three of its last four.

But don’t wait for Harvard’s collapse with baited breath. It’s not coming anytime soon.

Even given all that has gone wrong for the Crimson as of late, the team still sits at No. 4/4 in the country. The team still has four of the top seven point-getters in conference play. The team still boasts its star netminder, Michalek, whose .932 save percentage ranks fourth in the conference.

Harvard has weathered losses to its front lines swimmingly. After averaging 1.67 points per game in his first nine contests, Kerfoot went down in late November in a win at UMass-Lowell. A few games later, sophomore forward Sean Malone sustained another injury against Rensselaer after returning to action only a few weeks prior.

But sophomore center Tyler Moy has stepped in without missing a beat. After notching only 10 points in 27 games his rookie season, the second-year star has already contributed 17 points in nine fewer games.

Even some of the losses during this stretch—which were easy to get caught up in nominally—were not as bad as they appeared at the surface. Despite the four-goal loss to St. Lawrence, the Crimson attack rained fire on the Saints’ goaltender, getting off 47 shots to St. Lawrence’s 22. That’s a loss that can be chalked up at least partially to tough luck.

And, after a devastating loss at Cornell and with doubts about the team’s future success running rampant, Harvard strolled into Starr Rink and dominated No. 15/13 Colgate. Despite finding the net for the first time midway through the second frame, the Crimson piled on six goals while Michalek and the defense turned away 30 shots.

Having been in danger of dropping four-of-five in super competitive ECAC, Harvard made a statement: losing was no longer acceptable.

For those who were thinking the Crimson would fade quietly into the dark New England winter, think again. Harvard is here to stay.

—Staff writer Kurt. T. Bullard can be reached at kurt.bullard@thecrimson.com.