New Era Dawns for M. Hockey

After the frustration of five straight losing seasons, the Harvard men's hockey team begins its new season with a promise not present in years.

A new era has begun for the 102-year old Crimson as it welcomes its new head coach, Mark Mazzoleni, just its fourth coach in the past fifty years. With its new leader comes the hope of an eventual return to the glory it had when his predecessor, Ronn Tomassoni, ascended the helm.

While it takes time for any team to adjust to a new head coach, the Crimson should show considerable improvement over last year when it went 14-16-2 (8-12-2 ECAC) and lost in the first round of the ECAC playoffs to RPI

"Since day one there is a whole new attitude on the team," junior winger Chris Bala said. "From the start we had a better atmosphere."

He takes over a squad that for the first time in a few seasons may be accurately termed a veteran team. With 14 players either a junior or senior, it has some battle-hardened men who must be dying for a little taste of success.

As a group they have been to the Lake Placid round of the ECAC playoffs just once, in 1998 and lost in the semifinals.

Harvard returns almost all of its critical players from last season. It graduated only three players of consequence last year, forwards Craig Adams '99 , the captain, and Rob Millar '99 and defenseman Ben Storey '99. The Crimson should have enough punch to replace Adams and Millar, the team's second and third leading scorers.

However, it may miss Storey's offensive production. A smooth skater, he was the Crimson's lone rushing defenseman, and there is no apparent replacement. He caught mononucleosis after the second game of the year and Harvard starting the season 0-8-1 in conference, its worst start ever.

"Storey was just a steady guy on the blueline and was great offensively," junior goaltender Oliver Jonas said. "But I think [senior defensemen] Matt Scorsune is going to scoop that role up."

The Crimson will also miss Adams' on-and-off ice leadership. This year the honor and burden of the captain's "C" goes to forward Trevor Allman.

While Allman has not always been the most vocal leader in the locker room, he has never shied from admonishing his mates for lack of effort. Not a flashy offensive talent, Allman leads by example as a gritty, third-line checking center who plays excellent defense and picks up the occasional goal by being the hardest worker on the ice.

For that, he has earned the respect of his squad.

"Trevor has done a great job," Scorsune said. "He's our link between the coaches and us and that is very important right now."

As with any new coach, Mazzoleni, along with his staff of assistants Ron Rolston (brother of New Jersey Devils forward Brian Rolston) and Nate Lehman, brings a different coaching philosophy.

The Mazzoleni system is more well- defined and intricate than his predecessor. Tomassoni stressed a hodge-podge of basic fundamentals like crashing the net, while trusting certain players' creativity.

This year, with its plethora of offensive talent combined with more stay-at-home backliners, Mazzoleni has installed a system that takes advantage of his squad's strengths.

The Crimson will play a constant puck pressure game that places a premium on turnovers. It hopes to catch teams in transition with the defensemen getting the puck to forwards as quickly as possible.

"We want to quickly counter the puck before our opponent has a chance to establish itself in transition," Mazzoleni said. "You have a three- second time span to show the puck down their throat before they can establish themselves."

The new coaching staff has also gotten creative in organizing the Crimson on the ice. Mazzoleni has tried almost every possible line configuration in practice and experimented with personnel moves like shifting Bala to the off-wing.

"I've tried to put the past in the past," Mazzoleni said. "It's been a wide open opportunity. We've tried to be as objective and fair in our initial analysis as we can."

The first test for the new regime will come this Saturday at Brown. The Bears should provide light competition and Harvard gets a relatively easy first tryout of its new style.

Forwards

The forwards need to be the true strength of the Crimson this year. At first glance, this seems unusual for a Harvard team that averaged just 2.94 goals per game a year ago. But injuries hampered output, especially to Bala , who spent the second half of the year with a cast over his shooting wrist. Moreover, layers starting reaching their potential during the second half of the year.

The heart and soul of the offense is the lethal combination of Steve Moore (18 g, 13 a1) and Bala (5, 10). Together they form one of the most potent scoring tandems in the conference with Moore as playmaker and Bala as the sniper. Barring further injury, each of them ought to hit at least 40 points this year.

Both players are NHL prospects with Moore taking the central spotlight right now. Moore sees the ice exceptionally well and nobody on the team hits harder along the boards. The Athletic Department is already starting to tout him as a future Hobey Baker candidate.

"Yeah, Steve and Chris are two of the guys we're looking at to really score for us," Jonas said. "But we have a lot of other guys too."

Moore and Bala should have plenty of help from players who formed the "7-8-9 line" last year. Senior winger Brett Chodorow (9, 10), who has a blistering wrist shot, junior center Harry Schwefel (5, 13), officially named last year's most improved player, and senior winger Scott Turco (5, 12) ought to continue their progression this season.

Allman (6, 10), of course, will contribute his usual numbers crashing the net.

"I think we are going to need a total team effort on offense," Bala said. "Every team has guys that you look to produce but everyone needs to have success."

Among last year's rookie class, none impressed more than sophomore center Jeff Stonehouse (6, 5). Stonehouse, at times who played on the top line, is a very good face-off man and contributor on the power play.

Sophomore Kyle Clark (0, 2) will be one player watched closely for improvement. The Washington Capitals took a chance this year in the 6th round on his prodigious size (6'6, 215-pounds), but he needed to improve his skating and positioning. He has great potential to wreak havoc along the boards and screen goalies.

"I don't know who's done what in the past," Mazzoleni said. "I've always been a coach that likes to play all four lines and have everyone contribute."

Both forward recruits should have no problem fitting in on the team. Brett Nowak and Dominic Moore each have older brothers on the team. Moore has two--Steve and senior defenseman Mark.

If fraternal introduction doesn't get them acceptance, then their talent should.

Nowak is another NHL prospect who's scouting report rated him, "the best player in the prep schools this year." Though Mazzoleni likes to bring freshmen in slowly, Nowak's talent could earn him major offensive responsibility by the end of the year.

Moore is the best skater among his brothers and has real creativity with the puck.

Other players who will contribute on occasion include the hard-working, tough sophomore winger Derek Nowak (1, 2), Brett's older brother, senior wingers Jamin Kerner (0, 0) Matt MacLeod (0, 1), and sophomore winger Jared Cantanucci (0, 1). Of the group, only Nowak played consistently last year, but Kerner with his blazing speed should also get a chance to perform.

Defense

The central weakness of this team is its blueline. Only three of its returning players--seniors Scorsune (8-9-17) and Moore (1-2-3) along with sophomore Peter Capouch (3-3-6), saw significant minutes last year and will be called upon to perform yeoman's duty this season.

The unit suffered a huge blow in the offseason when junior Graham Morrell (1-2-3) had season-ending shoulder surgery. Morrell was the toughest defender on the team and was supposed to be the backbone of the defense.

With Morrell out, the Crimson returned only six players in the back with freshman Aaron Kim, who was recruited as a forward, being forced to play defense where he starred his senior year at Deerfield.

"I have to be honest, I am concerned about the defense," Mazzoleni said. "I've never gone into a season with just six guys held over from the previous year."

Given the shortage of experienced manpower on the Crimson, the most important man on the squad may be Scorsune, clearly the team's best defender. Not only does he provide a checking presence but he possesses a blistering slapshot that netted three power play goals last year.

Mazzoleni may be forced to shorten his rotation of defensemen during the year. Scorsune will see the bulk of the extra minutes and be on the ice for all key defensive situations.

"I guess I am a leader on the defense," Scorsune said. "I've been here for four years and it's my turn. I have to fill those shoes."

Moore is the other senior on defense and will have to continue his growth as a player. He is a solid checking presence, but will have to further reduce his penalty minutes. More than ever, Harvard cannot afford to have him in the box this year.

Capouch, who shared rookie of the year honors with Stonehouse, rounds out the Big Three for defense, but nobody will ever call him big. Standing 5'8 on his tip-toes, he compensates by being the smartest player on the ice and is always superbly positioned. "We may have to go with a rotation of four defensemen at times this year," Mazzoleni said.

Junior Tim Stay's season was cut short with a knee injury right before Christmas. Stay (0, 1) is an intelligent, talented player and is anxious to prove himself one of the defense's top players after last year. However, he will miss the Brown game after suffering another injury during the preseason, but should dress for the home opener.

Junior Liam McCarthy (0, 1) and sophomore Leif Ericson (0, 1) are both in about the same position. Each has saw limited ice time, needing to improve their all-around play. They certainly have size to be impact defensemen at 6'3 210-pounds and 6'3 215-pounds, respectively, but were considered projects by last year's coaching staff. Mazzoleni has to rely upon them to elevate their game a few levels.

"All the guys have stepped it up," Scorsune said. "Those that haven't played before have fit in like three-year veterans."

So far in the preseason, Kim has impressed the coaches and players. While he may be better suited at forward, his offensive ability may end up to be the rushing defenseman the team lacks.

Harvard rounds out its defense by promoting two players from the junior varsity ranks. Sophomores Mike Packard and Kevin McCafferty have both earned spots by playing simple, smart hockey during tryouts.

Goal

While it may not be fair to say Harvard has a goaltending controversy, last year's playoffs at RPI may have created one.

Senior and three-year starter J.R. Prestifilippo (24 games played, 10-13-1, 3.56 GAA, .882 sv%) suffered a broken collarbone before the series and Jonas (12 GP, 4-3-1, 3.22 GAA) did his best impression of Dominik Hasek, leading his team to victory in Game One and nearly stole the rubber match before the ECAC's best offense got rolling in the third period.

Mazzoleni has given Jonas a long, hard look for the top spot and officially did not commit to a No. 1 netminder.

"Right now, I just don't know who is going to be the starter," Prestifilippo said. "He just hasn't told us."

Prestifilippo has been the man for the Crimson since winning the ECAC Rookie of the Year award in 1997.

A tough, big-game goaltender, Prestifilippo has always risen to the occasion. He probably will ultimately get the job.

However, Jonas has made it very tough on the coaching staff. He too has produced when called upon in tough spots, winning a Beanpot game as a freshman and starring in the playoffs last year.

"It's been pretty competitive for the job especially after our scrimmage [a 2-1 win at Dartmouth]," Jonas said. "We both have played well, but of course I would like to start."

How the goaltending situation resolves itself will be very important as the man between the pipes could see plenty of shots this year.

Overall

There is plenty of potential on this team, but what it needs most is time. Everyone needs to adjust to their new system, new roles, new linemates, none of which will be completed overnight.

Mazzoleni has quite a few old habits to break and more importantly, he needs to teach this squad what it means to be a winner. Fortunately for Harvard, its schedule this year is backloaded with the most of grueling road trips after the Christmas break.

While Mazzoleni has pledged to restore the glory of the Harvard program, it probably won't come this year. Harvard most likely will not make the NCAA tournament. And with some expected stumbling early on, it won't contend for the ECAC championship as its preseason ranking of fifth in conference seems about right.

But if nothing else, the Crimson should be an exciting team that could become very dangerous late in the season and in the playoffs. Most importantly, the framework should be in place for greatness in the future.

"We are trying to establish a program here that our alumni base and the Cambridge and Boston community can be proud of," Mazzoleni said. "We are committed to returning this school to national prominence. I just hope people are patient."

A return to national prominence, that's the promise of the Mazzoleni era. And it's good to have genuine promise again.