M. Hockey Starts Homestand Against Ivy Rivals

Yale is, and always has been, Harvard’s archrival, but Princeton has become more than happy to share the role of spoiler—at least in the hockey rink.

The Tigers, 3-0-1 at Bright Hockey Center over the last four years, have taken the last two meetings, each by 2-1 scores, against favored Crimson teams.

“We’ve been upset at home the past couple of times,” senior forward Tim Pettit said. “We just have to take a different approach this time.”

This weekend, Harvard (1-1-1, 1-1-1 ECAC) faces off against Princeton and Yale. This season, the squads have a combined 1-7 record and have been outscored by a collective 41-13.

However, as the memories of last season’s disappointments linger, the Crimson is cautious not to underestimate its rivals.

“Yale will play more of an up-tempo game,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. Princeton, however, is “a team that will slow the game down.”

Like Brown, which beat Harvard, 2-0, in the season opener, the Tigers clog the defensive zone and force teams to dump the puck instead of skating in.

“They play hound-dog defense,” Mazzoleni said. “You never get a two-on-one against them, a three-on-two, a four-on-three, because they always have four guys back.”

Though Princeton (0-4-0, 0-2-0) has allowed almost four goals per game, the Crimson is not overconfident; to fall behind early to such a defense, even if it has struggled recently, could be disastrous.

Mazzoleni, whose team is averaging more than three goals per game, stresses that his team must be uncompromising if it wants to succeed this weekend.

“I want my team to play aggressively,” Mazzoleni said. “When you want your team to play aggressively, you’re going to take some penalties.”

“If you have kids playing passively, then they’re not pressuring the puck. I want them going. Go, go, go, go, go with pressure.”

Mazzoleni plans to keep Pettit, senior Dennis Packard, and junior Tom Cavanagh skating together, after that line appeared on the scoresheet most often last weekend.

Pettit has a history against Princeton in more ways than one. Last year, he tallied five assists in a 6-3 over the Tigers at Hobey Baker Rink.

Those five dishes, the first such collection by a Crimson skater since 1986, would have stood on their own. The performance was sweetened, though, by the fact that Pettit comes from a long line of Princeton alumni.

When asked the number of Tiger relatives, Pettit is sheepish. “Somewhere in the high teens,” he said with a smile.

His lineage does not seem to have affected his Crimson loyalty, as that performance proved. Still, Pettit admitted this weekend’s games will be especially interesting for him.

“It’s a little more fun for me,” he said. “I’m not sure whom my family is cheering for.”

More offensive exploits from Pettit would be nothing, however, without sturdy defense, and the Crimson has not one, but two strong goalies from which to choose.

Sophomore John Daigneau notched a 6-4 win against Vermont last week, but both Daigneau and Mazzoleni felt he looked nervous at the start of the game.

Daigneau is scheduled to start tonight, and said he hopes to “challenge the shooters” more against Princeton.

“I wasn’t aggressive in the first two periods [against Vermont],” Daigneau said. “I [made] an effort to stay farther out [of the crease] in the third.”

The decision was rewarded, as he shut out the Vermont offense in the last frame.

“When he is aggressive, you see him outside the blue [of the crease], and he stands up,” Mazzoleni said. “[Against Vermont] he was down on everything, and he was back in the net.

“He’s got to be selective about when he goes down, and he’s got to be outside the blue to really make himself big.”

Junior Dov Grumet-Morris, who has been Harvard’s No. 1 goaltender for much of the last two seasons, will start against Yale on Saturday.

Mazzoleni explained the two-goalie rotation simply. He said he is “waiting for one of them to take the upper hand. If two of them could [share the upper hand], it would be great.”

Grumet-Morris, meanwhile, is focusing on his own play, citing his goals of “understanding opposing rushes, concepts, and trends.”

Though the Bulldogs (1-3-0, 1-1-0) are without ECAC Co-Player of the Year Chris Higgins, who left Yale after two seasons to sign with the Montreal Canadiens, they still have a potent offense. Forwards Vin Hellemeyer and Ryan Steeves, both of whom scored over 30 points last season, return to an offense that tied Harvard for the ECAC’s best a year ago.

But neither the Harvard nor Yale offense is yet up to last year’s standards. Though the Crimson showed improvement last weekend against Vermont and Dartmouth, it’s clear there is still progress to be made.

“We’re basically trying to hit our stride,” Grumet-Morris said.