Du Returns from Benching in Style

Kevin Du took in Friday night’s demoralizing, 3-1 loss to Colgate from the stands, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Watching [that] game,” admitted the centerman, “it was probably the toughest thing this year—sitting out.”

Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 had jumbled his lines for the Raiders game, and, in the process, he scratched the sophomore forward.

It was the first contest Du had missed in his Harvard career—last season, he led his freshman class with a 6-4-10 line and earned the team’s George Percy Award, given “to a member of the freshman class for enthusiasm, sportsmanship, team spirit and loyalty.”

Du and five of last year’s teammates now hold the school record for most games played in a season—36.

This year has been somewhat disheartening, though.

“Tuesday or Wednesday, I had a meeting with coach,” Du said. “So far this year, I haven’t played consistently every game, and at that point, offensively, I hadn’t been playing to my full capabilities.”

And so, in a suit and tie, Du watched the Colgate squad pick apart his team.

“I just got the renewed energy, renewed hunger for the game,” he said of sitting in the stands. “Especially coming off of last night’s loss, I wanted to help out as much as possible tonight.”

And he got his chance when Donato pieced together his old lines for Saturday night’s tussle with No. 9 Cornell, reuniting Du with classmates—and roommates—Steve Mandes and Ryan Maki.

All night long, the trio’s hustle was evident, earning “numerous opportunities,” according to Donato.

And after two periods of a tense, stomach-twisting goaltender’s duel, it appeared that whichever team first cashed in one of those opportunities would take the contest.

Enter Kevin Du.

Just under five minutes into the final frame of the scoreless draw, sophomores Steve Mandes and Ryan Maki battled for the puck along the boards.

Maki took a stab that was denied by Big Red goaltender David McKee, but Du pounced on the rebound and backhanded the game-winner past McKee.

The Crimson would take the game 1-0, and the centerman’s excitement as he screamed, pumped his fist along the boards and was enveloped by his teammates—well, it was as priceless as the victory itself.

“It was a huge goal for us,” Donato said, “so I’m happy for him. Kevin’s a big part of this team, and we need him to be successful, so I’m happy to see him play so well.”

Du remained modest, giving much of the credit to Mandes and Maki, whose initial persistence spawned the flurry of chances.

“It was basically just great work by Ryan Maki and Steve Mandes in the corner,” he explained, describing his own play as “in the right place at the right time, I guess.”

The three have skated together since last year, and with Mandes’ blistering speed, Maki’s physical presence and Du’s doggedness in the center, the trio has come up with the game-winning play more than once.

“We live together off the ice, we’re great friends, we take the same classes, so I think we’ve just developed that bond,” Du explained, “and when we get on the ice, we kind of click out there.”

For Du, though, that 1-0 margin over Cornell was particularly sweet.

“We have a ton of guys who deserve to be out there,” he said candidly, explaining his benching as “me just not playing well.”

“I basically deserved it,” he said. “It was a good wakeup call for me.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.