Junior Leads Harvard to Season-Opening Win

Before the season even started, Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 expected big things from Kevin Du, his small but gritty junior center.

“I think Kevin has a whole other level he can show us,” Donato said. “I think he’s going to be a guy that puts up big numbers for us this year.”

“There were times last year,” the coach added, “when he was unstoppable with his speed and skill.’

Donato looked like a genius during Saturday’s season opener, a 6-2 win over traditional league powerhouse Dartmouth. Du led the way with two goals and two assists, weaving through the Big Green’s defensive corps like it was standing still.

At 16:39 in the first period, the center tied the game at 1-1 with a redirection in front of the net, zipping through the crease with perfect timing and leveling a game that Harvard could have let slip away.

The Big Green had scored just 59 seconds into the game, but Du and the Crimson managed a tie by the first intermission—something goaltender John Daigneau deemed “a big boost for us.”

And when Dartmouth took a 2-1 lead 32 seconds into the second frame, Du was there to respond again. He won a draw at 8:32, and forward Jon Pelle shipped the puck to Dylan Reese, who threaded in the tying goal. It was Du’s second point of the night, and again, the Crimson hung in.

But it was Du’s third point that really stole the shot: a furious outmuscling of his defender and then a down-on-one-knee shot that lofted past Dartmouth’s goaltender and put Harvard up 3-2 at 14:19 in the second.

That, said Big Green coach Bob Gaudet, “was a big-time goal.”

And behind the bench across the ice?

“You kind of shake your head and say, ‘Thank God he’s on my team,’” Donato smiled.

That tally was the game-winner, but Du wasn’t done. With just over five minutes left to play, he shared the wealth with Dan Murphy, who knocked home Harvard’s final goal of the 6-2 affair, and Dartmouth finally, mercifully, yanked netminder Sean Samuel.

In 54:44 on the Bright Center ice, Samuel was beaten six times. Du had a hand in four of the scores.

Two weeks earlier, with the season lurking far enough away to relax a little, Donato made a bold prediction for Du: “I think he’s capable of being a guy that other teams have to game-plan around.”

Turns out, coach knows best.

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