Beanpot Redemption, RPI Await

The Beanpot was, according to captain Noah Welch, “the championship I want to win.”

In lieu of Harvard’s heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Northeastern in the tournament’s semifinals, one might expect the No. 10 Crimson men’s hockey team to be hurt and downtrodden. But as assistant coach Bobby Jay explained, that’s far from the case.

“We’re excited and upbeat—we’re ready to go,” Jay said. “The exciting thing is [that] you get to go right back out there and feel like you can redeem yourself.”

For Harvard, redemption begins tonight on the road against a physical Rensselaer team—one that, despite its position near the bottom of the ECAC standings, should not be overlooked.

“[Tonight’s] going to be a tough game,” junior defenseman Peter Hafner said. “They’ve got a talented team and they played us pretty tough the first time around. We’re definitely not looking past them.”

In the teams’ first meeting in early December, Harvard squeaked by the Engineers 2-1 at Bright Hockey Center. But, according to senior forward Rob Flynn, the Crimson’s task will be harder on the road.

“They play well at home,” Flynn said. “Their barn [is] a tough place to play. They’ve got a good crowd, they’ll come out fired up and play physical. We’re looking to match that intensity.”

As well as matching RPI physically, the Crimson will be looking to put more goals in the net, a key to its post-exam surge that has been missing recently. After netting 20 combined scores in wins over Princeton, Yale, and Union, Harvard has managed just three in its last two outings—a 2-1 win over Dartmouth and a 2-1 loss to Northeastern.

As Flynn explained, though, the relative scoring drought has been more a result of stronger competition than of struggles on offense.

“Coming out of break, we were shooting the puck from everywhere, getting to the net, getting rebounds, making passes—everything was just clicking [offensively],” Flynn said. “The last couple games we’ve just run into some teams with a little better defense, and they’ve been able to slow us down a little bit.”

The slowdown has been most evident in Harvard’s efforts getting to the net and producing shots on goal. The Crimson managed just 29 shots in its contest against Dartmouth and was hesitant to attack the net against Northeastern’s strong defensive efforts.

Flynn lamented that “we pulled up [around the net] and didn’t have guys driving and creating space for other people” against the Huskies.

Tonight’s game promises to be a perfect opportunity for Harvard’s offensive attack to get back on track. Rensselaer has surrendered 91 goals already this year—a far cry from the 53 let in by Dartmouth.

Furthermore, RPI likely will not play a three-man defensive line like the one Northeastern used to stifle the Crimson. Jay said Harvard has an opportunity to find its attack again against the Engineers.

“We have some guys who can really fire the puck. I don’t even know if they realize yet how good their shots are,” Jay said. “We probably gave up a few quality chances [where] we could have shot pucks the [last few games].”

With recent scoring woes in mind, the Crimson plans to shuffle its lines tonight—formations that have remained relatively constant over the past few weeks. Jay, however, insisted that the line changes are natural and nothing out of the ordinary.

“We’re trying to give them an opportunity to see a different chemistry,” Jay said. “It’s not a disappointment with anyone, but [rather] a chance to find something that we didn’t see that was right in front of us. So some guys might just hit it off together and that’s really what we’re trying to do, give it a little freshness.”

Perhaps freshness is what Harvard needs coming into the final stretch of the season. The Crimson has much to look forward to in these next few weeks: a rematch with No. 1 Boston College on Monday, an opportunity to contend for a second consecutive ECAC championship, and a potential NCAA tournament bid.

But Jay and his Crimson know that they cannot afford to look too far into the future, just like they cannot afford to linger in the past. Seniors like Welch and Flynn would rather live in the present, and that means putting the loss to Northeastern behind them.

“We had [Tuesday] to feel sorry for ourselves,” Jay said. “Today’s a new day.”

For the Crimson, the day begins at 7:00 p.m. in Troy, N. Y.