Donato’s Line Adjustments Pay Off

It’s hard to say that a team that has won eight of its last 10 games is “in a rut,” but in many ways, the No. 9 Harvard men’s hockey team was.

In its last three contests—which, including overtimes, took 202:01 to play, or nearly three and a half regulation games—the Crimson mustered 80 shots on goal. That’s an average of less than 24 shots per regulation contest.

For several months, Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 had employed almost identical lines, with only the occasional switch or substitution for injury or underperformance.

On Friday night, Donato instituted major readjustments.

Against the Golden Knights, the coach benched senior forward Andrew Lederman, Harvard’s second-leading scorer entering the night.

“I think we have guys that work hard every day in practice, and I want there to be some accountability when guys aren’t playing their best,” Donato said. “Certainly, [Lederman]’s had a very good season for us, and we expect him to do good things for us coming down the stretch, but we have to play with some responsibility and some accountability, and hopefully, when he returns to the lineup, he’ll add a little spark for us.”

And so the onus lay squarely on the forward’s shoulders when he returned to the lineup the following evening against the Saints—not as a member of one of the higher lines on which he had previously skated, but on the Crimson’s gritty, hard-nosed, physical fourth line.

“I guess everyone’s prone to getting a little stale after a while,” Lederman said. “The game sitting out and watching and just taking mental notes for myself—I think that helped a lot.”

A monstrous open-ice hit midway through the first period announced the senior’s return, and an assist on Harvard’s second goal ensured Lederman a continued share of second place on the points list with 19.

“I didn’t play my normal style game tonight,” Lederman said of his shifts with classmate Rob Flynn and freshman Tyler Magura, “but it was something that I had to do. That’s the type of line that is, and it worked out.”

Meanwhile, assistant captain Tom Cavanagh has never missed a game in his Crimson career—that’s 130 straight—but his offensive numbers had suffered a drop-off since the New Year.

Though he has led Harvard in scoring for most of the season, Cavanagh racked up the points early and often, amassing 16 in the first 10 games.

In the last 16 games, the senior has notched just seven points.

So Friday night, the coach not only sat Lederman, but he moved Cavanagh, the perpetual centerman, to left wing.

Donato then switched Brendan Bernakevitch—once a pivot but a right winger for much of this season—back to the center of the ice in Cavanagh’s stead. Sophomore Ryan Maki was tapped to take Bernakevitch’s place on the right.

“We want to get Cavvy going,” Donato said after first game. “[He] and Bernakevitch—the two of them are very key ingredients for us and any future success we have. I talked to them, and if they feel more comfortable in those positions, then we’ll give it a shot. “

And lo and behold, just 2:59 into Saturday’s game against St. Lawrence, Cavanagh gave Harvard a 1-0 lead. The Crimson would never trail the Saints.

“I thought he was exceptional,” Donato said. “The first goal was a great tip, and I thought he did a lot of things on the ice, other than score, that really helped us.”

It was just Cavanagh’s second goal in those 16 games.

“It was nice,” the senior said. “More importantly, it was nice to start off the game with the lead, because when you do that at home, it makes it a lot easier.

The whole line was on the ice just minutes into the second period, when Maki knocked home Harvard’s third goal, and the trio ended a combined +5 on the night.

“Cav and Bernie played really well tonight,” Maki said. “Obviously, we got a lot of chances because of that. They were just dominant all over the ice, it seemed.”

Donato rearranged all four of his lines for the weekend’s pair of games, explaining initially that he hoped to “see...a little spark.”

The Crimson won both contests by a combined 10-2 count, taking 84 shots on goal over the weekend.

The 15-7-2 record Harvard sported before the weekend wasn’t too shabby, but maybe it was time for a change.

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