Freshmen Fit Right in on Blueline

As anyone who has been following the recent exploits of the Harvard men’s hockey team knows, the No. 7 Crimson hasn’t exactly been treating this season as a rebuilding year.

And yet, that is easily what this year could have been after Harvard’s defensive unit—anchored so effectively in recent years by now-pros Noah Welch ’05 and Ryan Lannon ’05—was left with huge gaps to fill after last year’s graduation.

“[They contributed] not only on the ice but in the locker room—they’re very strong personalities,” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 says of the departed leaders. “It’s tough to replace guys like that.”

Enter Jack Christian and Brian McCafferty. As soon as they set foot in the Yard, they were handed freshman assignments more daunting than any Expos paper: take over the positions of two of the most skilled Crimson defensemen in recent memory, and make the transition smoothly and quickly enough to keep the team competitive down the stretch. This was not going to be a rebuilding year.

Facing a sink-or-swim baptism into the world of college hockey, Christian and McCafferty learned instantly.

“Everything’s a little faster [in college play], and you have to make decisions quicker,” McCafferty says. “But then as you play in the first couple of games, you just sort of settle down, and everything sort of comes to you.”

The trick, the two soon learned, lay in finding their own unique ways to contribute to the team, rather than merely emulating the ghosts of defensemen past.

“I never really thought about [replacing Lannon and Welch] too much,” Christian says.

And though McCafferty says that “coming in at the beginning of the year, we knew we’d have some gaps to fill,” he adds that “you never think of it as trying to replace [Welch and Lannon], because I don’t think you could replace either of those guys—but you just try to come in and do as much as you can.”

And so far, it’s worked. Mentions of Lannon and Welch have become increasingly scarce, and Donato says that his rookies are “playing as good hockey as you could possibly have hoped for.”

While the pair arrived with its fair share of raw talent, both players credit their coaches and teammates—including returning blueliners Peter Hafner, Tom Walsh, Dylan Reese, J.D. McCabe, and Dave MacDonald—with smoothing the learning curve.

“I think the team’s made it easy on us, especially the other defensive players,” Christian says. “They’ve really helped us in practice, pointing out what we should do better and what’s needed at the next level.”

And the team, in turn, has been quite impressed with the rookies’ growth.

“I can’t say enough about them,” junior Ryan Maki says. “Jack, obviously, he’s physical, his size—he’s a presence back there.

“[McCafferty] is on the power play and looks like Paul Coffey back there,” Maki added, referencing the offensively explosive Hall of Fame blueliner.

And after proving they can play with the big boys, Christian and McCafferty experienced as freshmen what many skaters never get: the thrill of an ECAC title, secured with last weekend’s 6-2 victory over Cornell.

“To win the title is sort of like a dream come true,” McCafferty says. “Hopefully we’re not spoiled, hopefully we’ll get it a few more times.”

And the title may not even be the season’s crowning achievement.

As Harvard prepares to battle Maine this Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, Donato knows that his defense is once again in good hands.

“I think that’s a great credit to them,” Donato says of his rookies’ development. “It bodes well for the future of Harvard hockey, but more importantly, I think it’s helping us a lot right now.”

—Staff writer Daniel J. Rubin-Wills can be reached at drubin@fas.harvard.edu.