Co-Captains Skate First AHL Games

It’s the worst feeling for a senior athlete: skating off the ice after a tough, season-ending loss, knowing that your career is over and that you ended it without a victory.

For at least two members of the Harvard men’s hockey team, however, there was a silver lining to that darkest of clouds.

On the bus back to Cambridge, co-captains David MacDonald and Mike Taylor began discussing their hockey futures with coach Ted Donato ’91. Both had had outstanding seasons—Taylor was the leading scorer for the Crimson with 12 goals and 23 assists, while MacDonald anchored a blue-line unit that led the ECAC in scoring defense with just 1.86 goals allowed per conference game. The loss to Princeton in the ECAC championship game was painful, but they couldn’t let it impede their long-term goal: to play professional hockey.

“We would rather at this point be getting ready to go to Denver,” MacDonald says, referring to the site of this year’s Frozen Four. “But you have to move on and go forward.”

The defenseman knew where he was headed. Since the San Jose Sharks drafted him in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, MacDonald expected to report to the Worcester Sharks of the AHL, San Jose’s minor-league affiliate, for an amateur tryout—a short-term contract that allows for a mutual evaluation by the player and the team.

Taylor, on the other hand, had not been drafted and knew that he would have to do some searching. It only took a few days of phone calls by Donato, however, to find the Minnesotan forward a spot with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate.

Naturally, adjusting to a new team takes some time, especially at a higher level. But the move is even more staggering for college players who earn amateur tryouts, as they join teams that are already reaching the end of their seasons.

“It is kind of a tough situation to jump onto a team where they’ve had a whole season behind them when they’ve played together,” Taylor explains. “You’re the rookie again—cleaning up the bus after the road trip, picking up garbage and stuff.”

“It’s a different style than the game we play,” MacDonald adds. “In college, we play 30-something games, so physically, the body can handle skating 100 miles an hour, big hits—that kind of stuff. The pro game is more controlled: it’s less skating physically, and the speed is in the movement of the puck.”

Despite the adjustment process, Taylor and MacDonald have already started proving that they belong in professional hockey. The forward earned first-star honors in just his second game with the Wolf Pack, logging two goals and an assist against Springfield. Meanwhile, the blueliner impressed the Sharks enough that the club announced on Tuesday that he had signed with the organization for a long-term contract (the terms of which, as per team policy, were not disclosed).

“We have enjoyed watching David’s progress at Harvard since we drafted him,” said San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President Doug Wilson in a press release. “We feel he is ready to take the next step in his professional career and we would like to thank Head Coach Ted Donato and his staff for their substantial role in David’s development.”

The real challenge for both players has been traveling back and forth to practices and games while having to get back to campus for classes and assignments. Though neither Worcester nor Hartford is too far from Cambridge, the miles—and the homework—start racking up pretty quickly.

MacDonald and Taylor emphasize that their first priority is completing their academic requirements and graduating in June. With that comes the realization that though they have been awarded once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, they may have to take a step back after a few games out on the AHL ice.

“We can handle it for a couple of weeks, but more than that would be tough,” MacDonald says. “The other guys that are playing out there just have one thing to focus on, and that’s playing hockey. But it’s definitely worth it to get the extra experience.”

What the two players’ emerging success at the professional level demonstrates is that the Bright Hockey Center is as good a proving ground as any for a budding hockey player. Unlike other sports for which the Ivy League marker might provide an extra obstacle for an athlete to overcome, the caliber of Harvard’s hockey program permits a smooth transition to professional leagues.

A testament to this is the professional prospects of Jon Pelle and Alex Meintel, who according to MacDonald are exploring playing in Europe.

“You’re definitely not missing anything by coming here,” Taylor asserts. “You have great coaches, and there are players from our team that have played at the international level, everywhere.”

“It’s definitely a program that you come and develop as a player as well as outside of hockey,” MacDonald adds. “So if anything, you’re sacrificing a lot of the experience by going somewhere else.”

The Crimson’s season may have ended on March 22. But for many of Harvard senior skaters, the journey is just beginning.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.