Men's Ice Hockey To Battle Brown and Yale at Home

When Yale skates onto the ice of the Bright-Landry Hockey Center, there is always an intense aura in the air. But this time around, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team may skate with even more of an edge.

Last March, the Bulldogs ended the Crimson’s 2013-2014 campaign with a two-game sweep in the first round of the ECAC tournament. At home this weekend, Harvard has a chance to strike back on Saturday after hosting Brown on Friday.

“There’s still definitely a sour taste in our mouth from last year,” junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo said. “Regardless, when you’re playing Yale and you’re playing for Harvard, there’s always going to be a chip on your shoulder. You’re definitely going to want to come out strong against those guys.”

Coming off a 6-3 win on Tuesday against No. 8 Boston College (4-5-0, 1-3-0 HEA), Harvard enters the weekend with confidence. With four conference points up for grabs, the early season match-ups could go a long way in determining the team’s postseason seed.

“These games are some of the biggest of the year, especially early on,” Criscuolo said. “You realize at the end of the season, every point really matters in the ECAC standings.”

The Crimson (2-0-2, 1-0-2 ECAC) aims to build on early momentum. Only two other Division I teams—No. 5 Michigan Tech (8-0, 6-0 WCHA) and No. 17 Robert Morris (7-0-1, 5-0-1 AH)—have yet to lose a game in 2014.

“We had a lot of confidence and momentum throughout preseason,” senior forward Tommy O’Regan said. “There’s been a really good atmosphere and a really good attitude over the last few months. That’s definitely contributed to the success we’ve been having.”

On Friday, Harvard will have to contend with its conference’s top-rated recruiting class. Brown (1-2-0, 0-2-0) brings in three drafted freshman forwards in Sam Lafferty, Max Willman, and Tyler Bird. The trio has already made an impact, combining for three points in the Bears’ 4-2 win over Army on Oct. 31.

Harvard will return to the rink on Saturday to face Yale (1-1-2, 0-1-1), which won the national title in 2013. While he wasn’t on the national championship team, sophomore forward John Hayden has been one of the Bulldogs’ most consistent offensive threats this season and was particularly effective against the Crimson in last year’s conference tournament.

“We’re just going to stick to our game plan,” O’Regan said. “There’s been a lot of energy and everyone’s been executing really well. We just keep playing the way we are and have the natural passing that we do against teams like Yale and Brown, [and] then we should be all right.”

Not only does the game mark another meeting of the two rival teams, this Saturday represents the first presentation of the Tim Taylor Cup, an award given to the most outstanding player of the Harvard-Yale men’s hockey game. The award is named for the late Tim Taylor, a Harvard hockey alumnus and longtime Yale coach who died from cancer in 2013.

In addition to the individual teams, rivalries, and traditions, another challenge facing the Crimson lies in having to play two conference games back-to-back.

“[We have to] focus on one game at a time,” Criscuolo said. “Hopefully we play well on Friday so we can take that into Saturday.”

Through four games, Harvard has featured a talented top line and a perfect penalty kill.

“There haven’t been many flaws,” O’Regan said. “All the freshmen and the older guys are continuing to get better and better. The strength’s been the consistency of everyone.”

Even with the team’s hot start, the Crimson continues to focus on improving as a unit.

“We need to keep working on being able to play well while we have a lead,” Criscuolo said. “That’s something we’re definitely going to work on heading into the weekend.”