Men's Hockey Gears Up for Battle at the Bright With BU

The Bright-Landry Center will be a sweet sight for the road-weary No. 5/4 Harvard men’s hockey team. The last time the Crimson suited up in the comfort of its own home was on Nov. 7, exactly two months prior to the team’s Thursday night tilt with No. 11/11 Boston University.

“It’s nice to get back and play some games at home, especially against a cross-town rival,” junior forward Tyler Moy said.

But the Crimson would like for nothing more than to play at home just as it did on the road.

After dropping the first game of its latest road trip to now-No. 2/1 Quinnipiac, Harvard (8-1-3, 4-1-3 ECAC) did not lose any of the remaining six games of its roadstand, outscoring opponents by a margin of 26-11. Its last game was perhaps its most impressive performance—a 4-3 overtime win in a hostile Minnesota arena to take the 25th annual Mariucci Classic.

“Those are the games we want to be playing in at the end of the season—those high-pressured games,” Moy said. “All of these games are going to be very close…. It was a good test playing in their barn.”

While co-captain Jimmy Vesey has been the one to receive Hobey Baker hype on the Crimson, it has been fellow co-captain Kyle Criscuolo that has stolen the show as of late. The winger has scored four times in the team’s last four games, including twice against the Gophers—once with 34 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, and again in overtime to clinch the tourney. The last goal put him at 10 on the year—one above Vesey.

While the leadership duo is the clear 1-2 punch in terms of goal-scoring, the rest of the team has provided a balanced attack. Nine other skaters have beat the goalie on multiple occasions this year, including freshman Ryan Donato, who missed the weekend’s Mariucci Classic while playing for Team USA at the World Junior Championships yet has four goals on the year.

“I think all season we’ve done a good job of trying to cover a lot of aspects [of our game],” Moy said. “We’re just trying to stay sharp.”

On the other hand, the Terriers (9-6-3, 4-3-2 Hockey East) want nothing more than to turn over a new leaf in 2016 for the second half of its season. While the team has played well in the first half of the season, BU has been plagued with off-the-ice issues that have overshadowed its actual accomplishments.

Junior forward Nick Roberto will not suit up for the Terriers this year after playing in every game last year. The third-year winger was suspended for the remainder of the season for alleged gambling, which is not allowed per NCAA rules. Then, sophomore forward A.J. Greer took his talents to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after regularly suiting up on the third line for coach Dan O’Quinn. Injuries to top players have exacerbated the impact of his departure, including one to senior Ahti Oksanen, who has found twine a team-leading nine times this season.

The Terriers hope that the additions of freshmen Oskar Andren and Erik Udahl—who just in the past few weeks came to the team via the NAHL and BCHL, respectively—can add a spark to the offense. But even without these two newcomers, BU has made its presence known—the Terriers handed Quinnipiac its only loss of the year in Hamden, Conn., in its last game of 2015.

“We know it’s a very good team and they had a lot of success last year obviously,” Moy said. “It’s a good matchup to test ourselves against another really good team.”

If last year was any litmus test for this year’s game, skaters from both squads might have to prepare for more than 60 minutes of play. Both of the matchups from last season went to overtime, including a double-OT thriller in which BU forward Danny O’Regan, the Terriers’ leading assist-man this season, eliminated the Crimson in the first round of the Beanpot.

“I think our guys will be excited,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ‘91 said. “I don’t think we have to give a lot of speeches to get up for playing against BU. Our guys enjoy that.”

—Staff writer Kurt Bullard can be reached at kurt.bullard@thecrimson.com.