Harvard and the rest of the Ivy League finally will play games that count starting Friday.
Coach Ted Donato, understandably, says his team is “dying to get going.’’
The Crimson played exhibition games recently against Dartmouth (4-0 win) and Brown (7-2 win), but it’s been 20 months since their last real tilt, a 4-1 win against Union on Feb. 29, 2020.
This looks like it will be a good year for Harvard, which is ranked 14th and 15th in the national polls this week. The Crimson are jumping in with both feet over the next six weeks, playing 12 games before exams start and they have to take a break.
“It’s not a great scenario, especially with a young team. We’re just not going to have the time to fix things. I like our team. I think we’ll be fine. It’s just a matter of getting going here a little bit,’’ said Donato.
Harvard’s is a star-studded group, with seven NHL draft picks, including Calgary first-rounder Matthew Coronato, the 13th overall pick in 2021. In total, Harvard has 12 NHL picks on the roster.
The Crimson will be a good skating team. The forwards may be on the small side, but the defense has plenty of size. Look for the power play, which went five for five against Brown, to be lethal.
“We can get around the ice and make plays. We’re definitely going to be able to score some goals. We’re just inexperienced,’’ Donato said.
Washington draft pick Mitchell Gibson likely will handle a lot of the workload in goal.
On defense, Anaheim draft pick Henry Thrun will lead the way with help from newcomers Jack Bar (Dallas), Ian Moore (Anaheim), Kyle Aucoin (Detroit), John Fusco (Toronto) and Christian Jimenez as well as holdovers Marshall Rifai, Ryan Siedem and Jace Foskey.
“Coronato is pretty impressive. He’s on pucks all the time. He’s a little bit of a volume shooter, but he covers a lot of ice. It’s a great asset to have a guy that plays both ends of the rink,’’ said Donato.
Harvard’s top six forwards – Coronato, Sean Farrell (Montreal), John Farinacci (Arizona), Nick Abruzzese (Toronto), Casey Dornbach and Alex Laferriere (Los Angeles) – will be a handful for any opponent.
“We feel like those six forwards, whatever way we end up mixing them up, are all pretty dangerous. That gives us an opportunity to be dangerous offensively and hopefully figure out some of the rest of our game as we move forward,’’ Donato said.
Farinacci, who scored five goals in seven games for the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the World Junior Championship last season, was a standout against Brown with two goals.
“He’s very subtle. He makes a lot of small, little plays, smart plays. He’s always around the puck and around the front of the net. He’s a good faceoff guy, can play in all situations.
“I give him a lot of credit last year in the world juniors. He kind of morphed into what the team needed, which was a guy that could kill penalties, take faceoffs. It’s more impressive that he did it while he also scored five goals without any power play time. I think that was a good experience for him. He’s just a smart player,’’ said Donato, who was an assistant coach on the U.S. WJC team.
Farrell is another forward to watch.
“The one thing with him that’s a benefit is you could make a case that he played four years in the USHL. He played two years with the (NTDP) and then he did the extra year (in the USHL) because he was in Grade 11, late birthday or whatever, and then he played last year,’’ said Donato.
“The other thing with him is, being in the national program, he also two years ago got to play in 10-15 college games, so I think that is an advantage that most guys don’t have. His year last year (with the Chicago Steel) was pretty spectacular.’’
It sure was. He led the USHL in scoring with a 29-72-101 line in 53 games.
“We played it very conservative so we could get him healthy. He didn’t play in the Dartmouth scrimmage. We used him sparingly against Brown,’’ said Donato.
Quinnipiac and Clarkson were picked for first and second in the ECAC coaches poll, with Harvard third. The contrast in styles between older, heavier teams and the young, very skilled Crimson should make for good matchups.
“It will be an interesting league this year,’’ Donato said.
Big-boy win for Bobcats
Quinnipiac hit everything that moved in its impressive 5-2 victory over North Dakota on Friday.
The Fighting Hawks rebounded on Saturday with a thorough 3-1 win.
Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold would have liked two wins but he’ll take a split.
“In the grand scheme of things, we’re still a young program. Anytime we can beat a North Dakota, one of the big boys, as I like to call them, it’s rewarding, that’s for sure,’’ Pecknold said after Saturday’s game.
“They played really well (on Saturday). They came out and played hard and heavy and their goalie responded. We had plenty of chances. Probably the key to the game was we’ve got to score on that five on three and we didn’t. Credit to them. I like our team and we’re going to have a good year.’’
Spotlight on Sanderson
A two-hour ride to Connecticut is well worth it if you have the chance to watch North Dakota’s Jake Sanderson.
The Ottawa first-rounder reportedly did not have a good night in Friday night’s 5-2 loss, though he did score a goal.
On Saturday, when I was there, he played a strong game, keeping his own end clean and assisting on two goals in North Dakota’s win.
Afterward, his coach, Brad Berry pointed to Sanderson’s hockey IQ and skating as a couple of reasons why he is considered an elite prospect.
“The God-given ability he has, his skating ability. His forward skating and his backward skating, his edges, how strong he is. Just the overall hockey player,’’ said Berry.
“I haven’t seen too many defensemen come through D-1 college hockey that make an impact like him as a young guy. When you look at some of these kids he’s playing against, how hard and heavy they are, he plays like a veteran out there.’’
