Harvard 2022-23: What's Up?

[Skate79]

Short on talent? Yes, but they don’t rely on a handful of players because no one, other than the goalie, is very reliable this year. If you mean inordinate ice time for the first and second lines, that’s just not the case; almost everyone is skating a lot. Coaching issue? More likely a recruiting issue, which all the Ivies share. Strong rosters will pop up periodically —- Cornell, Harvard, now Yale — but there’s a structural ‘weakness’ at play.


You will grant them one day of fun, no?

Of course. Playing at Fenway is a dream come true.

Where I respectfully disagree with you is playing time. Coach Stone's playbook has always been to play the stars at the expense of developing depth, and it has cost the team when going up against teams that do play their benches. If you want to build confidence up and down your roster, you need to bring them along and play them in situations where they can learn and grow. That doesn't happen enough with this program.

 

[Skate79]

Coach Stone has always been an enigma to me. They were a dominant program when they had some of the top players in the game, but usually didn't have enough of them to get over the top. Now there are seasons where they seem to go completely off the rails, and just when I'm ready to write them off, they respond with a championship season. It seems like she is great at coaching/developing stars, but not so much when it comes to role players.

Fans of the team are in a far better position, and likely far more qualified, than I am to judge.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the lack of depth and development of younger players at the expense of the 'stars' hamstrings Harvard especially down the stretch of the regular season. One look at this year's team tells you all you need to know about where the program is headed. Lack of discipline (taking incredibly stupid penalties), a non-existent power play, and no visible coaching of the D where lack of positioning and D zone awareness keeps cropping up game after game. Yeah, it's a coaching issue.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

A good 40 minutes yesterday, then a collapse, leading inevitably to a 5-on-3 goal. Yes, discipline is a yewg issue for this team. We sorely miss Sydney Daniels. Among other duties she was in charge of special teams, and the PP has cratered in her absence. She would have pulled her hair out seeing a D leave her point to join an already crowded scrum kicking at a frozen puck along the boards, a puck that subsequently found its way to a Princeton stick and was then gleefully carried over the abandoned blue line for a short-handed rush. Is this team young and was the D a freshman? Yes. But is this season also coming into its fourth month? Yes. So certainly coaching comes into play here, but I’m not sure why it’s cast into a star/supporting role player divide. How you can coach one and not the other, mutually dependent as they are? And what happens if you find that the stars don’t show up?

So Skate79, I think you're right about the mess but wrong about the reason for it (Stone's playbook), and ARM, I think you’re wrong to think that we might know more than you do about the situation. lol. We’ll have to stick with your “enigma."

Not so BTW, Princeton was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Hobey Baker rink this weekend. (January 5, 1923!) Lots and lots of history, so from that angle the Tigers' wins were nice to see. (I was last at Baker rink almost 100 years ago myself.) And let me maybe be the first to say that the freshman Issy Wunder is going to be Princeton’s next wunderkind, currently second to Fillier in total points. Anyone can score 5-on-3, but her second goal was a gem.

 

[Skate79]

A good 40 minutes yesterday, then a collapse, leading inevitably to a 5-on-3 goal. Yes, discipline is a yewg issue for this team. We sorely miss Sydney Daniels. Among other duties she was in charge of special teams, and the PP has cratered in her absence. She would have pulled her hair out seeing a D leave her point to join an already crowded scrum kicking at a frozen puck along the boards, a puck that subsequently found its way to a Princeton stick and was then gleefully carried over the abandoned blue line for a short-handed rush. Is this team young and was the D a freshman? Yes. But is this season also coming into its fourth month? Yes. So certainly coaching comes into play here, but I’m not sure why it’s cast into a star/supporting role player divide. How you can coach one and not the other, mutually dependent as they are? And what happens if you find that the stars don’t show up?

So Skate79, I think you're right about the mess but wrong about the reason for it (Stone's playbook), and ARM, I think you’re wrong to think that we might know more than you do about the situation. lol. We’ll have to stick with your “enigma."

Not so BTW, Princeton was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Hobey Baker rink this weekend. (January 5, 1923!) Lots and lots of history, so from that angle the Tigers' wins were nice to see. (I was last at Baker rink almost 100 years ago myself.) And let me maybe be the first to say that the freshman Issy Wunder is going to be Princeton’s next wunderkind, currently second to Fillier in total points. Anyone can score 5-on-3, but her second goal was a gem.

Thirdtime, it all comes back to coaching, whether it's the playbook or failure to coach up on fundamentals. I watched the third period of the Quinnipiac-Colgate game yesterday and the two teams displayed a system and structure that Harvard can't match. Yes, both teams have more talent. No one will argue that. But talent alone isn't the sole determining factor.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Thirdtime, it all comes back to coaching, whether it's the playbook or failure to coach up on fundamentals. I watched the third period of the Quinnipiac-Colgate game yesterday and the two teams displayed a system and structure that Harvard can't match. Yes, both teams have more talent. No one will argue that. But talent alone isn't the sole determining factor.

The Dartmouth win showed that Harvard could bring its season’s PPG total (3) even with its SHGs, while the Sacred Heart loss showed that Harvard could take the fourth-place team in NEWHA to OT.

On a roll!

 

[ARM]

... the Sacred Heart loss showed that Harvard could take the fourth-place team in NEWHA to OT.

Before this game, I was going to post that who thought there would come a day when Harvard would have half as many wins as Sacred Heart. The Crimson got kind of unlucky in this one in that they committed a penalty in the final minute of regulation and never got to play 3 on 3, which I'm guessing would still suit their roster better.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Before this game, I was going to post that who thought there would come a day when Harvard would have half as many wins as Sacred Heart. The Crimson got kind of unlucky in this one in that they committed a penalty in the final minute of regulation and never got to play 3 on 3, which I'm guessing would still suit their roster better.

I’d be more than happy to start a petition calling for “All 3-on-3, All the Time.” That, or initiating European soccer’s relegation model, with the WCHA serving as the Premier League.

 

[Skate79]

Before this game, I was going to post that who thought there would come a day when Harvard would have half as many wins as Sacred Heart. The Crimson got kind of unlucky in this one in that they committed a penalty in the final minute of regulation and never got to play 3 on 3, which I'm guessing would still suit their roster better.

Luck or lack thereof has nothing to do with it. Time and again this season the Crimson have taken stupid penalties at the wrong time and a paid dearly for it. Lack of discipline and focus as well as questionable coaching have contributed to this misfortune. And the roster is not as talented as you would believe. Far from it.

 

[ARM]

And the roster is not as talented as you would believe.

My belief is that if we combined the skater pools from Harvard and Sacred Heart and drafted them for a pickup game, I would expect that the first handful of picks would be slanted toward Harvard players. In particular, the Crimson typically have players who are more talented when it comes to skating and handling the puck, skills highly in demand for 3 on 3. Am I incorrect in that as well? If you're that down on your own roster, do you think Sacred Heart is better at the top of the line chart?

 

[reggiedunlap9]

Lots of rumors regarding Harvard women's hockey this week. Locker room is a mess again. Kids getting kicked off the team for bullying. Hearing Coach Stone could be stepping down at end of the season. Boston Globe reporter has been circling the wagons for months. It would be terrible to see Coach Stone go out like this after all that she has accomplished at our school

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

When I was a kid trolls were unclean things that lived under bridges. I didn’t know what it was they did, but their very name and their habitat made them menacing. I still don’t know who or what they are, but their habitat now is limitless, and they seem to delight in being troublesome. Fair enough. Who can resist, especially when it comes to women's sports? I am as far from the locker room and the coach’s office and the players' ken as one can possibly be, the consummate outsider, privy to nothing. But being a mere enthusiast gives me a keen sense of smell.

 

[Skate79]

My belief is that if we combined the skater pools from Harvard and Sacred Heart and drafted them for a pickup game, I would expect that the first handful of picks would be slanted toward Harvard players. In particular, the Crimson typically have players who are more talented when it comes to skating and handling the puck, skills highly in demand for 3 on 3. Am I incorrect in that as well? If you're that down on your own roster, do you think Sacred Heart is better at the top of the line chart?

ARM, I can't speak for Sacred Heart because up until Sunday, I didn't know much about them. If anything, really. If I were drafting a 3-on-3 and starting with Harvard, it would have to be Della Rovere, Bloomer, and Biotti. After that, it might be Paige Lester, Davidson-Adams and I'm not sure who the third player would be. Again, I can't comment on the Sacred Heart roster because I don't know them. Even if you were to pick the best 3 from each roster, I still think it would be difficult to win consistently against the likes of Colgate, Quinnipiac, Princeton, Yale, and Clarkson. Maybe not but that's just the feeling I have based on watching the Crimson this season.

 

[Skate79]

Lots of rumors regarding Harvard women's hockey this week. Locker room is a mess again. Kids getting kicked off the team for bullying. Hearing Coach Stone could be stepping down at end of the season. Boston Globe reporter has been circling the wagons for months. It would be terrible to see Coach Stone go out like this after all that she has accomplished at our school

You say a Boston Globe reporter has been circling the wagons? Who exactly? I haven't seen anything in the Globe. Or do you have some inside information that the rest of us are not privy to? Please enlighten us.

 

[vicb]

Union 3 Harvard 1 OUCH!!!!!

 

[Skate79]

Union 3 Harvard 1 OUCH!!!!!

Yeah, a big OUCH. But I can't say I'm surprised. This has been the story all year. Zero consistency, lack of skill and structure, and an inability to play a 60-minute game. They show up here and there but, in the end, find a way to lose. They are what their record says they are.

I see them winning only one more game the rest of the way. At Brown. And there is a very real possibility of them missing the playoffs given their remaining schedule.

 

[reggiedunlap9]

No playoffs. this is a sinking ship. The Globe article is coming and it isn't going to be pretty. I have no details about the article all I have heard is that Coach Stone has sent a letter out to her boosters saying that an article is coming. Same writer who has been writing about problems in youth sports. I think its pretty sad actually. Crazy parents have been complaining about Coach Stone for years. I just hope Coach Stone has an opportunity to defend herself.

 

[Skate79]

No playoffs. this is a sinking ship. The Globe article is coming and it isn't going to be pretty. I have no details about the article all I have heard is that Coach Stone has sent a letter out to her boosters saying that an article is coming. Same writer who has been writing about problems in youth sports. I think its pretty sad actually. Crazy parents have been complaining about Coach Stone for years. I just hope Coach Stone has an opportunity to defend herself.

I’m guessing the writer is Bob Hohler. He’s been doing a number of pieces for the Globe on high school sports hazing, most notably the freshman Woburn football player. So far, he has been accurate and thorough in his reporting. And not all the parents are crazy. Some of them that I have spoken with over the years have had legit concerns.

 

[reggiedunlap9]

Yes it is Hohler. The letter refers to the fact that he has spoken to a number of former Harvard players. I just hope he also takes the time to speak to former players that had a great experience playing under Coach Stone as well. As we all know it is very easy to find unhappy players at just about every D1 program.

 

[Skate79]

Yes it is Hohler. The letter refers to the fact that he has spoken to a number of former Harvard players. I just hope he also takes the time to speak to former players that had a great experience playing under Coach Stone as well. As we all know it is very easy to find unhappy players at just about every D1 program.

True about finding unhappy players at different programs. Nothing is ever rainbows and show ponies. I would imagine that if Hohler spoke with AJ Mleczko and Jennifer Botterill, he would get a positive endorsement for Coach Stone. Just a guess.

 

[reggiedunlap9]

Article is out today on the Globe website. Worse than expected. I don't see how she Coach Stone keeps her job.