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Harvard 2024-25: Once More Unto The Breach
- Thread starter thirdtime's . . .
- Start date
thirdtime's . . .
Active member
There’s nothing at all surprising about these numbers for a program that was in disarray two years ago. With no portal, no grad students and no NIL-ready recruits it’s hard to imagine any team bouncing back in two seasons. The numbers one really needs to chew on this year are these: 8 OT games (thirty percent of the schedule), 500 blocked shots, four games with 40+ saves. This was a tenacious roster, undaunted by the odds.
Harvard's eight seniors are not taking many points away with them, but this group survived the nasty end of the Stone era, the uncertainty of a new regime last year, and the burden of playing this year with one hand (the offensive one) tied behind their back. What we’ll miss is their physical and emotional stamina.
So my hat's off to this 2-24-2 team!
Harvard's eight seniors are not taking many points away with them, but this group survived the nasty end of the Stone era, the uncertainty of a new regime last year, and the burden of playing this year with one hand (the offensive one) tied behind their back. What we’ll miss is their physical and emotional stamina.
So my hat's off to this 2-24-2 team!
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Thirdtime, you are officially the most positive person I have ever encountered. I mean that as a compliment.
After facing the Lady Bobcats for the second year in a row in the play-in round, Harvard is now 0-11, GF versus GA. I will give the team some credit for holding Quinnipiac to a couple of goals and at least making it competitive. I'm trying to follow thirdtime's lead in finding a silver lining.
To answer your question, Ted, this is the worst season in the history of the program. The last two seasons percentage-wise have been the two worst in the program's history. You have to go back to the second year of the program, 1979-1980, when the team finished 4-13. Or the 2016-2017 season when they finished 5-19-5. Back in '79, when the program started, some of the girls had to learn the sport on the fly. Like what was icing, offsides, etc... yet they still won 6 games that year playing at Walter Brown Arena because the Bright Center was under construction. Six out of the last eight seasons have produced losing records. This has been the worst stretch since the program started.
FiveHoleFrenzy
Well-known member
Just to add some context, both are smaller but extremely quick defensemen. Pachl (pronounced Pock-el) is 5'3: And I believe Finnegan is 5'6". Both are sound positionally in their own zone but bring good offensive skill to the table as well. Pachl had 20 goals from the blueline and Finnegan scored 12 this year. They should be plug and play players for the Crimson.
I coached against and have watched Pachl many times, she sees the ice extremely well. Her high school coach let her control the flow for her team, as he should have. He gave her a lot of responsibility which will help her at the next level. Finnegan started in our hockey association and then transferred twice a during high school. She is a very sound skater who can mix it up a bit. Playing at Minnetonka her last 3 years prepared her for the physical play of college hockey. These two young ladies should be solid fixtures on the blue line for Harvard for the next four years.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
Yep, typically the MN HS D are plug and play types, at least the ones that go to WI who are in this same level as these young ladies. Jungels for WI is not big but is mega sound defensively and plenty quick. I'd take 5 of her any day (and 1 Harvey).
thirdtime's . . .
Active member
Thanks, WCHA watchdogs, for the commits news, but next time please issue a spoiler alert. We Crimson fans usually really look forward to late summer to get this kind of info.
Skate79, you can’t just cherry pick your disasters.This year Quinnipiac played your apparently embarrassing team three times and scored five goals.
I see Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Q as providing the Q.E.D. for my take on Harvard this year. On the road, down early, they shut down and skated with the #10 Bobcats for forty minutes, with three PKs and near identical numbers for SOG and face-offs. That’s maximum performance under pressure. Silver lining? I think of it more as the program’s dark cloud beginning to dissipate.
Skate79, you can’t just cherry pick your disasters.This year Quinnipiac played your apparently embarrassing team three times and scored five goals.
I see Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Q as providing the Q.E.D. for my take on Harvard this year. On the road, down early, they shut down and skated with the #10 Bobcats for forty minutes, with three PKs and near identical numbers for SOG and face-offs. That’s maximum performance under pressure. Silver lining? I think of it more as the program’s dark cloud beginning to dissipate.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
I thought you could use some good news.
We're desperate for good news so thanks for the update.
Thirdtime, the numbers don't lie. Sure it's admirable that they went toe to toe for forty minutes. I'm not discounting that fact. I'm just saying that if you look at the overall body of work, there is not a whole lot to be optimistic about presently. Hopefully, that will change in the next few years.
thirdtime's . . .
Active member
Thx. Bad for us, good for you. I guess she wants a crack at the FF during her career. In any case, we all know Ithaca is gorges. (Haven't seen the bumper sticker in a long time.)
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This is the difficulty in trying to dig out of last-place finishes in a conference. Trying to recruit a class that can change the culture is extremely challenging. Colgate managed to do it in 2015 and has not looked back since. For Harvard, Dartmouth, RPI, and a few others, it is an uphill climb that may take decades. I hope that isn't the case for Harvard, but I'm not holding my breath.
This is why I felt Harvard made a mistake in hiring Bellamy. She is young and inexperienced, having never been a head coach at any level. She needed to take a head job in D-2 or D-3 to understand how to build and run a program. Asking her to take over after the Stone fallout was a big ask.
Agree with your uphill climb premise - and that whatever coach took over for Stone was going to have a unique challenge. Will be interesting to see if Dartmouth, who went with a proven head coach for their hire, AND didn't have anything like the Stone controversy, can make up any ground more quickly than Harvard (if either of them can make up ground at all). I might assume that for players who have the chops both on the ice and in the classroom to be at these kinds of schools, the Harvard brand might make it easier to land the game-changing prospects.
(I don't mean any disrespect to RPI here; I'm just not as familiar with the school or its WIH program).
DHS threatens to revoke Harvard’s eligibility to host international students unless it turns over disciplinary records | CNN
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is threatening to strip Harvard University of its ability to enroll international students if it doesn’t turn over records on international students’ “illegal and violent activities,” the agency said Wednesday.
amp.cnn.com
Harvard is being threatened with losing the ability to enroll international students. Probs not the best for the hockey team.
thirdtime's . . .
Active member
I was just thinking of how insidiously distracting our world of sports has become as the fiddle we’re all happy to play while Rome is burning.
Do you not think this is coming to a rink near you?
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