Harvard 2025-26: Year Three

[thirdtime's . . .]

Big win over the Eli last night down in New Haven. Despite being badly outshot, they managed to put four on the board and come away with the W. The quality of shots matters at the end of the day.

It appears Bellamy is rotating the goalies to keep each one activated and fresh. Last night it was Davidson. I wonder how the goalies feel about it. I suppose it's better than being pinned to the end of the bench all season with no chance to start. The way Tuffy played last year, I thought she would get the most action. Maybe not?

A good weekend against ranked teams for Harvard’s climb back. Unfazed by Yale, Harvard then countered Brown’s playmaking with its own tenacity until what should have been a well-earned tie for both teams devolved into pond hockey, the 3x3 overtime that nobody signed up for. If you can’t honor the intensity that marks mutually fought games by staying with a tie, then just flip a coin. Even the winners know that the outcome either way is pretty arbitrary. . . . Never mind. This forum has seen its share of threads exhaust themselves with the OT debate.

Yes, Bellamy has decided that she has three starting goalies this year. It’s an unwieldy proposition at best, since any “rotation" risks languishing both individual skills and morale, especially if it’s without a predictable pattern. Like Skate79, my main concern here is Tuffy, who as a rookie last year more or less single-handedly held that 2-25-2 team together. For a team with little defense and less offense she had three games with 40+ saves. The last time she was seen on the ice this season was six games ago, when she made 41 saves at Clarkson. (She appears to be healthy, btw.) Both Davidson and the FY Whynot have had twice as many starts to date. So, I think if you have “three starters” you also need a good shrink on the bench, for coach and players alike.

(I did make the trip to Providence after all, since it had been some time since I’d been rinkside. I was reintroduced to the sheer electricity of the game in the intimate confines of Meehan. That’s probably what prompted some of the above.)

 

[Skate79]

A good weekend against ranked teams for Harvard’s climb back. Unfazed by Yale, Harvard then countered Brown’s playmaking with its own tenacity until what should have been a well-earned tie for both teams devolved into pond hockey, the 3x3 overtime that nobody signed up for. If you can’t honor the intensity that marks mutually fought games by staying with a tie, then just flip a coin. Even the winners know that the outcome either way is pretty arbitrary. . . . Never mind. This forum has seen its share of threads exhaust themselves with the OT debate.

Yes, Bellamy has decided that she has three starting goalies this year. It’s an unwieldy proposition at best, since any “rotation" risks languishing both individual skills and morale, especially if it’s without a predictable pattern. Like Skate79, my main concern here is Tuffy, who as a rookie last year more or less single-handedly held that 2-25-2 team together. For a team with little defense and less offense she had three games with 40+ saves. The last time she was seen on the ice this season was six games ago, when she made 41 saves at Clarkson. (She appears to be healthy, btw.) Both Davidson and the FY Whynot have had twice as many starts to date. So, I think if you have “three starters” you also need a good shrink on the bench, for coach and players alike.

(I did make the trip to Providence after all, since it had been some time since I’d been rinkside. I was reintroduced to the sheer electricity of the game in the intimate confines of Meehan. That’s probably what prompted some of the above.)

I'm surprised that one of the goalies didn't enter the transfer portal. Maybe Tuffy thought, based on her heroics last year, that she and Davidson would split the net with Whynot sitting and watching for her freshman season.

I caught the third period of the Brown game, and I had a different opinion. I thought Brown's structure and offensive flow were superior to the Crimson. Whereas the Crimson played dump and chase for most of the period, Brown passed the puck and involved all five players in setting up chances. Hockey is a team game - unfortunately, the Crimson's attack is predicated on one player taking the puck into the offensive zone and trying to create an opportunity rather than using teammates. Shades of the Katey Stone era.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

I had a different opinion.

???

Can’t what you report seeing from Brown be described as playmaking? Can’t most of Harvard's solo entries into the O zone coming from neutral zone turnovers followed by late arrivals creating scrums that resulted in three goals be described as tenacious? I can’t force you to get on board, but this program is turning the corner.

 

[hockeywhisperer]

A lot has changed since the early 2000s regarding the competitive landscape. From the outside it looks as though the staff fully recognizes what its working with, and that’s crucial given the existing headwinds.

 

[Skate79]

???

Can’t what you report seeing from Brown be described as playmaking? Can’t most of Harvard's solo entries into the O zone coming from neutral zone turnovers followed by late arrivals creating scrums that resulted in three goals be described as tenacious? I can’t force you to get on board, but this program is turning the corner.

What I saw was two contrasting styles. One involved true playmaking that started from the red line. The other had one player carrying the puck in the attack zone or a dump-and-chase. I'll admit I didn't see the whole game, but what I saw told me that Brown was well coached and confident in their approach, while the Crimson seemed to play with spurts of intensity followed by a slow, plodding, tentative style. I didn't see a system that the players either understood or felt confident to execute to counter what Brown did to them.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

what Brown did to them.

3-3

I'm feeling good about this team, you're not. It's as simple as that.

 

[Skate79]

Okay, so in line with the holidays, I'm giving props to the team for coming back from a crushing loss the night before to wipe the ice with the Black Bears yesterday. They showed resiliency and took it to Maine, with the younger players having a major role. Hopefully, they can keep it going.

Tuffy played really well yesterday, and I don't understand why she isn't getting a majority of the starts.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Okay, so in line with the holidays, I'm giving props to the team for coming back from a crushing loss the night before to wipe the ice with the Black Bears yesterday. They showed resiliency and took it to Maine, with the younger players having a major role. Hopefully, they can keep it going.

Welcome aboard.

Tuffy played really well yesterday, and I don't understand why she isn't getting a majority of the starts.

Booth guy said Bellamy said she has never seen a more athletic goalie.


Speaking of booth guys, you can't call them “homers” per se. You naturally expect them to be fans and to be better informed about the home team, but also to call the game evenly, and you have to have a really fine ear to detect more excitement in their voice when the home team scores. But what do you call a color guy who seems more knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the opposition, as was the case in the second Maine game: an "anti-homer,” an “awayer," a "visitorer" ? It would be nice to coin a new word for this admittedly very rare bird.

 

[Skate79]

Welcome aboard.



Booth guy said Bellamy said she has never seen a more athletic goalie.


Speaking of booth guys, you can't call them “homers” per se. You naturally expect them to be fans and to be better informed about the home team, but also to call the game evenly, and you have to have a really fine ear to detect more excitement in their voice when the home team scores. But what do you call a color guy who seems more knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the opposition, as was the case in the second Maine game: an "anti-homer,” an “awayer," a "visitorer" ? It would be nice to coin a new word for this admittedly very rare bird.

Maybe he grew up a Maine Black Bear fan? I missed today's game due to work commitments, but I saw the highlights. That first period must have been something, given how they swarmed Union. Their goalie didn't seem like she had much support at all.

I just checked the standings, and we're tied with Colgate, and only one win out of the top four in the ECAC. Geez, am I swallowing a large helping of crow at the moment.

 

[Skate79]

Tough way to end the first semester. Harvard had their chances but couldn't beat Keating. And no matter who coaches RPI, they play the same style against Harvard every year. Physical hockey, clogging up their D zone and waiting for breaks to cash in, which is exactly what happened.

On to Belfast.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

YEAR THREE HARVARD 3

5 UMD 2

(see SCORES)

 

[Skate79]

I'm in Virginia visiting classmates and friends, so I missed the tournament. When I saw the scoreboard, I had to look twice to make sure it was real. Then I checked the stats. 55 saves for Tuffy! Wow! This is their best win since the Beanpot a few years ago.

Curious as to why Bellamy chose to play Tuffy the next day against BU. That's a lot to ask of a goalie who made that many saves. Not the brightest move in the world, especially for a coach who was a goalie herself.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Curious as to why Bellamy chose to play Tuffy the next day against BU. That's a lot to ask of a goalie who made that many saves. Not the brightest move in the world, especially for a coach who was a goalie herself.

THIS . . . IN SPADES! CRAZY!

But first things first: Friday’s victory was fantastic, the most exciting HWH game I can remember.

Was Harvard something of an underdog? Here’s the SOG stat: UMD 57-27, so I guess so. Was Harvard bothered by that? Here’s the faceoffs stat: HAR 39-25, so I guess not.
They came to play, and in doing so scored the trifecta of satisfying goals: a shortie, a backhand flip high, and a right-wing-to-left-post rip to end the 3x3 Ice Capades. All the while Toofy had the highest number of saves ever in a Harvard win. (“Toofy” thanks to the accent of the excellent play-by-play guy Simon [Lambert? RIT Hobey Baker top-ten? Belfast Giants?] who unfortunately was saddled with a devoid-of-color sidekick who must have uttered “fer sher” 18,000 times.)

So I was all set to withdraw my reservations about Bellamy’s “rotation” (“We don’t have a number one goalie”) and give her credit for sitting in her office in late August, meticulously planning her starters around a certain date with UMD in January. Brilliant. Then, when I saw Tuffy back in goal to start the BU game I thought “OMG, what gives?! You’re not riding a hot goalie, you’re taxing an adrenaline-drained athlete who deserves a little respect!” Crazy. Do you suppose senior captain Davidson (her 1A) was not eager for a chance to play in this special tournament? Or why not FY favorite Whynot, to maybe share the duties as the game progressed? This was BU after all, no gimme after their Q victory, but BU nonetheless. Spread the wealth, share the adventure, have some fun (as they all claim they are after), but above all consider something called morale. Of course Tuffy didn’t appear to be less than herself (from the vantage point of a screen three thousand miles away). It was her teammates who showed exhaustion, and that exhaustion might have been lifted a bit with a new goalie to protect. If there were a QB-like passer rating for each Harvard skater on the ice they would all be in the forties. And for much of the third period Harvard seemed to be playing a 5-man PK, and not very well at that, since the winning goal came through a BU screen that had set up shop unmolested in front of Tuffy. During an actual PK in the third Harvard was a man up when the Terriers went for a two-skater change while in the attacking zone (!) and Harvard sat back. Exhaustion all around, fer sher, but my guess is that Harvard’s high was higher than BU’s after the Friday games, so they had farther to fall.

Back to Tuffy. A coach shouldn’t need a sixth sense to take into account the psyches of young athletes. Bellamy, however, was content to risk having her premier talent and the star of the UMD upset go home from the Belfast weekend with a loss. After a celebratory first half of the weekend I’m left with nothing but more questions about ex-goalie Bellamy.