Harvard Hockey 2025-'26: Crimson Ascending

[Skate79]

Strange game tonight. We dominated in pretty much all facets of the game and yet had to sweat out the last minute to seal the deal. It never should have been a one-goal game. If we had converted a couple of chances in the first two periods, it would have been all she wrote. Yale has no offense to speak of. They play hard but can't generate sustained pressure. Harvard's D did a good job of breaking plays up at the blue line and except for a flurry here and there, it was a quiet night for Ben Charrette. Pretty goals by Richard Gallant and Justin Solovey in the third. Bring on the Bears!

 

[Skate79]

Nice way to end the first semester by doing a number on Brown. Although we outshot them by a wide margin, things got a little prickly in the third before Aiden Lane put things away with his second goal of the game. Harvard doesn't seem to enjoy the prosperity of a lead. That's just me being nitpicky.

The all frosh line is coming together nicely, creating chances on almost every shift. It will be fun to watch their development. And I like Matthew Biotti's game. Tough, physical defender who can move the puck. I'd like to see him get more minutes instead of Mason Lagenbrunner, who just doesn't seem to play with much intensity. And he is often out of position or caught up ice unnecessarily.

Oh well ... Merry Christmas, and looking forward to the first weekend in January at QPac.

 

[bothman]

3 of the four lines seem to be really clicking. Not surewhat to make of the Solovey, Miller, MacDonald line - but with the other 3 playing well, not sure if there is a lot of maneuverability.

7-3-1 at the break. Any Harvard fan would have taken that. Hope the team enjoys the break. Quinny, Princeton, Dartmouth, and BU are the first 4 games (all away except for BU)....so there won't be any margin to ease back into the season.

 

[GreenBear]

Will be cool to have a Dartmouth-Harvard game in the regular season when both teams may be legit contender. Hasn't happened in a while.

 

[cinnamoroll]

Amazing commitment flip for Harvard: 07 F Justin Graf, over a point per game in the USHL. Was committed to Merrimack.

You might be familiar with his older brother Collin Graf, who won the natty with Quinnipiac in 2023 and is currently in the NHL with the Sharks. Biggest difference between the two atm is that Justin apparently had his growth spurt earlier than Collin did

 

[Skate79]

I'm in Virginia visiting with classmates and friends when I checked in on this weekend's action. I wish I had stuck to partying. Not having seen either game, I have nothing but the stats to go on. What happened at Quinny is shocking to say the least. The Bobcats were missing several players due to the World Juniors and Spengler Cup, and yet they laid that beatdown on the Crimson? Did anyone see the game? What the hell happened?

And then to top it off, we lost last night after overcoming a 2-0 deficit by giving up a goal with two seconds left in regulation. Inexcusable.

It's time for the coaching staff and the players to figure out who they are and commit to being a tougher, more resilient team. I thought with the comeback in the second Michigan game, they had turned a corner. Apparently not.

 

[Skate79]

Amazing commitment flip for Harvard: 07 F Justin Graf, over a point per game in the USHL. Was committed to Merrimack.

You might be familiar with his older brother Collin Graf, who won the natty with Quinnipiac in 2023 and is currently in the NHL with the Sharks. Biggest difference between the two atm is that Justin apparently had his growth spurt earlier than Collin did

This is great news. Colin Graf was a terrific player for the Bobcats. Looking forward to seeing his brother in a Crimson uni.

 

[Crimson Faced]

I'm in Virginia visiting with classmates and friends when I checked in on this weekend's action. I wish I had stuck to partying. Not having seen either game, I have nothing but the stats to go on. What happened at Quinny is shocking to say the least. The Bobcats were missing several players due to the World Juniors and Spengler Cup, and yet they laid that beatdown on the Crimson? Did anyone see the game? What the hell happened?

And then to top it off, we lost last night after overcoming a 2-0 deficit by giving up a goal with two seconds left in regulation. Inexcusable.

It's time for the coaching staff and the players to figure out who they are and commit to being a tougher, more resilient team. I thought with the comeback in the second Michigan game, they had turned a corner. Apparently not.

Harvard played hard for the first ten minutes of the Quinnipiac game, but were dominated for the rest of the game.

They were outplayed in the first period last night, and badly in the second, but came out fighting in the third period. I don't know what to make of the winning goal. A Harvard defenseman, don't know who it was because I shut the game off after Princeton's goal, attempted to lob a clearing pass out of Harvard's zone and hit the scoreboard, bringing the face-off back into the Harvard zone. Harvard is terrible on face-offs, 53rd in the country according to the play-by-play announcer. Princeton won the face-off cleanly, sent the shot in on Charette. It reminded me of the BC goal that won the Beanpot back in the 90's, a game they replayed on NESN last week,

I feel sorry for Charette. There is no viable back-up and there is a lot of pressure on him to play night after night.

Nevertheless, the clearing play was either sloppy, as the Harvard defenseman was not being pressed, or simply bad luck.

 

[Puck Boy]

Harvard played hard for the first ten minutes of the Quinnipiac game, but were dominated for the rest of the game.

They were outplayed in the first period last night, and badly in the second, but came out fighting in the third period. I don't know what to make of the winning goal. A Harvard defenseman, don't know who it was because I shut the game off after Princeton's goal, attempted to lob a clearing pass out of Harvard's zone and hit the scoreboard, bringing the face-off back into the Harvard zone. Harvard is terrible on face-offs, 53rd in the country according to the play-by-play announcer. Princeton won the face-off cleanly, sent the shot in on Charette. It reminded me of the BC goal that won the Beanpot back in the 90's, a game they replayed on NESN last week,

I feel sorry for Charette. There is no viable back-up and there is a lot of pressure on him to play night after night.

Nevertheless, the clearing play was either sloppy, as the Harvard defenseman was not being pressed, or simply bad luck.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

The Bobcats were missing several players due to the World Juniors and Spengler Cup, and yet they laid that beatdown on the Crimson?

We had one guy (Pelosi) at the Spengler cup but he was in the lineup Friday and scored a goal.