Harvard Crimson 2026-'27: The Rassey Era Begins

UMass will be a real test. Eskit has been the story for them, .944 through five starts. Home and home Thursday and Friday, so we'll see if the faceoff gains hold up.

Looking for one or two extra tickets to the UMass vs Harvard game on Thursday. Feel free to DM me if you have a ticket/two or know someone who does. Thanks!

Terrific start for the Crimson tonight against a tough opponent. Harvard started slowly in this game, a bit tentative especially in the offensive zone. Then came the break they needed - UMass coughed up the puck and let Heikki Ruohonen walk in alone with a beauty of a wrist shot. From there on, the Crimson settled down and started to match UMass and even surpass them with their speed and aggressiveness. Other observations:

1. Harvard's compete level was off the charts. I haven't seen it this strong since 2017. All four lines attacked UMass and forced their forwards to play D. The second period alone was an avalanche of shots and pressure, and if not for the UMass goalie, it would have been 4-1 instead of 2-1.

2. Way too many icings for Harvard. Need to cut those down or it will come back to bite them.

3. D structure was better than in previous seasons. Rassey mixed up the D pairings based on UMass forward combinations. He also tinkered with the line combos at certain points. Matthew Biotti got a lot of minutes which was a surprise but he looked a whole lot more confident than last season.

4. Fans are going to love Alex Huang. Kid has wheels and can create off the rush. He also has great on ice awareness.

5. Really liked the Will Hughes line. Solovey played like his hair was on fire and we finally got to see Will McDonough play meaningful minutes.

6. What's with the net moorings? Net seemed to come off every two to three minutes.

I truly believe UMass wasn't ready for Harvard's aggressiveness and compete level. They kept expecting Harvard to back off as they would have under Teddy. This coaching staff has different ideas and it's going to make for a really interesting season. By February this team could be a real threat to win the ECAC tournament and move on to the NCAAs.

I agree with your comments. For the last few years, I entered the season with no expectations, but I found myself feeling upbeat after seeing Harvard's shot count rise, while realizing how aggressively they were playing. "Houston--we have an offense!" One other thing I noticed was that there seemed to be no signs of fatigue in the 3rd period; the team was ready to go the full 60 minutes. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but there were no foolish penalties. After the game, Morden was interviewed and he was rather direct about how different it felt this year for the players -- "fresh juice" or some such thing. It was impossible not to think that these young men are very happy that there has been a coaching change. I feel like the vibe is truly different, and I hope that fans come through and support the team.

LastRowRegular said:

I agree with your comments. For the last few years, I entered the season with no expectations, but I found myself feeling upbeat after seeing Harvard's shot count rise, while realizing how aggressively they were playing. "Houston--we have an offense!" One other thing I noticed was that there seemed to be no signs of fatigue in the 3rd period; the team was ready to go the full 60 minutes. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but there were no foolish penalties. After the game, Morden was interviewed and he was rather direct about how different it felt this year for the players -- "fresh juice" or some such thing. It was impossible not to think that these young men are very happy that there has been a coaching change. I feel like the vibe is truly different, and I hope that fans come through and support the team.

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Other than the back to back penalties in the second period, they played smart and disciplined hockey. So yes, it was refreshing. I'm not surprised by Morden's comments. Rassey is more in tune with today's athlete. I'm guessing his staff is on the same page with him. And Rassey comes from a winning program so he can establish that culture here with the expectations for each player.

Not entirely unexpected that Harvard would lose on the second of a back to back against the same team. Still they hung in there until the third period. The penalties hurt especially Musa's PP goal that won the game. The UMass announcers were surprised when they looked at the stat sheet and saw Harvard outshooting UMass. They obviously missed Thursday's game. The Crimson will learn from this and come back stronger next weekend against Brown and Yale.

Winning faceoffs are still a problem. Hopefully this will be corrected over the course of the season.

Heikki Ruohonen looks like he has added some muscle. He is definitely bigger and it translates to a better compete level along the boards.