Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

[Still Eeyore]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

Are you like me in that we last saw Harvard in person in 2015? Obviously, the Crimson have suffered through some lean times since then, so maybe a Minnesota fan's expectations for Harvard are too high. I know when I watch them I have to remind myself that they no longer send Kazmaier contenders over the boards with the same regularity that they once did.

I don't think so, though I suppose it's possible. That 2015 Frozen Four was the only time I saw a truly elite Harvard squad. I started following women's hockey in 2010-11, so I missed their real glory years only saw them in person during their 2010-11 series in Minnesota.

Against Wisconsin, I thought they were just dreadful. They played better against Minnesota, and maybe that was just a bad style matchup. Harvard played extremely conservatively, with little forechecking pressure and often four players spread across their own blue line to deny entry. If you don't try to pressure the defensemen, the Gophers will eventually pick you apart. So, maybe they felt good about playing well in a style that I consider raising a white flag. Still, they weren't as good at it as, say, Bemidji usually is. (Though, this year, Bemidji doesn't look like it's as good at it as Bemidji usually is.) This is one of the reasons why I respect the way John Harrington has Mankato playing: they're going to skate with you. That is the way you have the best chance of beating Minnesota, even if the likely outcome is that it increases the margin of your defeat.

 

[ARM]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

Against Wisconsin, I thought they were just dreadful. They played better against Minnesota, and maybe that was just a bad style matchup.

I've watched very strong UM teams, even great ones, look pretty mortal against Wisconsin. They're very adept at getting in the way of everything that you're trying to do. For an average or thereabouts team, being able to get possession of the puck in the offensive zone versus the Badgers is a moral victory. I've seen enough of those #1 seed vs #4 seed games in the WCHA Tournament to believe that a 4-0 loss to UW is more painful than an 8-0 loss to an offensive powerhouse.

In the ECAC, the closest analogy to Wisconsin defensively might be the very best Quinnipiac teams. Its goalie might be great or mediocre, but it is hard to tell when all she ever has to do is raise her arm to indicate that the linesmen are going to call icing.

 

[MAHOCKEY FAN]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

I was recently at a Noble & Greenough game...what happened to Harvard Commit Jenna McDonald? not on roster.

 

[Still Eeyore]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

I've watched very strong UM teams, even great ones, look pretty mortal against Wisconsin.

Sure, but Wisconsin plays a much more aggressive defensive system than what I saw out of Harvard. The Badgers forecheck hard, and are looking to produce turnovers over the entire 200 foot length of the ice.

 

[ARM]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

Sure, but Wisconsin plays a much more aggressive defensive system than what I saw out of Harvard. The Badgers forecheck hard, and are looking to produce turnovers over the entire 200 foot length of the ice.

Right, and I was responding to your comment that you thought Harvard was dreadful versus the Badgers. UW makes teams look worse than they otherwise are.

 

[Leather helmet]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

UW makes teams look worse than they otherwise are.

In that regard, my in-laws are similar to UW.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

NASHVILLE VETS TO FACE OFF AT CONTE NEW YEAR’S EVE DAY!

7,884 tickets still available

(Harvard’s performance is likely to tell us what the rest of their season is going to amount to, imho)

 

[MAHOCKEY FAN]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

I am shocked .7-1 Harvard? Was everyone there for BC?

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

I am shocked .7-1 Harvard? Was everyone there for BC?

Everyone was there, except for the concession stand people (but there were free Crackerjacks!). Oh, there was one other thing missing at the Forum . . . the BC playbook, which Harvard had stolen: Tinker to Evers to Chance. (Other things also worked.)

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

I like playing the guy across the net at the other end of the court. We face each other somewhat regularly and the results are more often than not surprising, not just because of the varying levels of talent we can display from year to year, but because of the intensity we seem to bring to what have become real encounters.This year he’s lost a little velocity on his first serve and his backhand deserts him occasionally. In general he just seems out of sorts. But after beating him 6-0, 6-0, I don’t want to hear about his blisters or sore shoulder. I’d rather have him talk about the deeper placement of my serve, my newly found drop-shot, or my willingness to try a deep lob . . . some of the stuff I’ve been working on. In short, I’ve upped my game.

(How’s that for a preemptive strike at the Interruption?)

I’m sure BC was not at its best yesterday, but there are better ways to play dead than to put 46 shots on goal. They did give Harvard lots of open lanes, even after discovering to their surprise that H could use them so effectively, and The Crimson started right away to make real plays, i.e. to get the puck to the open man, even if the open man was four passes away. In the past there was either solo gun-slinging or too much finesse. Against BC there was use your line mates. Having established their preference for tic-tac-toe early on (the third goal was classic), they seemed to then have opened up the options for slinging or finesse to keep BC off-balance. I think this is what made a mere 27 SOG seem like an onslaught. (I also think BC conceded the morale high ground when they pulled McArthur at 9:04 in the first, after Bloomer's sudden, mini breakaway, followed by a PPG.)

How did this new team emerge? Well in addition to the normal holiday adjustments, the continued absence of Katie Tresca must have convinced Stone to rejigger her lines. Hyland moved “up” to the Gilmore line with Hughes (who had a fantastic game), Petrie was playing with Jovanovich and Moy, and KDR had two new line mates, Bloomer and the freshman Hollands, who, in just her sixth appearance of the season, played the entire game and was poised throughout. (Hughes, Petrie and KDR each scored two goals). The defense was tenacious in their zone and held the blue line on the attack. Reed was (the old?) Reed. All this in a game that appeared to have fairly equal possession.

I’m eager for a less excited and more analytical breakdown by T3. Just please don’t tell me Harvard’s the worst team you’ve seen play this year.

 

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

Haha no recap from me for this one -- I'm in Europe at the moment and thanking all that is good and holy that I was unable to watch what appears to have been a total disaster

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

no recap from me for this one -- I'm in Europe at the moment

“Wicked ****ah,” as they say in Germany. Wicked ****ah.


(for those of you who are not regular BC Interruption readers, I want to assure you that I am not being foul-mouthed. The forum auto-censor appears to be surprisingly sensitive to even variations of common vernacular, or else it just doesn't like pizza, unlike T3's German friend)

 

[Watson Rink]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

How did this new team emerge? Well in addition to the normal holiday adjustments, the continued absence of Katie Tresca must have convinced Stone to rejigger her lines. Hyland moved “up” to the Gilmore line with Hughes (who had a fantastic game), Petrie was playing with Jovanovich and Moy, and KDR had two new line mates, Bloomer and the freshman Hollands, who, in just her sixth appearance of the season, played the entire game and was poised throughout. (Hughes, Petrie and KDR each scored two goals). "



At the very beginning of the season I speculated about this point: " the distribution of players within the top three lines will bear close watching. Often in the past the third line has consisted of hardworking grinders who hold opponents at bay by endlessly cycling a comfortable 180 feet from their own net. This year's third line [which then included Tresca] appear to have more pop than that. The ideal would be to have enough depth to skate three lines with nearly identical offensive production, as the 2015 team did. Though right now the Petri line seems to be making a bid to be the Marchand/Bergeron/Pasternak line on this club."

Interesting to compare some numbers:

The initial line combinations had produced somewhat lopsided goal totals over the first 12 games: 12 - 26 - 6. The new lines produced balanced scoring against BC: 2 - 2 - 3. Although over all 13 games the new lines still have skewed goal production: 8 - 16 - 21. So we shall see.....
(As far as possible adjustments to the numbers above, (x) even strength goals haven't been significantly different from total goals and I made no adjustment for the consideration that, at least until the BC game, the first line had probably been playing mostly against other teams' first lines and so on).

Terrific win for the team!

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

December ECAC player of the month? WHO BUT (not W.B. MASON) KDR!
https://www.ecachockey.com/women/2019-20/Monthly_Awards/20200107_-_December_Monthly_Awards


This past weekend was a victory lap after the BC game. Staying loose. (The highlight was Reed’s first career assist, Friday, on Petrie’s SHG.) This coming weekend is another story: Q I’m not so worried about, but the Tigers are coming to town Saturday with Fillier and Connors, so this is not the same team we saw in November. But Harvard is also not the same team Princeton saw in November.

 

[ARM]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

... the Tigers are coming to town Saturday with Fillier and Connors, so this is not the same team we saw in November.

I think that Connors played against Harvard last time, but Claire Thompson, like Sarah Fillier, did not.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

I think that Connors played against Harvard last time, but Claire Thompson, like Sarah Fillier, did not.

Thank you. I stand corrected. Scarier still . . .

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

Harvard came back grittingly from a 2 goal PU PP advantage in the first to take the lead, until the 6x5 (from Connors, with Thompson’s second assist) tied it at 3-3. The only thing as fast on the ice as the Tigers was Reed, who had an outstanding game. SOG 52-37 PU. But we had this comeback on our sticks, until 19:17 of the 3rd. Petrie with 2 goals, KDR with 2 assists. H is for real, but could use a first-rate D (maybe the one waiting in the injured wings?). The temperature in Cambridge at game time was 66 degrees. I attribute the tie to the South Jersey team being accustomed to balmy January weather. In any case, a great game of hockey. (It even attracted a few multi-team track meet fans next door.)

(All I know about the Q game Friday, which I didn’t see, even remotely, is that we outshot and underscored them.)

 

[Watson Rink]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

Highlight of today's game, besides Petrie's mad dash, was watching the two other goals from right behind the Tiger net (with four grandchildren alongside). Harvard was so dominating in moving the puck leading up to the first goal: they looked just much on the power play then as they did when they really were on the power play for the second goal.

Reed was amazing...49 saves, no even-strength goals

Lowlight was more than one needless offensive zone penalty. At least P'ton was also rashly committing penalties too.

Enjoy watching Willoughby as a forward on the power play: I don't actually remember Angela playing there but a whole raft of other defenders have, starting with Ashley Banfield

 

[MAHOCKEY FAN]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

I was recently at a Noble & Greenough game...what happened to Harvard Commit Jenna McDonald? not on roster.

Found her.....read in HNIB ( hockey night in Boston)she transferred to Rivers school. Very unusual for Nobles to lose a girl...esp one committed to Harvard since 8th grade

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Re: Harvard 2019-20 (Moving On)

The jam that packed the Colgate rink was the largest crowd I have ever seen at a regular season ECAC game. Unbelievable. Where did they all come from at 12 noon on a Friday? (Where did I come from, for that matter?) . . . Local elementary schools: it was Kids’ Day at the game in Hamilton, NY. Super excited, pumped young'uns yelling “Go 'Gate.” Quite the home ice advantage! Then, after the second intermission, the place was empty . . . (except for the routine 150 or so fans that we get here in the east). It was unreal, as in reality has been undone. Where did they all go??? Home, I guess. School buses wait for no man, woman or child. Full house / empty house, with twenty minutes to go. Remarkable visual doubletake,.

The box score seemed equally hallucinatory. The fact that Reed wasn’t in goal had nothing to do with Harvard going 0-5 on the PP, or Colgate looking really pretty good. The kids went home happy after watching two periods of women’s hockey and could go to bed happy after hearing about the third.