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Harvard 2022-23: What's Up?

T

thirdtime's . . .

Active member
Graduation removed from the roster both Harvard’s purest skater in recent years (Petrie) and best playmaker in recent years (Gilmore) and the greatest anticipation I had for this season was to see how the likely successor to fill the skates of either one, sophomore Taze Thompson, would progress after a stellar freshman year.Now she’ll be progressing elsewhere. Voted to the ECAC all-rookie team, having scored two goals in the second game with UMD, and scoring in both Beanpot wins, she was clearly going to be a key factor in helping KDR and Bloomer go out in style this season. Maybe it was the unique prospect of winning a Beanpot on two different teams that drew her to Northeastern? Why else take so much wind out of Harvard’s sails?? (Harvard’s version of Watts to Wisco.) Also missing from the roster is senior Maryna Macdonald (Harvard’s most reliable and experienced D, with 95 games in three years) and senior Lindsay Reed (Harvard’s most experienced goalie, she of the gonzo freshman year), in addition to which senior Katie Tresca (Harvard’s most promising and most long-standing name on the injured reserve list) is on the roster but, to date, without a number.

In related news, the Crimson Fan Forum Booster Club’s annual pre-season beer pong brunch has been cancelled, and the Recording Secretary has announced his early retirement immediately following the UMD series in November.

Maybe there are three or four or five real sleepers here who can begin to make up for what we’ve lost, and scouting reports are always welcome, though at this point not really expected:

https://gocrimson.com/news/2022/5/5/...23-season.aspx


WhatEVerrr . . . at least it’s never not fun watching KDR and Bloomer.
 
I understand Blackbeard‘s frustration. It seems like every year or every other year, Harvard loses two or three key players without explanation. This year‘s team is picked to finish seventh in the conference. A number of the players who had minor roles last year will have to pick up the slack. Here’s hoping.
 
Watson Rink said:
Sorry to see Pellicci having to make 42.3 saves per game so far; but glad to see her .948 save percentage!
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I saw the summary when I was at the men's game last night. If Harvard doesn't make some changes to their defensive structure, this will be a long cold winter. I don't see them making the postseason. No scoring threats beyond Della Rovere and Bloomer.
 
Check out the box score, boys and girls: Brown’s first PP started at 00:00 of the first (bench minor before puck drop for delay of game???!!!) and ended with the PPG at 1:13. Their second PPG for the 2-1 win was at 3:10 in OT. This has to be a record for elapsed time between first and second goals allowed, never to be matched or broken, I’ll wager. Harvard’s L should forever have an asterisk to mark the occasion.
 
Watson Rink said:
Noticed that Maryna MacDonald was up in the stands today sitting with some of the inactive Harvard skaters.
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WR, too bad you didn’t ask MM why she’s sitting in the stands this year. This team certainly could use her. My take on the Moderna / Virgin Islands sponsorship pairing is that they want the laggards to agree to get boosted after they’ve had a few umbrella cocktails.


I’ve come to realize that it’s not so bad to anticipate a season when you have a not-likely-to-contend team. Meh happens. The positive aspect is that you can track the play of a very young squad while hoping to see enough progress to support the few standout seniors. So it’s a season not to be resigned to poor outcomes, but a time to relax and enjoy whatever unexpected treats you’re offered. But, if you can’t be at the rink regularly you need to know what (the hell) is actually happening on the ice, and the crews in the booth at Bright are constitutionally unable to do play-by-play. Only a breakaway will force them to interrupt their own chit-chat, but even then they are invariably a step or two behind the play. How can anyone be so inattentive when calling a hockey game? It’s astonishing really. Yes, this is my perennial complaint, but it doesn’t have to be a perennial problem. It is especially maddening this year when the team’s early scrambling and disorder have the potential to become a creative and fun-to-watch rebuild down the road. Oh to be a fat cat who could take care of this huge irritation with a single phone call!
 
Crazy game. Harvard was never really competitive yet in the third had a penalty shot and PPgoal plus a couple of others while Colgate was seemingly asleep. Then Colgate got serious and tied the game then won with 5 seconds left.
 
thirdtime's . . . said:
Until 19:55.6 of the 3rd period I was all set to go with the headline HARVARD BEATS COLGATE, 4-4.
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It kind of felt that way, didn't it? And then...

I give the Crimson full marks for coming back against Colgate. The Raiders were dominating the game through two periods; then the penalty shot, the PPG, and all of sudden, Bloomer and Hollands put them up 4-3. But as has been the case this season, Harvard can't hold a lead because of either dumb penalties or physical and mental mistakes that lead to an opponent's scoring chance. In this case, it was a little bit of both.

And if losing with five seconds left wasn't bad enough, here comes Cornell who was down 4-1 to Dartmouth and then hung a 5 spot in the second period to take control of the game. Today's game could be ugleeee.
 
Rightnut said:
Crazy game.
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Crazy. This was well on its way to becoming 9-0 after the first period. It doesn’t mean much in a game like this to just expect that H would be outskated or outplayed when they were simply out-talented. But Colgate was out-hockeyed, that is, not ready for the twists and turns that can become cumulative in a way that spells real trouble. H penalty shot? H first PPG this season? H two goals in 2 1/2 minutes? Crazy.

Unfortunately Harvard has a couple of D who are such big fans of the game that they enjoy standing around to watch it unfold. After seeing Colgate’s players I understand the urge.

In the end this must have felt to the Crimson like a Navy SEAL's boot camp. I've certainly never seen a more adrenaline-fueled H than in the third period. And Pellicci to the head of the class.

"On any given Sunday" goes the NFL truism. "On any given ice sheet" says the ECAC this year. So Skate79, today's game might be ugly and crazy.
 
thirdtime's . . . said:
Harvard 2 zip. F Nothing crazy or ugly about it.
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You can say that again. Count me as stunned. I did not see this coming. Credit to Harvard for adjusting their D structure to at least keep Cornell at bay until the final five minutes. And yes, I was gritting my teeth at the thought of another meltdown.

A shame that Harvard couldn't come away with a weekend sweep. But perhaps the third period of the Colgate game (minus the meltdown) gave them some confidence that they can stay with the top teams in the conference. More evidence is needed but for now, it's a good start.
 
Skate79 said:
Count me as stunned.
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Is it too early to say that this Crimson team that had been nowheresville due to youth, etc., has now, thanks to Colgate and Cornell, become exciting? New line combos (introducing Lapp to KDR and Bloomer), D pairings (Arnone now with MacDonald), and what seems to be a seriously good goalie, now battle-tested/scarred through her first eight games. The upside is palpable, even if it doesn’t quickly translate to Ws. The series with UMD no longer looks cringe-worthy ----- scary, but not cringe-worthy.
 
thirdtime's . . . said:
Is it too early to say that this Crimson team that had been nowheresville due to youth, etc., has now, thanks to Colgate and Cornell, become exciting? New line combos (introducing Lapp to KDR and Bloomer), D pairings (Arnone now with MacDonald), and what seems to be a seriously good goalie, now battle-tested/scarred through her first eight games. The upside is palpable, even if it doesn’t quickly translate to Ws. The series with UMD no longer looks cringe-worthy ----- scary, but not cringe-worthy.
Click to expand...

Well, the good news is that it's still early and anything is possible. Coach Stone needs to trust the younger players and look past their inevitable mistakes. It's the only way they'll grow into better players.
 
Crowell pulled Soderberg at 19:58 of the first period for a face-off in the Harvard end. Repeat: Crowell pulled Soderberg at 19:58 of the first period for a face-off in the Harvard end. I understand . . . after all, it had been a whole 17 minutes since the early Bulldogs score that failed to open the door to a blowout. So, was this a tribute to Stone’s team for skating backward wind sprints to keep the score 1-0? Or was it a huge diss, student to mentor? Weird. Unprecedented? I don’t know. We don’t see this kind of blood lust much in the ECAC. Tell me I’m wrong.

And why no replays of penalties, major or minor? Is this a conference thing? A BIG+ thing? A UMD thing?

Btw, even Harvard can’t be expected to score on a 5 minute PP when its ace scorer has been boarded out of the game.

I liked the “holy cow” guy because at the end of the game he seemed to be rooting for the Bulldogs to get six more shots on goal so Pellicci could top her season high of 54 saves. It was his way of paying tribute to a remarkable performance.
 
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