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Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

alslammerz said:
Looks like a lot of defensemen coming in next year. I count three. Also looks like Kerfoot's brother will come in 2016.
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Right. Three forwards, three D and Lackey, the goalie. If Michalek can't return for another year of eligibility, we will be going with essentially two untested goalies in Madsen and Lackey.
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

First, Vesey is certainly more pro ready than Louis Leblanc when he left. I don't think anyone thought Louis was pro ready, whereas everyone seems to think Vesey is not only pro ready, but NHL ready. Night and day.

Also, I don't get the 'stars aligning for ECAC to win'. Yale had to beat Minnesota, North Dakota, Umass Lowell, and then a top ranked QPac team to win their title. Union had to beat Providence, Boston College and Minnesota. Neither of Yale nor Union snuck in the back door, they beat premier programs to win it all. Yes, Harvard could have gone through less blue chip programs to the finals this year. But as they say, 'to be the best, you have to beat the best'. And there is enough talent flowing through Harvard to be a tournament team consistently (as Yale seems to have become, with generally less talent). Hardly seems to be a 'stars need to align perfectly' situation.
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

bothman said:
Vesey returning for senior year!!!
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YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With all due respect to Veritas, we need to retitle the 2015-2016 thread that he started to "Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - He's back!!"
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

sam12 said:
First, Vesey is certainly more pro ready than Louis Leblanc when he left. I don't think anyone thought Louis was pro ready, whereas everyone seems to think Vesey is not only pro ready, but NHL ready. Night and day.
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True. Leblanc got some poor advice and IMHO, paid for it by leaving early. Vesey's decision to return is not all that surprising to me given what his dad said about the importance of a Harvard degree. And the Leblanc decision can serve as a reminder to future Harvard recruits that the grass isn't always greener outside of Cambridge.

Also, I don't get the 'stars aligning for ECAC to win'. Yale had to beat Minnesota, North Dakota, Umass Lowell, and then a top ranked QPac team to win their title. Union had to beat Providence, Boston College and Minnesota. Neither of Yale nor Union snuck in the back door, they beat premier programs to win it all. Yes, Harvard could have gone through less blue chip programs to the finals this year. But as they say, 'to be the best, you have to beat the best'. And there is enough talent flowing through Harvard to be a tournament team consistently (as Yale seems to have become, with generally less talent). Hardly seems to be a 'stars need to align perfectly' situation.
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Disagree. I'll use the '89 team as an example. That year, the stars aligned by bringing back Lane MacDonald after the Olympics who was drafted by Hartford (now Carolina). He could have easily turned pro. Had Allen Bourbeau not taken two years off, one for the Olympics, he would not have been on that team. He centered the first line with Laney and CJ. Also, our two goalies Chuckie Hughes and Allain Roy were highly sought after recruits - the Princeton AD at the time told one of my good friends that he felt sure the Tigers were going to get either Hughes or Roy. He was stunned when they both chose Harvard. And finally Kevan Melrose transferred in from North Dakota and his presence on the blue line was a big reason we were able to take on and defeat Michigan State and Minnesota. Their forwards wanted no part of him.

For Harvard to win that year, all of that and more had to come together. It is not something we can replicate year after year - we are not BC and can't relax academic standards nor can we recruit from the same pool of players. We don't get the opportunity to land a Jimmy Vesey every other year. Just isn't going to happen. We know Vesey is returning and if McNally and Everson are allowed another year of eligibility, then the 'stars' may well align for us to win a national championship.
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

From the Crimson article: "With his decision, the Crimson may return in the fall with all 12 forwards who played in the ECAC championship game."

Yes, I see the "may" but maybe...
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

sam12 said:
First, Vesey is certainly more pro ready than Louis Leblanc when he left. I don't think anyone thought Louis was pro ready, whereas everyone seems to think Vesey is not only pro ready, but NHL ready. Night and day.
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I know you weren't the first person to make this comparison but we need to stop comparing Vesey to LL.

LL left because he felt that he would become more pro-ready by going the QMJHL route. He was also (in his mind) snubbed from the WJC Canada roster because he was an NCAA player and wasn't playing enough games. It never had anything to do with anyone thinking he was pro-ready but about whether or not Harvard would develop him enough to be pro-ready.

Vesey choosing to stay or go, meanwhile, is about IF he is and feels ready for the next level, be that AHL or NHL. It's not about the development model, it's whether he feels fully developed.

It's like the difference between a student transferring schools and a student graduating a year early. Yeah they are both leaving the school, but it's for two totally different reasons.

Sidebar: Vesey looked really good for the US WJC gold medal team despite playing "only a few games" like LL did in the season he didn't make the team. It's a shame that it's very hard for Canadian kids to make the WJC squad out of NCAA - I really think LL would have stayed if he had made it that 1st season.

Edit: I don't think LL was snubbed just because he was on an NCAA team although that played a role in it. Wanted to make that clear.
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

sam12 said:
First, Vesey is certainly more pro ready than Louis Leblanc when he left. I don't think anyone thought Louis was pro ready, whereas everyone seems to think Vesey is not only pro ready, but NHL ready. Night and day.

Also, I don't get the 'stars aligning for ECAC to win'. Yale had to beat Minnesota, North Dakota, Umass Lowell, and then a top ranked QPac team to win their title. Union had to beat Providence, Boston College and Minnesota. Neither of Yale nor Union snuck in the back door, they beat premier programs to win it all. Yes, Harvard could have gone through less blue chip programs to the finals this year. But as they say, 'to be the best, you have to beat the best'. And there is enough talent flowing through Harvard to be a tournament team consistently (as Yale seems to have become, with generally less talent). Hardly seems to be a 'stars need to align perfectly' situation.
Click to expand...

"The stars aligning" refers to many things breaking the right way at crucial times - starting with having two or three great recruiting years in succession and continuing on to little things like a puck hitting a divot in the ice and bouncing in a particular direction in a critical game. For Harvard this year, it definitely involved an unusually easy bracket to get to the final four. But that's not the only thing Mike was getting at. Skate79 gives some really good examples too, and that was during a time when it wasn't considered an anomaly for an ECAC team to contend for the title.
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

Harvard picks up a high end recruit in defensemen Reily Walsh who is a '99. He was invited to the USNDT program tryout and is a puck mover currently playing at Proctor Academy (Dad is coach)
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

TimU said:
"The stars aligning" refers to many things breaking the right way at crucial times - starting with having two or three great recruiting years in succession and continuing on to little things like a puck hitting a divot in the ice and bouncing in a particular direction in a critical game. For Harvard this year, it definitely involved an unusually easy bracket to get to the final four. But that's not the only thing Mike was getting at. Skate79 gives some really good examples too, and that was during a time when it wasn't considered an anomaly for an ECAC team to contend for the title.
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Well said. That '89 team I referred to had two important classes back to back. The '91 and '92 classes provided both the forwards and the D that helped us win it.

In fact, if you look back at that period in the late 80s, an ECAC team was involved in the Frozen Four starting with RPI winning it '85, Harvard losing to MSU in '86, St. Lawrence reaching the championship game in '88, Harvard winning it in '89 and Colgate reaching the championship game in '90. Look at those schools. Tough academic standards yet each of them reached the final with two of them winning it. RPI in '85 had 7 future NHL players including Adam Oates and Darren Puppa. So yeah, it has to come together and it is that much harder when your academic requirements are stringent.
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

bothman said:
Harvard picks up a high end recruit in defensemen Reily Walsh who is a '99. He was invited to the USNDT program tryout and is a puck mover currently playing at Proctor Academy (Dad is coach)
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Nice. Assuming he will be coming in 2017?
 
Re: Harvard Crimson 2014-2015: Restoring the Karma

Congrats to Jimmy Vesey for making the top three for the Hobey. Interesting side note. The award will be given out next Friday at Matthews Arena, the only rink left in the US that Hobey Baker played in while he was at Princeton.
 
Skate79 said:
Congrats to Jimmy Vesey for making the top three for the Hobey. Interesting side note. The award will be given out next Friday at Matthews Arena, the only rink left in the US that Hobey Baker played in while he was at Princeton.
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should have posted link in this thread as well.. oops.
G'luck to Vesey.. @ & beyond H..

info..

http://www.gonu.com/news/2015/4/2/GEN_0402154623.aspx
 
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