Re: Harvard Crimson 2017-2018
As I'm going through my teams recruits for next season I can't help but notice the amount of talent that is heading to Harvard. Anybody with any insight on how good these team could be next year or years upcoming?
I follow Clarkson recruiting closely and while watching Dunne, Hurley, Tisdale, Underwood I've seen Dornbach a lot and he's going to be a real good player. I've never really seen Harvard take many older recruits like this but he's definitely worth it, he is your classic late bloomer and will be a great NCAA player. I'll be honest, I don't believe Wahlstrom makes it to campus although I hope he does as it will make the ECAC that much more interesting, the NTDP being in Ann Arbor is a scary thing with Michigan now having Mel Pearson at the helm who has one of the best recruiting staffs in college hockey and obviously Michigan sells itself in most scenarios. There's no shortage of hockey IQ with Baker Shore and Jack Drury, with Dornbach/Drury/Shore those three will put up points at the college level right away. Rathbone will probably make the jump straight to Harvard as well, he's a great skater and will add to your defense who already move the puck with the best of teams. RJ Murphy and Jonny Russell I haven't seen at all but they both seem they'll be solid 4 year players but I wouldn't expect any instant impact, him and Rifai are much of the same player but Rathbone has 10x the ceiling, both will need help defensively at the next level. In net Lackey will battle Gibson/Schaedig, Gibson has had an unreal NAHL season and is definitely on NHL teams radar for the upcoming draft.
Especially looking over the past few years and even heading into the future Harvard usually will lead the ECAC with recruiting, if Marino and Walsh are planning to stay I just don't see a drop off from the Donato departure, one player is great but an improved forward core is better, if Badini, Bowlby, Krusko, Pelton-Byce, Zerter-Gossage all take steps as older players (like most of your guys do under Donato) and then you add Dornback, Drury, Shore along with Rathbone and Rifai defensively, I still think you'll be top 4 in a tough ECAC next season, if you succeed in your non-conference then you'll be a lock for the tournament. With all that said your rivals over in New Haven have a really nice class coming in next season with Curtis Hall, Kyle Johnson, Graham Lillibridge, Justin Pearson, and John St. Ivany but Harvard is loaded for the next 3 years even with the potential decommitments that are bound to happen.
I'd say it's Harvard 1, Yale 2, Clarkson 3, Princeton 4 with nobody quite close behind them in terms of recruiting in the ECAC, to be fair to teams like Cornell, Dartmouth, Union they are returning a lot of players so it wasn't as crucial for those teams.
