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Harvard Hockey 2025-'26: Crimson Ascending

Well, that was what has become a typical Harvard beanopot performance as of late. A defense that was basically nowhere to be found. How about BC's second goal where Morden goes for pokecheck instead of taking body and lets BC walk right in and score. How about St Louis letting Hagens skate right by him fior the backdoor on BC's third goal. This sort of stuff is simply inexcusable and it's not like Hagens is some 6'4" 220lb forward. Just not good enough and frankly, not even close to good enough.

Harvard wins most of its game becase the talent is simply better and Harvard can get away with the kind of stuff that BC and other good teams will exploit all day. But per usual, when Harvard faces teams and Harvard's talent is relatively equitable or inferior (Cornell, Quinnipiac, BC, BU, etc), they generally lose and lose big.
 
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I go every year, get bad seats as the Harvard ticket office doesn't really help out season-ticket holders as they used to, and I know that they are inferior to the other Beanpot teams, so not that enthused about going, but my friend is a BC fan. Well, at least the nightcap was exciting, a talented BU team and a Northeastern team that always plays hard.

When I complained about the team above, I had written my opinion about Donato, but erased it before posting. I think there is something to it though. Donato likes to yell at the refs, but he doesn't even have the energy to do that anymore. This team is lazy. This is one of those Harvard teams, and there have been a run of them over the years, which lack leadership and effort. Friday night I watched half a dozen sloppy plays by the defense in their zone. Eventually they won as they are more talented than RPI. So it isn't just poor performances against good teams. As Skate mentioned way back, Joe Miller, who looked talented as a freshman, is invisible most of the time. Players how flashes of talent, like Mick Thompson, then regress as they get older. That is coaching.

Some teams over the last 30 years looked like they were going through the motions and this is one of them.
 
Crimson Faced said:
I go every year, get bad seats as the Harvard ticket office doesn't really help out season-ticket holders as they used to, and I know that they are inferior to the other Beanpot teams, so not that enthused about going, but my friend is a BC fan. Well, at least the nightcap was exciting, a talented BU team and a Northeastern team that always plays hard.

When I complained about the team above, I had written my opinion about Donato, but erased it before posting. I think there is something to it though. Donato likes to yell at the refs, but he doesn't even have the energy to do that anymore. This team is lazy. This is one of those Harvard teams, and there have been a run of them over the years, which lack leadership and effort. Friday night I watched half a dozen sloppy plays by the defense in their zone. Eventually they won as they are more talented than RPI. So it isn't just poor performances against good teams. As Skate mentioned way back, Joe Miller, who looked talented as a freshman, is invisible most of the time. Players how flashes of talent, like Mick Thompson, then regress as they get older. That is coaching.

Some teams over the last 30 years looked like they were going through the motions and this is one of them.
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Sorry Skate, did not read your post about the RPI game before I posted and you made the same points I did.
 
bothman said:
Well, that was what has become a typical Harvard beanopot performance as of late. A defense that was basically nowhere to be found. How about BC's second goal where Morden goes for pokecheck instead of taking body and lets BC walk right in and score. How about St Louis letting Hagens skate right by him fior the backdoor on BC's third goal. This sort of stuff is simply inexcusable and it's not like Hagens is some 6'4" 220lb forward. Just not good enough and frankly, not even close to good enough.

Harvard wins most of its game becase the talent is simply better and Harvard can get away with the kind of stuff that BC and other good teams will exploit all day. But per usual, when Harvard faces teams and Harvard's talent is relatively equitable or inferior (Cornell, Quinnipiac, BC, BU, etc), they generally lose and lose big.
Click to expand...
We have a losing record against winning teams this year, and as you point out, it's not even close. Except for maybe the second Michigan game after Thanksgiving and the season opener against UConn. Other than that, it's business as usual, which means, as you say, they lose and lose big. Is there a talent deficit? Yes. Coaching should be able to make up for some of the deficiencies. Doesn't seem to be happening.
 
Crimson Faced said:
Sorry Skate, did not read your post about the RPI game before I posted and you made the same points I did.
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No worries, Crim. You make an interesting point about Teddy. He's been behind the bench for 21 years, and I'm wondering if it's time for him to move on. Even Schaefer knew when it was time to call it quits (although I believe health issues played a part). It does seem like he has checked out. The same problems keep cropping up over and over, and they never get fixed. When Paul Pearl came on board, you saw a difference in the way the team attacked, especially on the power play. They had a system that worked, and the players executed. Now it's dump and chase, crash the boards, and hope someone gets open. The team plays with very little passion, urgency, or purpose, and their lack of attention to detail is stunningly absent. They can't beat their travel partner anymore or any team with a winning record.

Someone needs to have a sit-down with Teddy to see if there should be a mutual parting of the ways. Or at least find out if he can use better assistant coaches to do the heavy lifting which he apparently does not want to do anymore.
 
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