Last year, Harvard men’s varsity hockey had seven wins in 32 games played. If I were a betting man, I’d hammer the over on seven wins for the upcoming season. Why? Two reasons: First, a win percentage of 22% is really, really bad. The San Jose Sharks, the worst team in the NHL last year and one of the worst hockey teams of all time, had a win percentage of 30.1%. I don’t expect a repeat of that poor performance, nor do I believe it represents the talent on Harvard’s roster. Still, Harvard fell well outside of the NCAA’s top 20 last year and was in the middle of the Ivy League (Cornell was #12, Dartmouth was #29, Harvard was #50, Yale was #51, and Princeton was #53). That said, sports are cyclical, teams rise and fall over time, and rebuilds happen. This brings me to the second reason why I’m optimistic about Harvard hockey this year—this team appears to have built a new identity overnight.
Watching Harvard’s incredible 5-4 comeback win over the U18 U.S. National Team last Friday, Bright-Landry had a new energy. Not from the fans, because none of you bothered to show up, but rather from the guys on the ice. Down 3-1 going into the third, Harvard was still playing as if the game had just started five minutes ago. Despite this being a meaningless scrimmage, every skater played every shift like it was his last. No fancy tricks, no tic-tac-toe plays, just good old-fashioned, fast, hard-hitting hockey.
Speed and physicality have clearly become cornerstones of Harvard’s game. Last week, Harvard looked faster than I’d ever seen them. Puck movement in the offensive end was snappy and they transitioned through the neutral zone quickly. Everything felt like a game played at 1.5x speed. Sometimes that led to sloppy turnovers or a defensive breakdown, but I have to believe those will be ironed out as the season moves along. It reminds me a lot of the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers’ style of play, where everyone on the ice is playing offense and defense at all times. There’s no waiting for the play to develop and no defenseman staying back just in case. Everyone is involved, and everyone has a responsibility.
That all-in playstyle is true regardless of both position and age. Harvard’s first-year skaters are an essential component of the plan for this season. Nearly every first-year on the team is above 6’0” and at or above 200 lbs, allowing them to give coverage and protection for the smaller skaters to find room and cut to the net (an issue that plagued Harvard last year). The new kids on the ice aren’t just there to be body checkers—they’ve got serious shooting talent and were essential to Harvard’s offensive success last week.
Two of Harvard’s five goals against the U.S. U-18 team were scored by the Class of 2028. Mick Thompson’s ’28 partial breakaway and Justin Solovey’s ’28 net-front play were fantastic and showed that coach Ted Donato ’91 isn’t shying away from getting everyone involved in the play, no matter their experience. I also have to give a special nod to Cam Johnson’s ’27 screaming one-timer to tie the game, a massive goal he celebrated in perfect Artemi Panarin leg-kicking style. (The Rangers fan in me lit up when I saw that.)
Seeing the first-years get gritty with their opponents was great. Seeing every other Harvard skater do the exact same thing was even better. It’s one thing for a freshman who stepped onto the ice less than two months ago to be battling to prove himself. It’s another thing entirely when guys who have been on the team for years are fighting just as hard, if not harder. Shoutout to Joe Miller ’26 for taking a run at fellow Minnesota Native Maceo Phillips, who’s a full eight inches and 60 pounds bigger than Miller. That’s the kind of attitude this team needs. That’s the kind of mentality that makes you competitive, even if you don’t have the raw scoring talent of some of the other ECAC and NCAA teams. Seriously, can we go one year without BC or BU having the first overall pick on their team?
Do I think Harvard is a true national championship contender this year? It’s too early to tell, honestly. This is a new system and a team that’s still pretty young. However, that’s also not the metric by which this team should be measured. Last season was decidedly a rebuild; however, for them to look this different this quickly means that something is going right. I don’t know how this season is going to go. I don’t think anyone does, and that’s a good thing. We knew last year that it was going to be rough. This time around? At the very least, this time around it’s going to be damn fun. From the great Bull Durham: “This is a simple game.” Skate fast, hit hard, put the puck in the net, and don’t let the puck get in yours. This seems to be a Harvard team that understands that. What more could you ask for?
Jordan Wasserberger ’27 (jwasserberger@college.harvard.edu) wants to take more photos of Harvard goal celebrations.