“Harvard College: The NHL Factory.” Not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Harvard,” but a moniker well-earned nevertheless. The Crimson has produced some of the NHL’s greatest current and past talent. True superstars like Norris Trophy-winning New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, two-time Stanley Cup Champion Alex Killorn, and Ted Donato, the Crimson coach since 2004, who played almost 800 games in the NHL with almost 400 points to his record.
Last year, the Men’s Varsity Hockey Team were a dynamic force, finishing 10th in the NCAA and first among the Ivy League with a 24-8-2 record. Perhaps more importantly, they rostered the most draft picks in all of college hockey by a mile. When the Beanpot rolled around last season, the Crimson had 15 players going to the NHL, many of whom began their professional careers this fall. But this year, the ice looks different.
Nearly every team, Crimson included, lost several extraordinarily gifted players during the offseason. It is true that every year a crop of players leave, but this time there were especially notable losses. It is one thing to lose some stars, but another for the Crimson to lose a third of its drafted players in the same year that Boston College has more than doubled the drafted players on their roster. The Eagles also made NCAA history as one of two schools ever to have three players drafted in the first round.
BC is not Harvard’s only neighbor to sign future superstars. Recently, Newburyport, MA native Cole Eiserman agreed to play for Boston University along with Macklin Celebrini, putting the top two projected 2024-2025 NHL draft picks on the same roster for the upcoming season. Our main rivals are loading up on high-level draft picks to the point where the Crimson will be playing against close-to-full NHL rosters multiple times this season. So, how do we stack up?
It is important to remember that the reigning NCAA champions, Quinnipiac, won their school’s first championship last year with only four drafted players on their roster (now increased to five). As anyone who watched the Rangers’ soul-crushing performance in the playoffs last year knows, a strong core will beat loosely connected talent nine times out of ten. The Crimson are fortunate enough to be ironclad in the former, with wicked talent to boot (even if it is somewhat lighter than last year).
For Coach Ted Donato, that combination is essential. “Last season, there were a lot of great things, but the ending was tough to swallow,” he said in an interview with The Independent. Losing key drafted talent has made things “a little more challenging,” and he acknowledged that offense in particular could be a weakness for the 2023-2024 Crimson. They lack a proven crop of goal-scorers, something other schools have in spades. That said, he sees their new, young talent as an exciting opportunity. “[They] bring a certain energy, and that’s something we’re excited about,” Donato said.
That new talent seems to be taking Donato’s system in stride. Defenseman Matthew Morden ’27 comes to Harvard after representing Canada at the 2022 World Juniors alongside Connor Bedard, the most-hyped NHL player in almost a decade. Referring to his next four years, Morden said “I’m excited and looking to learn, looking to develop, looking to become the best version of myself on and off the ice.” Pair a fast, rearing group of young players with a tried-and-true defensive core and star goaltender Derek Mullahy ’24, and there is reason to be excited for the coming year.
Donato’s excitement was strongly echoed by his players. Captain Zakary Karpa ’25 believes the Crimson are primed to “surprise some teams” this year, and hopefully win their first Beanpot since he joined the team. Forward Joe Miller ’26, who had a breakout season last year with 28 points in 33 games, says that the end of the 2022-2023 season, in which the Crimson got blown out 8-1 by Ohio State, fueled the fire for this year. “Anyone who was on the team last year knows it stung all summer, and we’re not gonna let it happen again,” Miller stated. “We’re going to continue to be gritty and competitive as a team, and take it one game at a time.”
When asked about the new draft pick hierarchy in the NCAA and ECAC, Miller was unequivocal. “You can’t focus on that. If we play our game and run our system, it shouldn’t matter who’s in the other locker room,” he said. Miller stated he was eagerly anticipating the new competition, and the whole team is making sure they are “dialed in” for every game.
And “dialed in” they are. At one practice I attended in early October, the Crimson looked fast, deadly, and ready to take on anything. For hours, Coach Donato posed every hypothetical game scenario and pushed his players to the limit. The athletes met this challenge only with maximum intensity and effort. Donato’s offseason focus on maintaining strong defense, goaltending, and bolstering offense has created a powerful team with a strong ability to keep the pressure on as much as possible.
That ferocity was matched step for step by the defense. The offense was only allowed sparing shots on goal, and of those, only two got past the netminder. Their neutral game looked just as strong. The team seems to be channeling the New Jersey Devils’ strategy of “if they cannot catch you, they cannot stop you,” moving up the ice blazingly fast with quick, short passes to minimize turnovers and create shooting lanes. Conditioning, the epicenter of the legendary Herb Brooks’ game, looks like a big part of Donato’s system as well. There were maybe two moments the entire practice where the team stopped moving, and only for a few minutes each time. Other than that, it was an all-out war.
The final, yet undeniable strength of the Harvard Men’s Hockey Team is their heart. The roster is brimming with love for each other, palpable in every post-goal celebration, every friendly chirp from the bench, and the endless support pouring onto the ice at all times. When talking with Karpa, Miller, Mullahy, and Morden, that heart shone through. Above all else, everyone is solely committed to bringing as much team success as possible. “The goal is to play well and keep the boys winning,” Mullahy said.
The sport of hockey is changing. The NHL has seen a shift towards younger, faster players, with an emphasis on moving the puck to generate as many scoring chances as possible. That focus is mirrored at the collegiate level, with schools across the league going out of their way to find superstar guys who fit the bill. The 2023-2024 Crimson, on paper, do not have such technical superstars, but as a unit, they are as lethal as any team in the NCAA.This is a tight-knit group dedicated to bringing home as many wins as possible and deeply committed to proving that Harvard is still a crown jewel of the collegiate hockey world.
Jordan Wasserberger ’27 (jwasserberger@college.harvard.edu)’s, mental health will be entirely determined by how the Rangers do this year.