Four months ago, in our Harvard hockey season preview, the Harvard Independent predicted that the lack of goal-scorers on the 2024 Men’s team would prove difficult in their upcoming season. Turns out we were right. A little over halfway into the season, Harvard is ranked 54th in the NCAA and 3rd out of the 6 Ivy League hockey teams with 2.4 goals scored per game on average.
With a 4-12-3 record (four wins, twelve losses, and three ties), the Men’s Varsity Hockey team is enduring one of the worst seasons in Harvard hockey history. How has a team ranked 10th in the NCAA’s preseason poll somehow dropped off the NCAA’s top 20 entirely?
Unfortunately, this year’s roster has been in the middle of a perfect storm. Despite promising preseason polls, early performance showed that rankings are not always accurate, and no one fully understood the work the team still had to do in order to regain their spot as a powerhouse in the NCAA and ECAC. Building a team around a group of young kids who have never played together would be a challenge even for a healthy team. But on top of losing six star players to the NHL during the off-season, Harvard’s 2023-2024 season started with the team’s veteran leaders marred by injury. However, this gave the freshmen an opportunity to step up and lead the team—on and off the ice.
Forward Salvatore Guzzo ’27 spoke on his mindset about the season, explaining how he believes the freshmen have risen to the challenge. “Coming in as a freshman, you don’t know what to expect. You know it’s going to be hard…and you come in each day trying to be the best teammate you can be,” said Guzzo.
Over the last few months, injuries have become so prevalent that in “several games this year, we’ve dressed less than what is a full lineup,” according to Harvard Men’s Hockey Head Coach Ted Donato ’91. If you’re an avid watcher of the games, you’ve probably noticed players filling roles they aren’t used to. Players who would otherwise be kept to 5v5 hockey have gotten a look at power play time, and everyone has been asked to take up new space on the ice. The fact remains: this team is running in damage control mode. They’re desperately trying to plug holes, but despite a considerable effort from the first-years, the team has even had to look to the Harvard Men’s Club team for practice players.
Looking to the future, the team seems full of hope and optimism. “I feel great,” said captain Zakary Karpa ’25. “This is the best time of the year; these are the games you have circled on your calendar.” With the Beanpot tournament coming up next week, everyone is eager to see how the team will fare. “The Beanpot is probably the best college hockey game of the year, so we gotta get excited for that and play well,” said defenseman Ryan Healey ’26.
This year’s Beanpot will be one of the toughest Harvard has ever played, facing the similarly injured Northeastern Huskies in the first round. If all goes well, the Crimson will be skating out of the frying pan and into the fire, facing either the #1 or #3 team in the NCAA (BC and BU, respectively) for the championship. For Coach Donato, this is what you play for: “The Beanpot, in some ways, is a little bit of a season in itself. It’s such an exciting opportunity, so my feelings are that, regardless of any team’s record coming into the Beanpot, anything can happen.”
None of this matters if fans don’t show up. So far, Harvard has had an abysmal student presence at home games. During Quinnipiac’s visit to the Bright-Landry Center on November 4th, the away team’s fans outnumbered the Harvard student section by what felt like 5:1. When Cornell visited last Friday, their fans easily overpowered the weak Crimson pride, chirping goaltender Derek Mullahy ’24.
“Our players love to represent this school and their fellow students,” said Coach Donato. “It definitely gives us a certain amount of adrenaline and momentum and all the things that you hope for playing at home.” The players echoed their coach’s sentiments. Defenseman Joe Miller ’26 wants to see more from fans and recognizes the impact of spectator presence on the team. He comments on how it’s not that the “lack of fan attendance hurts us, but I think when there are more fans in the building, it’s a lot easier for us… The fans and the energy can sway the momentum in our favor…so I’d love to see more Harvard students pack the building.”
With nine (or ten if they advance in the Beanpot) games left, the Harvard Men’s Hockey team have a chance to prove that this season is merely a temporary mudge on an otherwise shining jewel of the collegiate hockey world. With a world-class, experienced coach, a promising commit pool, and a roster hungry to see themselves triumphant, there is reason to be excited and hopeful about the future. Rebuild seasons are a part of any good team, and it’s always better to get it right than to rush the process.
Lauren Barakett ’27 (laurenbarakett@college.harvard.edu) and Jordan Wasserberger ’27 (jwasserberger@college.harvard.edu) attend all of the Harvard Hockey games (Lauren has only been to one).