Brian SullivanLadies and gentlemen, welcome to 2009. If you look to the port side of the aircraft, you will see the collapse of Western capitalism as we know it … over the right wing, you’ll note the rising tide that serves as an unmistakable bellwether of global warming and the gradual-yet-unabated decay of our planet. Fortunately, … Read more
Well now, this is a little more like it! After romping to a darned near 67 percent accuracy rate with my predictions, I was beginning to wonder if the league was becoming … well, predictable. Good to see that ECAC Hockey is still as schizophrenic as ever. This is the last column of 2008, though … Read more
Just 24 hours removed from a laugher, Harvard and North Dakota engaged in a much tighter tilt at the Bright Center on Saturday night. The sides combined for 13 power plays and 62 shots on net, but in the end it was the Sioux who triumphed once more, 4-3, for the weekend sweep. Ryan Duncan … Read more
Unlike your fridge, this column isn’t packed with leftovers from last week. This column won’t start turning yellow or dripping on your floor or absorbing neighboring columns, it hasn’t been declared a federal biohazard and it doesn’t smell like feet. It doesn’t have any tryptophan, either, so hopefully it won’t put you to sleep. Freshly … Read more
One of the underappreciated rules of good writing is, as one professor said, to “avoid clichés like the plague.” Common phrases — usually similes or metaphors — are such an easy out, and can instantaneously turn a quality piece of work into hackneyed garbage. But some clichés go beyond a simple snippet or a sentence, … Read more
This has been an enjoyably baffling couple of weeks so far, with a number of bipolar teams making solid assessment practically impossible. Harvard is 4-2-1 and atop the standings, but has played more games than anyone else, and lost back-to-back games at RPI and Union two weeks ago. Princeton and Cornell reside in the third … Read more
Harvard goaltender Matt Hoyle’s pads are 37 inches long from top to toe. St. Lawrence goalie Alex Petizian’s, 33 inches. The five inches were the difference. The Crimson (4-2-0, 4-2-0 ECAC Hockey) won the intense, fast-paced contest 1-0 in front of 2,503 at the Bright Hockey Center Saturday night. Matt McCollem scored the game’s only … Read more
Clarkson was short Friday night in Boston. Short on players, short on chemistry, short on luck … and short on goals. The injury-riddled Golden Knights couldn’t convert on their few precious chances, falling to Harvard 5-1 in front of 2,087 at the Bright Hockey Center. Harvard (3-2-0, 3-2-0 ECAC Hockey) senior Nick Coskren lit the … Read more
Clarkson was short Friday night in Boston. Short on players, short on chemistry, short on luck, and short on goals. The injury-riddled Golden Knights couldn’t convert on their few precious chances, falling to Harvard 5-1 in front of 2,087 at the Bright Hockey Center. Harvard (3-2-0, 3-2-0 ECAC Hockey) senior Nick Coskren lit the lamp … Read more
Playing Dumb “We’re early in the season, and we have to do a better job of being a smarter road team,” began Crimson coach Ted Donato. Harvard dropped both Capital District games for the first time ever last weekend, falling 3-2 at Rensselaer and 3-1 at Union. Donato isn’t sweating the scoring, the special teams, … Read more
This is an awkward time of year, when there’s a lot of hockey being played but few reasonable assessments to be made. So let’s go with some less team-specific material this time, and give the league another weekend to clean itself up a bit before we pass any judgments. The Rookie Report Whether you’re a … Read more
The votes are in, and it appears RPI has elected to forego future power plays. The Engineers barely dented Harvard’s penalty kill, going one-for-10 in a 3-1 loss at the Bright Hockey Center. Ian Tallett, Alex Biega and Pier-Olivier Michaud scored for the Crimson (2-0-0), while Matt Hoyle made 27 saves. Josh Rabbani scored Rensselaer’s … Read more
It was Halloween in Boston, and the Harvard Crimson came dressed to play. Dartmouth wore a look of consternation . . . and the referees were spot-on imitations of riverboat calliopes. In a game interrupted by 22 minor penalties, it was the Crimson who weathered the storm with a 4-1 opening-night victory. Second year center … Read more
Ready or not, here they come! No, I’m not talking about the ECAC regular season games. I’m talking about all the dreadfully punny and ubiquitous headlines you’ll be seeing over the next seven days. Halloween and Election Day? These are the events that make editors’ lives worth living. If any of them could write, they’d … Read more
Deja Vu Rand Pecknold is hoping he’s not an unwitting protagonist in a Groundhog Day sequel. The veteran coach will remember only too vividly how his vaunted offense went into the tank early last season, and the team defensive scheme didn’t gel to the necessary extent to win those games. To wit, he was quoted … Read more
Welcome back everybody to another season of utterly inept and pointless predictions, complemented by brutally misleading statistics and a smattering of predictable coach-speak and clichés. Oh, I guess there’s some skating-stick-ball thing going down, too. And just like the teams, I’m going to ease my way into the new year with a few pithy observations … Read more
Whereas 2006-07 was a season of unparalleled parity, last season was a year of surprises. Princeton finished six points better than it had since the spring of ’99, and finished a tight second to Clarkson in the regular season — the Tigers’ best-ever league finish. Clarkson may have lived up to its preseason poll position, … Read more
Offense Bruno finished second-to-last in the league in goals scored last year with 50, and saying goodbye to Prough (7-19-26), Hurley (3-16-19) and Poli (6-12-18) isn’t likely to help matters. In total, the Bears parted ways with 20 of their 67 overall goals, and all five seniors ranked among the team’s top 11 scorers. Coach … Read more
Offense The Crimson parted ways with eight seniors over the summer, six of whom were forwards taking frequent and regular shifts. Overall, the Cantab roster (short for Cantabridgian, a.k.a. Cambridge native, somehow) is 52 goals and 68 assists short of where it wrapped up last year. That’s more than half its goal production out the … Read more
Offense The Dutch tied for tenth in the league in both overall and in-conference scoring, but fortunately Union only said goodbye to Coyle (7-10-17) among its top scorers. “There’s a good deal of familiarity with this team,” said coach Nate Leaman. “It’s going to be a fun group; we’re excited to get going.” The surprise … Read more