Men's hockey set for ECAC matchups with Colgate and No. 6 Cornell at Bright

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. –Men's hockey (2-1-0, 2-1-0 ECAC) hosts Colgate and No. 6 Cornell this weekend in its return to Bright-Landry. After a good result on the road, Harvard seems to be able to grab a number of crucial ECAC points this weekend.

PUCK DROP

• The Crimson returns to Bright-Landry this year for its first back-to-back at home.
• Puck drop is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. against Colgate and Saturday at 7 p.m. against Cornell.
• Saturday's game against nationally ranked Big Red will air on NESN.

FINAL TIMEOUT

• Harvard won the trip between Princeton and Quinnipiac for the first time since 2017-18, following a 4-3 overtime victory against Princeton and a 3-0 shutout of No. 15 Quinnipiac on Saturday.
• Mick Thompson scored the winner again on Friday with 0:25 seconds left in overtime.
• Thompson's game-winner was his first career goal and the first game-winning goal in overtime for Harvard since then Ian Moore scored to beat Yale last season.
• Aku Koskenvuo made 23 stops in the shutout against Quinnipiac to give the Crimson its first win over the Bobcats since the 2022 ECAC Championship.
• Lucas St. Louis And Justin Solovej added their first career goals Ben McDonald grabbed a power play marker against Quinnipiac.
• Harvard earned its first win over a nationally ranked opponent since Nov. 11, 2023, when it defeated No. 7 Cornell at Lynah Rink.

LOOKING BACK

• Harvard tied Colgate in Hamilton early last season before handing No. 7 Cornell its first loss of the season on Nov. 11.
• Joe Miller And Alex Gaffney picked up the numbers for the Crimson in the win over its Ivy rival.
• The Crimson offense was firing on all cylinders when Colgate came to town on January 27 of last season. With six goals, Joe Miller And Ben McDonald scored a pair of goals each.
• Harvard stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to score five in a row on its way to a 6-3 win at home.
• Harvard would split the season series with Cornell before falling in two games in a hard-fought ECAC quarterfinal in Ithaca.

SERIES HISTORY

• The Crimson skated to a 1-0-1 record with the Raiders and improved its record to 60-28-10 all-time.
• Harvard follows the career streak with the Big Red 71-82-13.

ECAC TARGET OF THE WEEK

• Aku Koskenvuo earned ECAC Mac Goalkeeper of the Week after stopping 41 of 44 shots over the weekend against Princeton and Quinnipiac.
• The native of Espoo, Finland, recorded his third career shutout and his first since the first round of last season's ECAC playoffs.
• The shutout over the Bobcats was the first time they had a shutout on home ice since 2022.

THE NEW CHILDREN

• Justin Solovey, Lucas St. LouisAnd Mick Thompson have been great additions to the Crimson offense this season as the trio has combined for seven points through the first three games of the season.
• All three rookies added their first career goals last weekend.
• Thompson currently leads the team in points with one goal and three assists in three games.
• Mick Thompson currently ranks fourth in points per game (1.33) in the nation among freshmen.
• Harvard is the fifth youngest team in the country, with an average age of 21.3 as of October 1

A LOOK AT THE SPECIAL TEAMS

• Ben McDonald has two of the four Crimson power play goals this season Lucas St. Louis And Casey Severo pick up the other two.
• Harvard scored three power play markers last weekend.
• The PK unit currently leads the ECAC with a 90.9% pass rate.
• Good for eighth in the country, Harvard has successfully killed eleven of twelve penalties this season.

RANKED CARMOMONS

• Harvard makes its first appearance in the weekly national rankings for the first time since the start of last season.
• Harvard earned a win over No. 15 Quinnipiac and checked in at No. 20 in the most recent USCHO poll, while coming in at No. 19 in the USA Hockey Coaches poll.

A BUSY PRE-SEASON

• The Crimson started the preseason with games against the American NTDP and number 3 Boston University.
• The Crimson, who hosted the American NTDP on October 18, fell behind 3-1 heading into the third period.
• Mick ThompsonCameron Johnson, Kyle AucoinAnd Justin Solovej all scored in the third to give Harvard a 5-4 comeback victory.
• Freshmen Mick Thompson, Lucas St. LouisAnd Justin Solovey combined for five points in the third period; Thompson pulled Harvard within one, Solovey scored the game winner and St. Louis added three assists.
• The Crimson then skated to a 2-2 tie with the nationally ranked Terriers on Saturday.
• Harvard then scored the first two goals Justin Solovey scored a breakaway goal and Lucas St. Louis added a power play marker.
• Aku Koskenvuo was solid in goal, making 31 saves against the Terriers.

LEADERSHIP GROUP

• Last season's captains Ian Moore And Zakary Karpa back, accompanied by Jack Bar in the leadership group.
• Seniors Karpa (89), Moore (93) and Bar (95) are all approaching 100 career games in a Crimson uniform.
• The Newport Beach, California, native Karpa added four goals and four assists in 31 games last season.
• Moore, a third-round selection of the Anaheim Ducks, scored a career-high three goals last season and added three goals and five assists in 21 games. Moore scored the overtime winner against Yale in Bright-Landry and the game-winning goal against Princeton in the first round of the ECAC playoffs.
• A native of Newmarket, Ontario, Bar added one goal and five assists in 27 games while leading the team in blocked shots.

PRE-SEASON POLL

• Harvard finished sixth in the ECAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Cornell (120 points) finished in first place with 10 first-place votes, while Quinnipiac (111 points) picked up two first-place votes and finished second.
• Harvard (73 points) trails Cornell, Quinnipiac, Dartmouth (93 points), Clarkson (82 points) and Colgate (75 points) while ranking above St. Lawrence (66 points).

RETURN TO THE CROMSON

• The Crimson returns 99% of its scorers and 98% of its points from last season.
• Harvard, the national leader in both categories, lost just one offensive senior.
• Harvard has the second-largest senior class (9) in the country, behind Cornell (10).

FRONT

• Major offensive producers Joe Miller, Ben McDonald, Kam JohnsonAnd Michael Callow they all return for the Crimson.
• Miller finished last season with 13 goals and 14 assists, earning spots on the All-ECAC Third Team and All-Ivy First Team. In January he was named ECAC Forward of the Month.
• Rising sophomores Ryan Fine, Kam Johnson, Michael CallowAnd Ben McDonald combined for four of the team's top 10 points.
• Last year's freshman class accounted for 24% of the total goals, while underclassmen accounted for 75% of the total goals in the 2023-2024 season.

ON THE BLUE LINE

• The Crimson returns an experienced D-corps in 2024-2025.
• Featured by Ian Moore, Jack Bar, Ryan HealeyAnd Mason LangenbrunnerHarvard's top four have played in many key moments.
• Ryan Healey was one of the country's most productive defenders, finishing with nine goals and 13 assists in 29 games. He earned ECAC Defenseman of the Month in January and ranked fourth nationally among defensemen with six power-play goals.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

• Junior Aku Koskenvuo returns as Harvard's starting goalie this season.
• A native of Espoo, Finland, Koskenvuo posted a 2.95 GAA and .910 save percentage last season, with key performances against Yale and Princeton.
• Koskenvuo made 21 saves in a 1-0 win over Yale in January and 29 saves in an overtime win at Bright-Landry, earning the Tim Taylor Award as MVP of the Harvard-Yale game.
• Koskenvuo followed that up with a 38-save shutout of Princeton in the ECAC playoffs.

CAREER CRASH

• Seniors Alex Gaffney (98), Ian Moore (93), Jack Bar (95), and Zakary Karpa (89) are on pace to play more than 100 career games this season.
• With four seniors set to reach this milestone, this is the highest number since 2017-2018.

THE 300 CLUB

• Ted Donato earned his 300th win against Yale on January 13, 2024, making him one of only three coaches in Harvard hockey history to reach this milestone.
• Donato is just 17 wins away from becoming Harvard men's hockey's all-time winningest coach.
• Donato is seventh in all-time wins among ECAC coaches and one of 15 active Division I coaches in the top 50 with more than 300 wins.

MATT GILROY TRANSPORTS THE STAFF

• A native of North Bellmore, NY, Gilroy played college hockey at Boston University, where he was a three-time All-American on defense.
• In 2009, Gilroy became the fifth player in history to win both the Hobey Baker Award and an NCAA championship in the same season.
• An undrafted free agent, Gilroy went on to play 225 NHL games and signed his first contract with the New York Rangers in 2009. He also played for the Lightning, Senators and Panthers before spending five seasons in Europe.
• Gilroy spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the American NTDP before joining Harvard.

GOES TO THE SEA

• Last November, the program announced that it would play in the Friendship 2024

Four.

• Harvard will join the four participants at BU, Merrimack and Notre Dame.
• The Crimson opens the tournament against Notre Dame in the first game.

FAMILY TIES

• Five Harvard players have ties to family members who played in the NHL.

NHL DRAFT PICKS

• For the second year in a row, Harvard is among the national leaders in NHL draft picks
• play college hockey. Harvard is ranked No. 6 in the country and currently has eleven NHL draft picks on its roster.

NEXT

Harvard plays UMass next Friday in its final tune-up before heading to Ireland for the Friendship Four.