But against stiff odds, the defense held strong. There were few of the odd-man rushes and turnovers in The defensive zone that plagued the Crimson last season. The Crimson allowed only 53 shots on goal for the weekend. Last year, the defense regularly gave up more than 30 a game. Last year, the defense regularly gave up more than 30 a game.

Crothers also impressed, in just his first-ever full weekend in goal. Crothers made both the routine and the occasional impressive save. Most of the goals scored against him this weekend were on shots that surprised him, ones off of rebounds or skates that are hard for any goaltender.

Most importantly, Crothers and the team never got rattled, not even when Dartmouth picked up the two quick goals to start the game.

“After they scored two goals, it’s easy to say ‘here we go again,’” Moore said. “It’s a real good sign for our team that we managed to stay on an even keel.”

Don’t expect everything to go as well as it did last night, however. With so many freshmen and sophomores, it’s unrealistic to expect the offense, defense and goaltending to all perform well each weekend. The defense will make characteristic youthful mistakes, and Crothers may let in a goal or two. We’ll likely even see flashes of the uninspired play against Brown.

The Crimson can also expect teams to emulate Brown’s slow, physical, defensive style in the future—except these opponents will have far more talent, making Harvard’s job even tougher.

In all, there will be many bumps on the road ahead as the team slowly gains experience. But judging from Harvard’s performance last night, at the end of that road should lie one impressive hockey team.