But certainly Grumet-Morris didn’t deserve all the blame. Both Esdale and Ford had clear shooting lanes because of breakdowns in the defensive zone.

In all fairness, this was just the first game of the season, and Harvard did show some flashes of the relentless forechecking that helped it win the ECAC title last year.

But the Crimson needs to make some improvements on both ends of the ice—and fast. As the reigning conference champion, Harvard won’t be able to take any nights off, and it can expect several teams in the league to compare quite favorably with Brown in terms of talent.

In that sense, Saturday night was a good barometer for the Crimson—a barometer whose needle is now stuck somewhere between “good hockey team” and “hockey team that needs work.”

“This isn’t the end of the world,” Mazzoleni said on Saturday. “We’ll make improvements.”

There’s no doubt they will—heck, they’d better. The old line, “Harvard is still young. Wait ’til next year,” went straight out the window of the 1980 Olympic Rink when Tyler Kolarik scored in double-overtime to capture the ECAC championship last March.

After all, Harvard has been pointing to this season as The Season for a few years. There’s little margin for error.

“We can’t overreact,” Moore said. “This is just one loss.”

True. And there’s no cause for great concern.

Yet.

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.