Paul scored an amazing 100 points and won the Hobey Baker Award during the ’92-’93 season—his first at Maine—and is now an NHL star with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

But that’s not to say that Martin is without his own merits. He potted an amazing four goals—and assisted on another—against Providence on Jan. 4.

Shields was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team after notching 25 points in league play and 45 in all.

Depth is also a strength of the Black Bears, as 10 players have collected 20 or more points this season.

MacDonald—whose River Hawks defeated Harvard, 2-0, in the Denver Cup semifinals—indicated that Maine’s offense is catalyzed by aggressive defensive play by its forwards, something the Crimson has employed at different times this season.

“They generate most of their offense off of turnovers—through counterattacks and initial rush opportunities,” he said. “They have a very strong forecheck. They’re very aggressive in neutral zone. It’s more of a ‘1-4’ where they try to trap you, make you turn the puck over, and then really counterattack.”

In the Big Green’s 4-1 loss to the Black Bears on Jan. 6, Gaudet saw much of the same thing.

“Maine is very quick and they work hard,” Gaudet said. “They have forwards that can forecheck aggressively, but they have a lot of team speed in transition, too. They’re a well-disciplined and hard working team, in addition to that speed. They come at you. I’m not sure if they have any glaring weaknesses.”

For the moral of the story, I turn to Coach MacDonald.

“Harvard should be concerned with taking care of puck, having good numbers back, generating their offense off their defense, and creating turnovers,” he said. “Harvard’s defensemen need to really take care of puck.”

It’s pretty simple, really. Don’t feed the Bears.

That’s nothing new for the Crimson, though, as it used those strategies to beat Cornell last weekend. If it’s able to do the same on Saturday, Harvard has a good chance to win.

Defense

With both teams strong on the offensive end, this is where Saturday’s game will be won or lost. Whichever team plays better defensively, wins.

Harvard certainly has to feel good about its chances in that regard, as its defensive corps grew leaps and bounds at Lake Placid, having one of its best outings of the year against Cornell.