“I wouldn’t say one versus the other has had an upper hand in training camp, and just being fair, you go with the kid who has been your No. 1 in years past,” Mazzoleni said of his decision to start Grumet-Morris in the opener. “We’re going to find out if we have two kids that are capable of being No. 1s, or if one versus the other is going to take control of the situation.
“Both have played very well in training camp, and they both knew going into training camp that this was going to be an open competition this year. It would be different if one had played much better than the other, but that didn’t happen.”
Grumet-Morris has experience playing in a tandem. As a freshman, he split time with Will Crothers before earning the job outright in February of 2002.
“My job is to stop pucks—that’s what Coach Mazzoleni wants me to do,” he said. “Regardless of what’s written in the paper or what someone else says, my job is to get in the net and battle every night.”
Mazzoleni’s personnel decisions aren’t easier elsewhere. In training camp and exhibition wins over the University of Guelph and Dartmouth, 15 forwards have made legitimate claims to ice time. With the exception of senior Rob Fried—who Mazzoleni said was questionable for the weekend because of a nagging injury —all of them should be available Saturday.
Mazzoleni was still wrestling with his line combinations Wednesday afternoon.
“I know you’re going to ask me, but I can’t tell you what our lines are going to be yet,” he said. “I just don’t know ... They’re going to be tough coach’s decisions because you don’t like to see kids agonize. They want to play, but you have to have internal competition.”
The who-to-skate, who-to-sit decision for the defensemen was relatively easy to make—for this week only. Noah Welch will be with Peter Hafner, Kenny Smith with Tom Walsh and Dave McCulloch with Dylan Reese. All of that could change next week, though, when junior Ryan Lannon returns from a one-game suspension that went along with a butt-ending/game disqualification penalty against Boston University in last year’s NCAA tournament.
“Maybe you can call me and tell me who I should take out next week,” quipped Mazzoleni. “I couldn’t tell you. It’s that close.”
But at least after Saturday night, he’ll have a regular-season game to evaluate his players by.
“There are a lot of schools in college hockey who have played eight games,” he said. “We gotta get this thing rolling.”
And there is little doubt that the players—along with the growing number of hockey fans on campus—are ready, as well.
“There’s a lot of excitement around,” Smith said. “Lots of people have been coming up to us, talking to me and the other guys in class.
“They realize the kind of potential we have.”
A win on Saturday would be a big indication that the team is ready to do the same.
—Staff writer Jon P. Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.