Senior forward TYLER KOLARIK contributed four points—one goal and three assists—in Friday's 6-4 win over Vermont.

HANOVER, N.H.—After a season-opening performance in which the Harvard men’s hockey team seemed to struggle with every facet of the game, this weekend’s contests against Vermont and Dartmouth answered many questions about the Crimson, but also left many unanswered.

One thing that was clearly established was Harvard’s offense, which finally started to fire on all cylinders, tallying eight goals over two games. But uncertainty remains about Crimson’s penalty kill unit, which has been incredibly inefficient, and hurt all the more by the sheer quantity of penalties taken.

Amid the special teams frustrations, the play of Noah Welch and Peter Hafner against Dartmouth’s top forwards was a good sign, as was the play of freshman defender Dylan Reese.

Defensive Duo

Coming off a game against Vermont that he watched in street clothes, junior defenseman Noah Welch combined with sophomore linemate Peter Hafner to match up every shift against Dartmouth’s top line of forwards—Hugh Jessiman, Lee Stempniak and Mike Ouellette.

The strategy wasn’t unexpected; Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet and Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni mentioned how effective it was when Harvard deployed it’s two sizable defenseman against the Big Green’s top line.

“[Welch and Hafner], these are two good defensemen,” Gaudet said.  “They kinda matched them up against Hugh’s line last year, too.”

And over the four games that Mazzoleni has matched Welch and Hafner against that line, the Crimson defense has held Dartmouth’s top two scorers—Jessiman tallied 47 points last year in his ECAC Rookie of the Year season, while junior linemate Stempniak accumulated 49—in relative check.

“We tried the best we could to match our top defense against [Dartmouth’s best offense],” Mazzoleni said.  “[Gaudet] gets last change, so we could have him out there and he has the right to flip them….I don’t think Jessiman and that line has scored a goal on us in how long?  Two years? We’ve had some success with that matchup.”

Some success is right, although Mazzoleni is overestimating the extent of Welch and Hafner’s effectiveness against Dartmouth.  Over the course of the last four games, that forward line has accounted for five Dartmouth goals, but in the three meetings last year—all Harvard victories—those goals meant little.

Aside from the obvious effort to counter an opponent’s best players with your own, Welch and Hafner have physical advantages that many other defenders don’t.

Welch, the all-American, is a burly 6’4 defenseman who is very physical and yet quick on his feet. Hafner has started to hit more often this season, but his greatest asset is the reach afforded him by his lanky 6’5 frame and his on-ice footwork.

This combination of size, reach, strength and skating ability poses problems for Dartmouth. Jessiman, at 6’5 and a bulky 215 lbs., is used to being by far the biggest man on the ice; against Hafner and especially Welch, he is not able to physically move defensemen off the puck as he has grown accustomed to against many teams.

Likewise, Stempniak uses his speed and puck-handling ability to great effect against many defensive pairings. Against Welch and Hafner, though, he often has the puck stick-checked away before he is able to maneuver towards the net.

“Stempniak is a guy that seems to get free more easily with his skating ability,” Gaudet said.  “Hugh is such a big, tall kid that sometimes it’s tough to get going when people are on him like [Welch and Hafner].