Turano could return to the ice in February. In the meantime, Mazzoleni has promoted freshman winger Brendan Byrne from the junior varsity to the varsity.

Byrne, one of the all-time leading scorers at Milton Academy, was recruited by several ECAC schools, but came to Harvard as a middle infielder, not a hockey player, and will maintain his primary commitment to the varsity baseball team.

Yes, he really was that good

After watching Cornell senior Ryan Vesce’s seven-point performance last Saturday at Princeton, Mike Schafer told USCHO.com staff writer and former Crimson hockey scribe Mike Volonnino ’01 that it was unlike anything he had seen with the Big Red, including four years as a player and the last nine as coach.

Looking at the tape didn’t change his opinion.

“You really wonder—seven points,” Schafer said. “But Ryan Vesce is one of the best team kids we’ve ever had here, and you know a lot of guys get phantom assists over the course of a season, but every assist he had was a great play—a faceoff win or a real good feed to someone else.

“It was just one of those nights for him. He was involved in seven scoring chances, and every time someone scored or he scored. That doesn’t happen very often.”

After a loss and tie against Western Michigan to begin the season, Cornell swept Yale and Princeton and is back in a place it has occupied for much of the last two seasons: first place in the ECAC.

Cornell’s season could come down to goaltending, following the early departure of Hobey Baker finalist goaltender David LeNeveu.

Freshman goaltender David McKee has played in each of the team’s first four games and is 2-1-1 with a 2.46 goals-against average. Senior Todd Marr, who had a sub-2.00 GAA over four starts last season, has been out thus far with a nagging injury but will have an opportunity to play once he is healthy, Schafer said.

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

Editor’s note: This column will appear regularly on the Harvard Hockey page.