“John has earned his playing time, just as Will earned his playing time before me, and I earned my playing time when I came here,” Grumet-Morris said. “There’s no problem whatsoever. If anything, it prepares our team better, in the event of an injury or someone having a bad run.”

Asked if he’d be “totally fine” if the two shared time the rest of the season, Grumet-Morris smiled.

“I’d be ‘totally fine’ with winning,” he said. “That’s the only important thing right now. As long as we win, that’s what we’re focused on.”

Daigneau spent last summer in his hometown of Milwaukee, training and working a construction job. He returned to Harvard with the same approach he had as a freshman: “Push Dov, because I know Dov is going to push me.”

But Daigneau understands that Grumet-Morris is still the first option.

“I don’t have any expectations as far as playing time,” Daigneau said. “Coach is going to give me what he feels I deserve. I just have to work hard to show him my best, and the rest is up to him. I can only control it to a certain point.”

Of course, Daigneau knew it was going to be this way. At the time he was making his college decision, Crothers (then a sophomore) and Grumet-Morris (then a freshman) were dueling for playing time.

Amazing as it sounds, Daigneau almost didn’t get recruited at all. He played his final year of junior hockey with the USHL’s Chicago Steel but was cut by that club at the beginning of the season.

He next played in Albany, N.Y., with the Eastern Junior Hockey League for a month, and then came back to Chicago when the Steel had an opening—only to be cut again. At that point, Daigneau was not a strong candidate to play Division I college hockey.

But one more chance came. The Steel invited him back for a third time. By November, he was the starter, and by January, coaches were calling. With his list pared down to two schools—ECAC rivals Harvard and Cornell—he visited the respective campuses on consecutive weekends: Cambridge first, then Ithaca.

On his visit to Harvard, he spent a lot of time with Grumet-Morris and “fell in love with just being here.”

“I just fell in love with the school, and thought that, if I came here and worked hard, I’d get some chances and go from there,” Daigneau said.

And here he is, having thoroughly impressed Mazzoleni, the former goaltender and a self-proclaimed harsh critic, and earned that chance after a little more than one season. Everyone at Bright Hockey Center, it seems—coaches, teammates, and even Grumet-Morris—is looking forward to seeing what will happen next.

“We’re excited to see John get a chance to get in there, and do what he can do,” said captain Kenny Smith, adding that he’s sure Grumet-Morris “will do great on Saturday.”

“We’ve got two goalies who are great people,” Smith continued, “and great players.”

So maybe they’re not that different after all.

—Staff writer John P. Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu