Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Harvard’s slow start was the fact that it came during what was, collectively, the easiest eight-game block of the season. Six home games were included in that span, but the Crimson went only 3-3, and its three ECAC losses are one shy of the number it had all of last season (17-4-1).
The flip side of Harvard’s home-heavy start is that eight of its next nine games are on the road, beginning Friday at Colgate.
“I think it’ll be good for us to get on the road, because I think the road-style game is going to benefit us now,” Kolarik said. “Play tight D, limit our mistakes, and win those one- or two-goal games. That’s the kind of game we’re going to have to play, night in and night out, whether we’re at home or on the road … It’s going to be that kind of a season, and the sooner we can realize that, the sooner we’ll be a successful team.”
The competition isn’t getting easier, either. At one point, the Crimson will play three ranked teams in a row—Boston College, Massachusetts and St. Cloud State.
And in its bid to make up for a sluggish start, Harvard has a big ally: Brown.
Because of the league’s geographical distribution, the ECAC has long structured its schedule around a travel partner system that pairs up the 12 schools with a nearby school. Each weekend, three sets of teams go on the road to play the other three pairs, visiting one school Friday and the other Saturday.
The Crimson’s travel partner is Brown. Given the Bears’ early-season success (6-1-1, 6-1-0 ECAC) and contrasting style, Harvard holds a tactical advantage in its Saturday night games, since most coaches focus preparation on the Friday opponent.
“It helps us, it helps Brown,” Mazzoleni said. “When we play the team that they played the night before, we know the other team had to play hard. I hope they feel the same way about us.
“Prior to about probably two years ago, that was probably the easiest trip anyone had. Now it’s completely changed.”
Clarkson coach George Roll, whose team lost in Providence but shut out the Crimson on the road last weekend, thinks the Harvard-Brown combo is the toughest in the ECAC.
He said both teams are different than he remembers from his time as a Clarkson assistant (1988-1996). Harvard won a national championship during that stretch, and was known for Billy Cleary hockey: Lots of tough, little forwards skating you dizzy, with a couple gritty guys on the back line to keep you honest.
Now, Roll said, “Harvard is a lot bigger, a lot more physical, a lot stronger.”
The Crimson used to be regarded as the tougher game of the two. Now it’s tough to call. The Bears are the 12th-ranked team in the country and have the nation’s best power play and its second-best penalty kill. Goalie Yann Danis is a bona fide Hobey Baker candidate.
“I haven’t seen everybody in the league yet, but with that goaltending, they could be the team,” Roll said. “That’s a very good hockey club with a real good goaltender.”
—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.