When John Ronan scored the overtime-winner to give Maine a 4-3 victory over the Harvard men’s hockey team in last year’s NCAA East Regional, a buzz went along press row at the Worcester Centrum.

Who the heck is John Ronan?

The Maine media knew who he was. “Yeah, Ronan,” they said. “Fourth-line wing…from Braintree, Mass.…doesn’t score much.”

And they were right. Most games, Ronan wasn’t on the ice for offensive reasons. But that March afternoon, the Black Bears were without 46-point scorer Colin Shields because of an adverse reaction to medication for a sore tooth. Bizarre as it was, someone had to step up and Ronan did.

“They had their fourth line out ‘X’ amount of times and we didn’t do that,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said in the press conference afterward. “Adding another class to our team next year will help us immensely as to the overall depth of our program.”

One year later, that statement is ringing as true as a slap shot off the post.

The Crimson swept Vermont this weekend to advance to the ECAC semifinals for the third consecutive season, and its depth was a big reason why.

Harvard took Game 1, 4-2, without a goal from junior Tim Pettit, captain Dominic Moore or senior Brett Nowak—three players who are among the top four scorers in the ECAC—or from other offensive standouts like sophomores Tom Cavanagh and Noah Welch.

Instead, all of the scoring came from Kenny Turano and Dennis Packard, two junior forwards playing their best hockey of the season—if not their careers.

Turano began the two-man show by one-timing a feed from Cavanagh 3:41 into the game, giving the Crimson its all-important 1-0 lead. (Harvard is now 19-1-1 when scoring first.)

The goal was Turano’s first on the power play in over two years, dating back to Game 1 of the 2001 opening round series with Yale. Turano had found a niche during the final weeks of the season playing on a line with Nowak and Harry Schwefel ’01 and finished with 13 points, including eight over the final eight games.

Turano seemed poised for even more production last season, but it didn’t come. With Schwefel having graduated and Nowak skating on a different line, Turano struggled to get ice time and finished the year with two points.

This season didn’t start off much better. With increased depth at forward thanks to freshmen Charlie Johnson and Dan Murphy, Turano found himself in and out of the lineup for much of the first half. But after missing four straight, he dressed for the Dec. 15 game at Maine. Sure enough, he got a goal. Later in the game, he broke a finger. He didn’t play for another month and a half.

“That injury slowed things down a bit,” Turano said. “Just being out and watching from the stands made me appreciate it more. You get a different perspective on what you have to do.”

Turano brought that perspective with him when he skated in the first game after exams, a 3-1 win over Brown, and he hasn’t watched a game in coat and tie since. He had two assists in his second game back and has looked very comfortable playing on a line with Moore and Johnson.