The Harvard men’s hockey team beat Yale and Princeton this weekend with less-than-perfect efforts. In tonight’s game against No. 1 Boston College, though, the Crimson (2-2-1, 2-2-1 ECACHL) can ill afford any mistakes.

This evening’s showdown with the Eagles in Bright Hockey Center will be shown on CN8, the second of a handful of Harvard games to be broadcast, either regionally or nationally, this season.

Currently sitting atop the national rankings, Boston College (4-1-1, 2-0-1 Hockey East) has suffered just one loss, this coming at the hands of Notre Dame. In that game, the Eagles allowed a shorthanded goal with 15 seconds left on the clock and lost 3-2.

The squad is averaging nearly 20 penalty minutes per game, as well as 3.00 goals, and junior forward Patrick Eaves leads his team in points with a 3-8-11 line.

Boston College kicked off this season with a 6-2 win over reigning champion and current No. 11 Denver. The Eagles also downed No. 9 North Dakota 5-3 and No. 12 Maine 3-1.

Boston College narrowly defeated the Crimson last year, winning 3-2 in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and the Eagles won again in Beanpot action, that time 4-1.

The puck drops tonight at 7 p.m.

JACK OF ALL TRADES

Collegiate. Professional. National. Olympic. You name the level of hockey, and Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 has won on it—as a player. This weekend’s homestand against Yale and Princeton gave the Crimson skipper a new bullet point for the old resume, though—a coaching win. Two of them, in fact.

“It feels good,” Donato said on Friday night, after Harvard earned the coach his first victory with a 3-1, come-from-behind effort over the Bulldogs.

“I think I’m more happy for our guys that they were rewarded for all the effort that they gave,” he added.

It took four games for Donato to notch his first win. The Crimson tied Brown in its season opener after leading 2-0 and dropped road contests to Cornell and Colgate, managing just one goal and 39 shots between the two nights.

This weekend, though, belonged to Harvard. The Crimson followed the Yale contest with an 8-6 pasting of the Tigers—not the prettiest victory, but a victory nonetheless.

The team took a necessary step towards establishing itself at home, and though the weekend did not feature the cleanest play, Harvard proved itself capable of both comebacks and offensive explosions.

Most important, though: the two wins earned the squad four points in the ECACHL standings, and the team now sits in third place with five points.