Johnson, who registered 20 points his rookie year and 14 last season—despite missing significant time to injury—was expected to lead a large part of Harvard’s offensive charge this season.

“We miss him,” Donato said, “but other teams have injuries, other teams have guys that go down, and we can’t be about excuses. We’ve got to be about finding solutions.”

Johnson is currently listed as day-to-day.

REDRAWING THE LINES

So early in the season, it is routine for a coach to shuffle the lines until combinations start to jell. But Johnson’s absence was certainly not one Donato anticipated—or wanted to plan around.

The show must go on, though, and freshman Mike Taylor got both of the weekend’s start in Johnson’s stead.

And though he didn’t start last weekend against Brown, Watters played both of this weekend’s contests after notching four points in the U.S. Under-18 exhibition.

The 6’4 Watters and his classmate, Jon Pelle, skated on senior Brendan Bernakevitch’s second line, and the latter two assisted on Harvard’s lone goal of the weekend—2:05 into the second period against the Raiders.

Also filling in holes throughout the weekend were sophomore Steve Mandes, freshman Paul Dufault and senior Andrew Lederman, all forwards.

The Crimson’s fourth line of junior Dan Murphy, freshman Tyler Magura and senior Rob Flynn—which provided particularly energetic play on Saturday—did not change, nor did Harvard’s three defensive pairings.

“We’re trying to get a little bit of life,” Donato said of the changes, “trying to find an offensive spark.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.