“They’re big guys, and they’re very effective in the offensive zone,” Mazzoleni said. “They play a very strong, puck-protection game down low, and they’re very good at getting to the net.”

The line has picked up its offensive play over the last month, with Bernakevitch scoring 10 points in the team’s last eight games. Packard has eight points in his last nine games, after recording one point in his nine games before that.

Mazzoleni said the line “absolutely manhandled” Yale, when it combined for three goals, eight points and a plus-10 rating.

“Over the last couple weeks, they’ve been much improved off the rush,” Mazzoleni said. “They’re reading off each other very well.”

Briefly

Sophomore winger Charlie Johnson practiced yesterday. He will not travel this weekend because of a separated shoulder sustained at Yale, but he could return as early as next weekend’s home series with Dartmouth and Vermont …

Harvard assistant coach Bruce Irving brought his newborn son, Jackson Beck Irving, to practice on Wednesday. Jackson was born at nine pounds, 10 ounces on Feb. 3. His proud papa expects him to be on skates “as soon as he can stand up.” …

Think a seven-hour bus ride to Potsdam, N.Y., is a long road trip? As a junior in high school, Smith spent a total of six weeks in four countries—the Czech Republic, Finland, Switzerland and Germany—while playing with the U.S. National Team Developmental Program.

“Everybody on this [Harvard] team has played at levels where there’s tons of travel, so this isn’t anything to a lot of the guys,” Smith said.

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.