Left behind will be the lessons of all that went wrong and experiences such as the one they had in the North Country this weekend. They played excellent hockey for one-and-a-half games and got pretty much what they deserved: a win and a tie.
If the Crimson replicated this weekend’s effort during a road playoff series in two weeks, would it win? Tough to say. If the opponent is Cornell, and the venue is Lynah Rink, probably not.
Could Harvard beat the Big Red, or another top-four team, in a road series? Sure. But the Crimson would need to play two perfect games to do it, and in order for that to happen, it must improve over the next two weeks.
There are still gaps in Harvard’s game—gaps in all three zones that may be exposed in this weekend’s home series against Vermont and Dartmouth, gaps that may be exploited during the first round of the playoffs.
But the talent is there. We never doubted that. And now, with the Crimson riding a three-game unbeaten streak, there is hope that the North Country trip won’t prove to be Harvard’s final road games of the season—in both senses of the term.
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—Staff writer Jon P. Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.