Fried described this year’s team as “hands down the best group of guys I have ever played with.”
“Outcomes aside, what a wonderful team we had,” he marveled. “I will never forget the stories and antics on and off the ice.”
“The guys that have come through that locker room in my time are some of the best friends and teammates I have ever had,” Smith said. “I will maintain many of those relationships the rest of my life.”
Of course, there’s no getting around the fact that the loss still hurts. It was an awful, awful defeat, the kind of game that gives you night sweats 30 and 40 years after the fact.
Smith said he “tried very hard” to keep the Maine game out of his mind last week. But, he admitted, “everybody I see wants to talk about it.”
“It doesn’t feel any better having had a week pass,” he said this weekend. “We are all less emotional about it now, but those types of defeats never feel right for competitive athletes.
“It was a very tough way to end our season and the seniors’ careers.”
What more can you say about it than that? It happened, you know? Four goals in 12 minutes.
Yes, it was a missed opportunity to take Harvard hockey to a higher level. Yes, it was a kick in the pants. Yes, they really blew it.
In the end, though, there will be little mention of Maine and Greg Moore and the 2004 NCAA East Regional when 41-year-old Kenny Smith picks up the phone to see how his man Timmy Pettit, that high-rolling Seattle businessman, is doing these days.
Instead, they’ll talk about the stuff none of us will ever know about. The stuff they went through together, from their first day on campus, to their two ECAC titles, to their last loss, to The Walk they take June 10.
“We will be making fun of each other for years to come,” Fried predicted. “Personally, every time I drink salt water or have my shorts pulled down in public, I’ll think of these guys. They’re a special group.”
Of course, that’s not to dismiss the seniors’ on-ice accomplishments: a 71-55-11 record, 16 ECAC tournament victories, three straight NCAA tournament appearances (longest streak since the ’80s), and two ECAC titles (first for a Harvard senior class).
They played some great, classic college hockey games. Tyler Kolarik winning the 2002 ECAC final against Cornell, the longest game in school history. Smith scoring with 38 seconds left to win this year’s ECAC crown. The six-goal comeback at The Whale in February that began the thrilling second-half run.
Turnabout came just over one week ago, with a comeback of equally epic proportions that saw Harvard on the sad, shell-shocked side. And it really, really hurt.
From Cancun to Cambridge to Key West, last week was spent trying to forget about it.
As for the rest of their four years? They’ll be remembered fondly. For a lifetime.
—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.