And both are sure to play an important role this weekend. It was special teams that cost both New York contests for the Crimson earlier in the year, and it was untimely and unnecessary penalties that gave the Big Red and the Raiders both man-advantages and momentum.
Now, two months later, Harvard is at the very bottom of the penalty list—and thus tops—with an average of 13.3 minutes per game.
“If we take aggressive penalties,” said Welch, “that’s fine. A lot of the penalties we were taking were kind of lazy penalties, not moving our feet, maybe staying out on the ice too long.
“We’re not playing any different,” he added. “We’re playing hard, but guys are just playing smarter, and playing more with their legs rather than with their sticks.”
And the captain, the team and the coach are all hoping that this time around, things will be different with Colgate and Cornell.
Said Donato with a slight smile, “We like the prospect at getting another shot at these guys.”
—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.