The Crimson played on Olympic-sized (200-by-100 feet) ice in Minnesota during the Dodge Holiday Classic, earning a scoreless tie and a 6-4 loss for their extra efforts.
“There’s a lot more ice out there to make plays,” Welch said, adding that this time around, Harvard is going to practice on bigger sheets in advance.
On Wednesday, the Crimson skated at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, which measures 200-by-90 feet. The team traveled to Amherst Thursday, when each of the four regional semifinal squads was granted time on the UMass practice rink.
The practice rink measures the same size as Mullins, on which the teams will be able to skate Friday. Come Saturday, though, Harvard will find itself skating against a New Hampshire squad that boasts its own Olympic-sized sheet and has already skated in the Mullins Center this season.
“We will, hopefully, be a bit used to it,” Donato said, “and I think that should help us.”
LED-DOWN
Senior forward Andrew Lederman is tied as the Crimson’s second-most efficient scorer, averaging 0.76 points per contest.
He has knocked home two game-winning goals, four power-play scores, and his 19 points place him in a four-way tie for third place. He is, according to Donato, “an important part of this team.”
But Lederman has skated just once in the last six games, the odd man out due to Harvard’s wealth of forwards.
After more than 96 minutes of play Friday against Colgate, though—the game ended at 11:42 p.m., less than 24 hours before the beginning of Saturday’s championship game—Lederman appeared a viable option, a fresh set of legs for a weary squad. He remained, however, a healthy scratch for the Big Red contest.
“It’s always a tough decision to decide whether you want to go with more speed and skill or you want to go with more size,” Donato said. “Certainly, Cornell’s a very big team.”
As for Lederman’s prospects in the regional semifinal—the senior skated Tuesday’s practice with freshman Tyler Magura, a fourth-line mainstay. Donato would only say, “I expect [him] to be a very important part [of our team]...coming down the stretch.”
—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.