And though it will be tough to duplicate last season’s power-play success without its leading scorer, the squad believes an increased emphasis on sharing the puck will allow it to do well in man-up situations once again.
“Success on the power play doesn’t just come from one guy,” says Fallstrom, who registered five power-play goals last season. “We were able to establish great chemistry last year, and just being able to work off each other and be creative—I think that’s what the key is.”
“I don’t think our mentality changes this season,” adds Everson, who scored 62 percent of his goals and had 16 points on power plays a year ago. “All five guys know what they’re supposed to be doing, and they’re smart enough players to be able to adapt to the situation and find whatever hole [the defense is] giving us.”
Despite the success the group was able to generate on the power play last season, Donato still says there is ample room to improve.
“Last year our percentage was good, and we did a lot of good things on the power play, but I feel we also had some opportunities to win hockey games on the power play that we didn’t take advantage of,” the coach says. “That’s the next big step for us—to...be able to come up with a big power-play goal when the game’s on the line.”
To help take that next step, the team’s two top returning scorers both emphasized the need to stay on the attack.
“Our line was successful when we controlled the puck for long periods of time,” Everson says. “I spent a lot of time this summer working on puck control and body positioning along the boards so in games we can hold the puck for as long as possible.”
Those types of potential improvements have the team confident that in 2012-13, the Crimson can be just as successful in man-up situations as it was a season ago.
“Last year we had a brilliant power play,” Biega says. “[It was] unbelievable. But I don’t see why we can’t accomplish the same thing we did last year.”
—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.