Last fall, Vesey clocked in at 16 percent body fat. By last month, he had lowered that number to 11.5 while maintaining roughly the same weight.

“My eating habits the last few years were pretty bad,” Vesey said. “I am kind of a picky eater.”

Vesey has cut out soft drinks from his meals and pays attention to the proportion of starches and proteins on his plate. His commitment to the plan reflects the business-like approach that his family and friends say he takes to his game.

“He’s a guy who’s always competing,” Criscuolo said. “He’s not going to take a drill off.”

Every time he steps on the ice in a Harvard sweater, Vesey puts pressure on himself to produce. Last season represented a learning process for the then-sophomore, who became the opposition’s main target on a young team that suffered from injuries down the stretch.

His season shots on goal total skyrocketed from 79 to 145, but he edged his freshman goal mark by only two, 11 to 13, thanks to a difficult final seven games that held him scoreless. The Crimson finished second to last in the ECAC and was swept by Yale in the conference tournament’s first round.

This season, Vesey says he will try to relax more and let his “natural instincts take over.” His new linemates Criscuolo and sophomore center Alexander Kerfoot should help in this area. The pair propelled Vesey to a three-goal, one-assist performance in a preseason scrimmage in Montreal earlier this month.

Despite his conscious effort to manage expectations, Vesey is unafraid to speak of his season goals in concrete terms.

He wants to become the first Harvard player since Killorn to break the 20-goal barrier, and he wants to win the Crimson’s first Beanpot in over 20 years.

“He told me [that] Harvard hasn’t won a Beanpot since the year he was born, ’93,” Vesey Sr. said. “So that’s a kid thinking there, looking at stuff. He wants to put that jersey back on and get the respect back at Harvard that Donato and those guys who played before him had.”

As he begins his upperclassman campaign, Vesey looks to close on unfinished business.

“I came to Harvard because I believed that by coming here, we could be a team that competed for a national championship, and Beanpot, and ECAC titles,” Vesey said. “I wouldn’t want to leave here without achieving at least one of those goals.”

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at mdledecky@gmail.com.