What was the high point for the Harvard men’s hockey team this year?

“Good question,” responded rising junior forward and incoming co-captain Kyle Criscuolo. “Um, I’ll have to come back to that one.”

Criscuolo’s hesitation is understandable. The Crimson’s 2013-2014 campaign, which ended in a two-game sweep by Yale in the first round of the ECAC tournament, offered few rivalry victories or memorable upsets.

After placing last in the conference for the first time in program history last year, Harvard finished just one spot better this season, with the same number of wins in the conference (six) and overall (10).

“I think it was just a tough year,” Criscuolo said. “We didn’t score many goals, and that kind of hurt us with a lot of freshmen.”

New excitement surrounded the Crimson program as coach Ted Donato ’91 began his 10th season behind the bench. Harvard welcomed a top-tier recruiting class, promoted a special game with Yale, and prepared for renovations on its rink.

Yet just like the current construction on the Bright-Landry Hockey Center, Donato’s rebuilding plan is not complete.

“I thought that our commitment to defense and our compete-level and effort was there,” Donato said. “I think that we just were an exceptionally young team, and we struggled to score goals.”

Freshman centers Sean Malone and Alexander Kerfoot stepped in  to replace Alex Fallstrom ’13 and Luke Greiner ’13 on the team’s top two lines, where the rookies joined classmate Luke Esposito and sophomores Jimmy Vesey, Brian Hart, and Criscuolo.

Sophomore defensemen Max Everson and Patrick McNally, meanwhile, returned from year-long hiatuses as the Crimson tried to address the graduation of All-American Danny Biega ’13.

On offense, the growing pains were evident. The Crimson averaged 2.23 goals per game—the eighth-lowest in Division I—and Harvard blue-liners combined for only four goals.

Multiple injuries and roster withdrawals placed extra responsibility on the Crimson’s underclassmen as the season progressed. Harvard ran three full lines of freshmen and sophomores for several games in the middle of the season.

Donato feels that the lack of veteran experience on the team’s top lines created a challenging dynamic.

“I think there was, at times, a little bit of a lack of cohesion in leadership throughout the group,” Donato said.

After a promising start that included a comeback tie on the road and a shutout win at home against Rensselaer, Harvard would not string together a pair of back-to-back wins until early February.