Thus far, Marino has been playing alongside perhaps the Crimson’s best returning D-man, 6’7” Wiley Sherman, who is fully healthy after suffering a season-ending arm injury last postseason. And Fox—who Donato likened to Patrick McNally ’15, Harvard’s last true offensive defenseman—has already logged three assists and become a core piece of the power play.

“These guys with great offensive abilities and great decision-making and great instincts, sometimes I feel they’re born as much as they are developed,” Ted Donato said. “I think a guy like Adam Fox… really sees the second and third layers of offense.”

In the back, junior goaltender Merrick Madsen is set to mind the Crimson net once again. Madsen had a breakout year last season, producing an 18-7-3 record, a 2.00 goals against average, and a .931 save percentage—eighth best in the country.

Meanwhile, sophomore Michael Lackey, who battled Madsen for the starting job last season, will be unavailable at least for the first few months of the season with an undisclosed injury. Donato says Lackey had some work done this offseason and the team will re-evaluate where he stands “closer to the New Year.”

With all these pieces, Harvard was predicted to finish third in both ECAC preseason polls—right where the Crimson wound up at the end of the regular season a year ago. Furthermore, Kerfoot says the team has “really high expectations.”

“We obviously lost some key guys… but the last two years, we made it to the final of the ECAC championship and made it to the NCAA tournament,” Kerfoot said. “We want to build off that and take another step this year.”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MeagherTHC.