{shortcode-48d887ebb592b49d6c61d6d82b46aa1f5781822c}Finally, the six Ivy League men’s hockey teams begin regular season play this weekend. As if Harvard had not waited long enough, it will have to wait an extra day. While Friday boasts a full slate of ECAC contests, the Crimson hits the ice only on Saturday evening, visiting Dartmouth.

“We’re super excited,” said sophomore defenseman Reilly Walsh. “Obviously, the game on [last] Saturday was a good exhibition to kind of get our feet wet, but this is where the real season starts. It’s going to be a completely different game.”

The Big Green clashed with Harvard five times last season — the Crimson took the win in four of those games, outscoring its opponent by a whopping 21-8 margin. But though recent history tilts the ice in Harvard’s favor, its fifth-place ECAC Pre-Season Media Poll is just one spot ahead of Dartmouth.

“[Dartmouth] is a team that would look at us as a measuring stick for what kind of team they want to be,” said head coach Ted Donato ’91. “There’s several pundits that have put them ahead of us. I know for us, we’re not okay with anybody else’s version of what we can be as a team.”

Both teams fell to a talented U.S. National Team Development Program’s U-18 squad in exhibition games last week. Perhaps the biggest difference-makers in the travel partners’ matchups of the past few years have been the players in net, but Merrick Madsen ’18 and Devin Buffalo both have bid their college programs farewell. While the Crimson will look to gain stability and chemistry that it lacked in stretches last season, the Big Green hopes to build off its end-of-the-year success. Both teams, in short, have things to prove.

Though Harvard’s 6-3 loss to the USNTDP team last Saturday has no bearing on standings, it is a useful glimpse at how the Crimson might line up this weekend. Sophomore Jack Badini looks to slot in as the top-line center, and though the team returns seven of its top-10 scorers, fresh faces dot the forward corps.

In particular, all eyes will be on rookies Jack Drury and Baker Shore, who will play down the middle behind Badini. Drury is the Carolina Hurricans' most recent second-round selection in the National Hockey League Entry Draft; Shore netted one of Harvard’s goals in the exhibition loss. The one-and-done nature of Saturday’s road trip will be a running start to the freshmen’s college careers.

“In some instances it’s nice to...spend the night in a hotel, and have the guys ease into it,” coach Donato said. “Whereas we’ll go to Dartmouth on the day of the game. As a coach and as a player you never really love doing that, but we’re not really in the business to make excuses.”

{shortcode-aa90f7a0a5363a95943cc5c4a8397170553c0d95}On the back end, the Crimson’s defense features five returning players, with 356 career games and 73 points between them. The latter number is good for second-highest in the ECAC.

Leading the way is All-American junior Adam Fox (6–22—28 last season), who scored twice against the USNTDP squad. Harvard’s strong right side is rounded out by the offensive-minded Walsh (7–13—20) and two-way junior John Marino (2–14—16). The rookie among this experienced bunch is Jack Rathbone, who skated with Marino on Saturday but has also played beside Fox in practice.

“[Fox] and [Marino are] two very good guys that I look up to, to get as much as I can from them,” Walsh said. “It translates over to our whole D corps as well, we’re all building off each other. I think we have one of the best D corps in the league...especially the right side, it’s pretty fun to be a part of it.”

The icemen from Hanover, N.H., return even more of their scoring from last season. Key to Dartmouth’s performance is the play of its “Timber Line,” juniors Will Graber and Shane Sellar, and sophomore Quin Foreman. Though the trio combined for only one goal against the Crimson last season, they have the potential to turn any game in the Big Green’s favor. But Dartmouth’s depth extends further than that, as its four goals in its exhibition contest came from secondary scorers.

If the Big Green and Harvard typically clash in high-scoring, one-sided affairs, the question is, which masked men will face the fire in net? Dartmouth junior Adrian Clark tended goal against the USNTDP team, and looks to be the squad’s goalie of choice. Clark is not unfamiliar to Crimson fans. He made a relief appearance in last year’s Harvard home opener, which ended in a 5-0 victory for the hosts, and earned his first career win as a freshman in an 8-4 rout at Thompson Arena, a pivotal contest after which the 2016-17 Crimson righted the course and played its way to the Frozen Four.

{shortcode-4dc4c03c2179b247b3f77bf007f684823fbbd9b3}Senior Michael Lackey (4-4-1, 2.72 GAA, .899 SV% last season) will most probably start for Harvard. Lackey played only two periods in last weekend’s exhibition tilt, but that’s not necessarily a predictor for the rest of the season. Last year, too, the coaching staff pulled Madsen after 40 minutes in its opening exhibition game, even when the Crimson was ahead.

Harvard has kept a clean sheet in five of its last six season openers, twice in contests against the Big Green. No doubt if the Crimson hopes to repeat that performance and start the year on a high, Lackey will need to be dialled in.

“They’re a tough team to play against,” Walsh said. “We’ve got to use our strengths, too, got to play with speed…. If we stick to our game plan and execute, there’s not that many teams in the league that can beat us.”

—Staff writer Stuti R. Telidevara can be reached at stuti.telidevara@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @StutiTelidevara.

—Staff writer Spencer R. Morris conducted the interviews for this story. He can be reached at spencer.morris@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @SMorrisTHC.