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The Harvard men's ice hockey team (3-4-1, 2-2-1 ECAC) is back at home this weekend for its final two games of the calendar year, taking on the No. 20 Clarkson Golden Knights (9-5-2, ECAC 3-1-0) and the St. Lawrence Saints (4-11-0, ECAC 0-4-0). Building off of its last few games, Harvard is looking to go into the winter recess on a high note by gaining important points in the ECAC Standings.

The Crimson is coming off a weekend overseas at the Friendship Four Tournament, where it lost to Notre Dame (6-10-0, 1-7-0 Big 10) and beat Merrimack (3-9-1, 2-5-1 HEA). The 4-2 win over the Warriors was achieved primarily through the efforts of junior forward Casey Severo, who picked up three goals to help secure the win. This marked Severo’s first hat trick in a Harvard uniform and earned him the distinction of ECAC Forward of the Week.

“Feels good to be honored,” said Severo, when asked about the award. “Definitely had a good weekend, and it was big to get a win and it felt great for the confidence, but need to get two more wins this weekend.”

The Crimson’s first game of the weekend is tonight against Clarkson. The Golden Knights will be looking to get back into the win column this weekend following two overtime losses during last weekend's match up between No. 10 Providence College (10-3-2) and No. 14 UMass Lowell (10-3-1). The Knights will be a difficult foe for the Crimson to overcome, as they have shown their ability to compete with other top teams.

Saturday's game will be against St. Lawrence, which currently sits at the bottom of the ECAC standings. St. Lawrence also played against Providence and UMass Lowell last weekend, losing 2-1 and 2-0, respectively. Although their record doesn’t not reflect it, the Saints will put up a fight and should not be overlooked.

If Harvard wants to be successful this weekend, it must put together 60 minutes of clean play in both games. It will need to come out firing in the first period, otherwise it will be punished again early just as the Notre Dame loss proved last weekend. Facing off against a top 20 opponent, it is crucial that it does not give up any easy chances, especially early on in the game. The Crimson needed to establish its dominance early on and control the game instead of having to fight back as it had to do in other games.

Harvard also needs to produce more high quality shots that challenge the opponent’s goalie, forcing him to make a save and hopefully leave a rebound in front to capitalize on. Clarkson’s goalie Ethan Langenegger has been putting on an impressive performance thus far this season, only allowing 10 goals in his last 6 games. The Crimson will need to test him early on if it wants to put points up on the board.

Another offensive focus for Harvard must be its woeful power play, as it has gone 0/11 in the last four games. Not being able to capitalize on the man-up opportunities has hurt the Crimson so far this season. During these windows, the Crimson has only put up a total of 17 shots. These man-up moments have the ability to shift the momentum of close games, and they need to be taken advantage of if the Crimson wants to be successful.

“The maturity of this group and finding ways to win I think will be key as we close out these next two ECAC games,” said Severo, when asked about how the team is looking to win this upcoming weekend.

Harvard will look to continue its momentum tonight as it returns home to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center for its last homestand of the 2024 calendar year. Puck drop against Clarkson is at 7:00 p.m., with the match-up against the Saints starting at the same time tomorrow. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

—Staff writer Owen Butler can be reached at owen.butler@thecrimson.com

—Staff writer Tommy Branca can be reached at tommy.branca@thecrimson.com

—Staff writer Katharine Forst can be reached at katharine.forst@thecrimson.com