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On Halloween night, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team (0-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) fell to the No. 9-ranked University of Connecticut Huskies (4-3-0, 0-0-0 Big East) in the Crimson’s first matchup of the regular season.
Harvard kept UConn in wraps through the first period on the back of sophomore goaltender Ben Charette, whose continually strong performance prevented several odd-man rushes just as it had against Northeastern two weeks ago in the 4-2 exhibition win.
Charette recently earned the nod for ECAC Men’s Hockey Preseason All-League team in late September after previously earning All-Rookie honors. His .926 save percentage and 2.25 GAA and put him second and fifth in the ECAC, respectively.
The Crimson’s offense also managed to match the Huskies’ output with 10 shots on net, though the Huskies carried a slight edge on faceoffs with two-thirds won through the first.
Two holding penalties gave Harvard its first powerplay opportunities as it hoped to take hold of the back-and-forth affair, but it was UConn that took initiative and scored off a sloppy turnover in the Crimson’s defensive zone, making the game 1-0 as the puck shot in between Charette’s pads.
Including the exhibition outing, Harvard’s powerplay starts the season 0-5 but the team hopes to improve in the coming weeks to meet its prior season percentage of 22.6.
The scrappy play was to be expected in the season opener as players get used to the flow of competition and attempt to translate their learnings in practice onto the ice.
As Head Coach Ted Donato ‘91 remarked on last year’s opening-night loss to Dartmouth, much of these teams’ performances are mental. Lost pucks, missed coverage, and lack of offense are not uncommon during this acclimation period.
Yet had it not been for the early-game shivers, Harvard could reasonably have been ahead entering the final period.
It continued to put on shots, a major spot of emphasis for Donato and the team after last season. While past games reflected close shot totals at the end of contests, shots on net were sorely lacking at the start of games.
The Crimson had also swung the faceoff battle back in its favor with a 10-3 differential in the middle period and had still not taken any penalties, an area that arguably plagued the team most last year.
Harvard was soon rewarded as it tied the game a minute and a half into the closing period off freshman forward Richard Gallant’s shot from the left circle aimed above the Husky goaltender’s left shoulder marking the first of his collegiate career.
Pressing on late, the Crimson forced more and more pucks in front of the net and had its more tenacious players like senior forward Casey Severo playing up in front of the crease hoping to force another goal in.
Junior forward Justin Solovey took it upon himself to try and end the game with time ticking down in the final minute, taking the puck through the offensive zone on his own, carrying it behind the net, and forcing a play on net, but was ultimately stifled by oncoming Husky defensemen.
Despite the hard-fought effort all game, Harvard struggled to pace its offense in the subsequent 3-on-3 5-minute overtime.
UConn controlled the puck for the entire first minute and took advantage of numerous other breakaway chances Charette was able to defend against. Harvard managed little offense in response.
A close-call for the Huskies was then turned away by the officials for a player pushing Charette into the net forcing the puck in illegally. The game ended through four frames still tied at one.
A prolonged shootout carried into the 10th round before a goal on Charette and a miss by Severo brought the game to a resounding close.
Stonehill College is up next for Harvard as it plays its home-opener at Bright-Landry Hockey Center this Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. EST. The team continues its homestand later in the week playing Cornell University and Colgate University that Friday and Saturday night. All games are available to stream on ESPN+.
Correction: November 2, 2025
A previous version of this article’s headline incorrectly referred to the Harvard men’s ice hockey team’s Oct. 31 matchup against the University of Connecticut as the Crimson’s home opener. In fact, the match was played at the University of Connecticut.
—Staff writer Nate M. Bolan can be reached at nathan.bolan@thecrimson.com.
