Around this time last year, the nation was in the throes of Linsanity. This year, a less heralded Harvard professional athlete is just getting started.

Alex Killorn ’12 notched his first career NHL goal Saturday for the Tampa Bay Lightning to help the team to an overtime win, 6-5, over the Florida Panthers. Killorn slid a wrister past the right pad of Panthers goaltender Jose Theodore to put Tampa Bay up, 2-1.

The center from Montreal has made an immediate impact for Tampa Bay after he was called up to start on February 10th at Madison Square Garden. In his first four games, Killorn has posted one goal, one assist, and a plus-one rating while playing on a line with Lightning franchise player Vincent Lecavalier.

The Lightning tabbed Killorn 77th overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft before a senior prep school season in which the center scored 55 points in 24 games for Deerfield Academy. At Harvard, Killorn led the Crimson in goals during his junior and senior seasons. The government concentrator graduated as a CCM Hockey All-American after posting a tournament-high 10 points during the ECAC postseason.

You can watch Killorn's first goal and read more about it here.

This weekend’s homestand will pit Harvard against two conference foes. First up will be a Friday night showdown against Penn. On Saturday, Harvard will take on arguably its biggest threat in the Ancient Eight, its rival Princeton. The Crimson’s basketball beat writers answer five questions about this weekend’s matchups.

1) Is Penn a sleeper threat?

DF: Although it's very hard to take a 5-17 team seriously as a 'sleeper' threat, the Crimson need to be prepared for a dogfight on Friday. A classic trap game after a tough loss and before possibly Harvard's biggest game of the season against Princeton on Saturday, the Quakers can provide trouble for the Crimson. Penn recently defeated Brown by 23 at home, the same team the Crimson needed double overtime to beat. The Quakers are not a particularly good three-point shooting team by Ivy League standards (34% as a team) but it is deep, with 11 players averaging over 13 minutes a game. Harvard is typically solid at Lavietes but will need to come out strong against a Penn opponent that’s hot off its best win of the year.

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In a new weekly series by The Back Page, Harvard beat writers will discuss topics about a Crimson athletics team. In this edition, basketball beat writers Hope Schwartz and David Freed discussed the men’s basketball team’s future in the Ivy League as well as their frontcourt rotation and ability to close out games.

Cordelia F. Mendez: The team is facing its second road weekend of the season and will have to meet its most difficult opponent, Princeton. How can Harvard even hope to stop or slow down the Tigers given that they put up a program-high 99 points last week?

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With winter sports nearing the end of the season and spring sports getting their season underway, The Back Page takes a look at how some of your teams have been faring in recent weeks. Who has gotten off to a hot start? And who is heading in the right direction just in time to take home an Ivy title?

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Adabelle Ekechukwu’s stellar record-breaking weight throw won the junior co-captain of the women’s track and field team our Athlete of the Week honor, but several other athletes also had performances worthy of recognition by The Back Page.

Emerance Maschmeyer, Women’s Hockey

In last week’s Beanpot women’s semi-final, the freshman goalie made a career-high 34 saves, shattering her previous high of 22. Despite her best efforts, the Crimson still came up short as Boston College won by a 2-1 margin.  Maschmeyer had a save percentage of .944, consistent with her season mark of .940, despite the fact that she was under fire far more against the No. 2 ranked Eagles than she has been all season. Throughout the first two periods, the goalkeeper managed to hold Boston College scoreless, quickly racking up more saves than in any of her previous games before the final period even began. In the third period, however, the Eagles managed to score twice to secure the win in a hotly contested game. Maschmeyer is now 7-2 on the season, splitting starts with senior Laura Bellamy (10-1-1).

Victoria Lippert, Women’s Basketball

On Sunday afternoon, the senior led Harvard’s women’s basketball team to an important overtime victory over Ivy League rival Cornell. Lippert was incredibly impressive on the offensive end, turning in an immensely efficient performance while leading Harvard in points with 19. She shot six for 11 from the floor (55%) and six for six on free throws. Thirteen of her points came in the second half, when she scored over half of the Crimson’s points as the game went into overtime. The guard also added four offensive rebounds to round off an 69-point offensive effort. Lippert has started every game this season for the Crimson and is second on the team in points per game (12.5).

Marshall Everson, Men’s Hockey

The Harvard men’s hockey team ended its eight game losing streak on Sunday with a 1-1 tie against Dartmouth thanks to an important goal by its senior leader. Down by a goal after Dartmouth scored in the first period, the forward came back and scored a power-play goal to tie the game and end the skid. He was assisted on the play by senior Alex Fallstrom and sophomore Colin Blackwell. Everson is second on the team in goals with five and has played in every game this season.