Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

[bothman]

Louis LeBlanc was an excellent 4 year player

Tongue and cheek. At least he finished a season. Jeremy Bracco anyone?

[Skate79]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

Louis LeBlanc was an excellent 4 year player

Louis Leblanc was the exception, not the rule. Admissions no doubt made it clear to Donato and other coaches after he left that players come here as student-athletes and not just athletes for hire.

[J.D.]

Tongue and cheek. At least he finished a season. Jeremy Bracco anyone?

One season or a few games doesn't matter when you're talking about academics. All i am saying is it can and does happen everywhere. Plus, BC has had plenty of kids play 3-4 years, get degrees and move on to NHL.

[bothman]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

Rumors flying about Pearl to Umass as Head Coach.

[Skate79]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

Rumors flying about Pearl to Umass as Head Coach.

That would be a loss but understandable as he has been a head coach prior to Harvard. He had a positive impact on the program. Hope we can find someone to replace him in that role. I'm not sold on our other assistants.

[LTsatch]

Rumors flying about Pearl to Umass as Head Coach.

Was hoping Schaefer would get it.

[Skate79]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

Some leftover thoughts on the NCAA regionals while watching Ferris State battle Denver.

1. We crushed Ferris at the Mariucci Classic. They are giving Denver all they can handle. All the more mystifying why we seem to disappear during the NCAAs. We can play with these teams but for some reason, getting to the NCAAs seems to be a bigger objective. At some point, we have to take the next step and learn how to win beyond the ECAC.

2. Love the fact that the Ferris State President plays clarinet in the pep band. How great is that?

3. As much as I loved watching Vesey, Kerfoot and Criscuolo play these past two seasons, the Pioneer's Pac Rim line is something to watch. These guys put enormous pressure on the opposing team's D on every shift. They are lightening quick and find each other with eyes in the back of their heads. As I write this, Denver just scored twice in 15 seconds to take a 5-3 lead. Watch out North Dakota.

4. We need some adjustments in our system. Watching teams during this regional weekend, it is clear that we don't create the kind of spacing that leads to great scoring opportunities. We need to do a better job of transitioning from defense to offense. Denver just scored again. Whoever wins that game between Denver and North Dakota will win the national title. Both teams have speed and aggressiveness in the offensive end that you don't see here in the East.

[Crimson Faced]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

right?

We rooted for BC Saturday night; always root for the ECAC (even Cornell), then Hockey East in the Frozen Four. I think we were the only two Harvard fans who came back for the Saturday game.

As far as Harvard's game, nothing more to add. The D has been poor all year, they played hard against BC but are not on their level. I was disappointed with Kerfoot this year, I don't know what to make of him, except maybe he is part of the list of Harvard players over the years that appear to have potential but don't improve as they get older. The D was obviously poor, but the offense could not score against the better teams. Could not complain about their effort at the end of the year, they played hard, except the third period against St. Lawrence where they played scared.

The Harvard crowd Friday night was decent sized and gave the best support they had in any game I attended during the season, and the Band was excellent. The BC fans seemed to take it for granted that their team would win...which they did.

If Pearl leaves, though, that will be a setback, along with the emergence of Vesey, the team improved for two seasons after Pearl's hire.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

We rooted for BC Saturday night; always root for the ECAC (even Cornell), then Hockey East in the Frozen Four. I think we were the only two Harvard fans who came back for the Saturday game.

As far as Harvard's game, nothing more to add. The D has been poor all year, they played hard against BC but are not on their level. I was disappointed with Kerfoot this year, I don't know what to make of him, except maybe he is part of the list of Harvard players over the years that appear to have potential but don't improve as they get older. The D was obviously poor, but the offense could not score against the better teams. Could not complain about their effort at the end of the year, they played hard, except the third period against St. Lawrence where they played scared.

The Harvard crowd Friday night was decent sized and gave the best support they had in any game I attended during the season, and the Band was excellent. The BC fans seemed to take it for granted that their team would win...which they did.

If Pearl leaves, though, that will be a setback, along with the emergence of Vesey, the team improved for two seasons after Pearl's hire.

Harvard had WAY more fans than they usually do at the Peepot. It was kind of surprising.

[bothman]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

We rooted for BC Saturday night; always root for the ECAC (even Cornell), then Hockey East in the Frozen Four. I think we were the only two Harvard fans who came back for the Saturday game.

As far as Harvard's game, nothing more to add. The D has been poor all year, they played hard against BC but are not on their level. I was disappointed with Kerfoot this year, I don't know what to make of him, except maybe he is part of the list of Harvard players over the years that appear to have potential but don't improve as they get older. The D was obviously poor, but the offense could not score against the better teams. Could not complain about their effort at the end of the year, they played hard, except the third period against St. Lawrence where they played scared.

The Harvard crowd Friday night was decent sized and gave the best support they had in any game I attended during the season, and the Band was excellent. The BC fans seemed to take it for granted that their team would win...which they did.

If Pearl leaves, though, that will be a setback, along with the emergence of Vesey, the team improved for two seasons after Pearl's hire.

Kerfoot's biggest issue is his ability to finish, especially from in tight. With all of the posts, crossbars, and miss the goal shots, you gotta think he is gripping the stick a little tight in those situations. He's a great set up guy and skater, but he needs to work on his shooting and with that, confidence.

I'm starting to think through what next year will look like from a line combination perspective and will post something shortly on that front. Talent wise, we will be much better in net (more experience) and on the blue line (much better talent), and we will drop off upo front with the losses of Vesey and Criscuolo. Guys like Malone (step up and stay healthy), Moy (talented, but inconsistent), and Donato (more consistency) will need to step it up. To this end, we aren't bringing in any "high impact" forwards, but we are bringing in some older, depth guys from the USHL who will be physically ready to step in and contribute. More to come on this front.

This all assumes that no one leaves. Who would have expected Brian Hart to leave last year - so you never know what can happen.

[claver2010]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

Harvard had WAY more fans than they usually do at the Peepot. It was kind of surprising.

it was shocking tbh

[J.D.]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

it was shocking tbh

well it was a Friday night compared to a Monday. no studying to do

[mookie1995]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

Harvard had WAY more fans than they usually do at the Peepot. It was kind of surprising.

maybe they wanted to say they saw teddy's final game

[bothman]

maybe they wanted to say they saw teddy's final game

I think Quinn's season more underwhelming than Teddy's

[HHockeyGuy]

Re: Harvard Crimson 2015-2016 - All things Bright and Beautiful

Unfortunate ending to a season that started out so promising. In the two biggest games of the year, against the best competition we faced, we couldn't rise to the challenge. We fell behind QPac by 3 goals just 7 mins into the 2d, with shots and play essentially even at that point. We fall behind BC 3 goals just 2 mins into 2d on 12 shots. Actually outplaying and outshooting BC at that point. You can't fall behind good teams 3-0, with some pretty mediocre goals at that, and expect to win. Both games were essentially over at that point. See a trend?