View From the Booth- Harvard Grabs First Home Win

The Harvard Crimson picked up their first home win of the season, first win over a ranked opponent, and first win of any kind since Oct. 30 with their 3-1 win over the No. 8 Quinnipiac Bobcats. Coming up after the jump, we have our Five Thoughts on the game. Also below, you can hear yesterday's press conference with Coach Ted Donato and Senior Captain Alex Biega.

Breaking Down the ECAC: Exam Break Edition

After a long delay, we present our usual ECAC power rankings column. Since we skipped a couple of weeks, and since this is as close as we get to a natural halfway point, the only new wrinkle is that our key player will be from the entire season so far, not just from the previous week of play. We'll then take the top three players from this list for the top three players for this season so far, and also look at the top three games to watch for the upcoming holiday season.

With that in mind, here we go:

1. Union (8-3-5, 4-0-3)
Last Time Out- The Dutchmen, the only team yet to lose a conference game in the ECAC, have had impressive run this season, but also in recent weeks. Union hosted two top four teams in Colgate and Cornell, and were able to get three points from the weekend, beating Colgate 3-1 and Cornell 2-2. Union closed out their 2009 ECAC campaign with their second win over rival RPI, a 5-4 victory, the first league game between the foes that have met three times this season. Then, in an exhibition game against the US U-18 team, they became the first ECAC squad to beat the Americans. Shocking Statistic- Union has not lost a game since a 4-3 OT loss in a non-conference game to RPI on Oct. 30, but more shocking- Union has only lost one game in regulation all year, a 3-1 loss at St. Cloud State on Oct. 17.
Key Player- Mario Vallery-Trabucco leads the Dutchmen in scoring with 10 goals and 11 assists, for a team high 21 points.
Next Time Out- Union will be participating in the Toyota UConn Classic at Storrs, CT on Dec. 29 and 30. UMass will face Hockey East opponent UMass in the first round, and then face either UConn or Bentley, of Atlantic Hockey, in the final round. Union and Bentley were also in the RPI Holiday Tournament together, but did not meet.

2. Cornell (7-2-2, 6-2-1)
Last Time Out- Cornell faced the defending national champions Boston University in Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden, and the renewed rivalry game did not disappoint, as the teams skated to a 3-3 tie. Cornell then closed out 2009 ECAC play with a 3 point road weekend, beating RPI 2-1 and then tying Union 2-2.
Key Player- Blake Gallagher is averaging a goal per ECAC game, leading the team in conference points with 9 goals and 6 assists in 9 conference games. He also leads the conference in goals per game with a 0.91 GPG.
Next Time Out- Cornell travels down to Estero, Florida for the Florida College Classic on December 29 and 30. The #4 Big Red face the #3 Colorado College Tigers of the WCHA. Cornell will then face either ECAC and Ivy League opponent Princeton, or Hockey East opponent Maine in the final round.

3. Brown (5-7-1, 3-4-1)
Last Time Out- Brown, particularly looking at their record, seem like a bit of an odd choice to be this high in the power rankings, but power rankings heavily favor how a team has been playing lately- and Bruno has been flying high. The last loss for Brown came on Nov. 24. Since then, they have earned all 5 of their wins on the season. They started with an 8-1 win over UConn in non-conference play, then beat Harvard 4-1 with the aid of two empty-netters, swept Princeton and Quinnipiac at home 3-1 and 2-1 respectively, and knocked off American International 5-2 to close out 2009. After 0 wins in the first 8 games, Brendan Whittet's team might just be one of the hottest in the ECAC right now.
Key Player- Mike Clemente is third in the conference in save percentage and is the key cog in Brown's defensive system.
Next Time Out- Brown will have a tough test to continue their winning ways as they travel to St. Cloud State on Jan. 2 and 3 for a two game series.

4. Yale (7-3-2, 4-1-2)
Last Time Out- The Elis have not loss a conference game since dropping a 5-2 decision on the opening weekend of the year, facing RPI in the always difficult Black Friday game. Coming into the break, the Bulldogs knocked off two Atlantic Hockey teams in a big way, beating Sacred Heart 8-2 and then Holy Cross 7-3. After losing a 1-0 game against Hockey East opponent Vermont, Yale then swept a home series in the ECAC, beating first place Quinnipiac 7-4 and then beating Princeton 4-1.
Key Player- Broc Little is second in the ECAC in goals per game, having scored 10 goals in 12 games for a 0.83 GPG.
Next Time Out- Yale travels to Madison, WI on Jan. 2 and 3 for the Badger Hockey Classic, as #9 Yale will face #11 Ferris State of the CCHA, and then will face either Hockey East's Merrimack or the WCHA's #7 Wisconsin Badgers.

5. Quinnipiac (13-3-1, 7-2-0)
Last Time Out- It's maybe a little shocking to have the first place team this far down the power rankings, but they are down this far the same reason Brown is up this high- recent form. The Bobcats were cruising along, and had achieved their highest ever program ranking, #4 in the country, but then they were swept on a road trip to Yale and Brown. Quinnipiac lost to their Nutmeg State rivals 7-4 on Friday night, then traveled to Providence where they were beaten 2-1. The struggles continued, as they tied Atlantic Hockey opponent Holy Cross 1-1, before they got back to their winning ways with a 5-2 win over American International.
Key Player- Brandon Wong leads the Bobcats in scoring, placing second in the ECAC in points scoring and leading the ECAC in goals.
Next Time Out- Quinnipiac has one last ECAC game in 2009 as they take on the Harvard Crimson in Cambridge. They then take on travel partner Princeton at Hobey Baker Arena in the new year.

6. Colgate (7-6-4, 5-3-1)
Last Time Out- The Raiders are 1-3 in their last four games. Two of the losses were respectable, falling on the road to undefeated Union 3-1 and to rival Cornell on the road 4-2, but the Raiders also dropped a 7-6 OT game on the road to Canisius after a 15 day break. The one win for Colgate came on the road to RPI, 5-3.
Key Player- Austin Smith is tied for second in the ECAC in points scored with 24 points, including a league high 16 assists.
Next Time Out- Colgate is traveling out to Hoffman Estates, IL for the Shillelagh Tournament on Jan. 2 and 3. They will face the CCHA's Notre Dame in the opening round and then either the CHA's Niagara or the WCHA's North Dakota. If the Raiders face Niagara, it will be the third non-conference game between the two teams, and Colgate is 1-0-1 in those two games.

After the jump, we look at the bottom half of the ECAC.

Women's ECAC: If the Playoffs Started Today 1

Pretty much the same that could be said of our men's post about this can be said here: yes, it is early to start talking about playoffs, but with no games on the docket, this is what we've got to talk about. So here are the matchups if the women's hockey ECAC playoffs started today.

8. Dartmouth at 1. Clarkson
7. St. Lawrence at 2. Cornell
6. RPI at 3. Harvard
5. Princeton at 4. Quinnipiac

Missing the Cut:
Colgate, Yale, Brown, Union

Two series that stand out right off the bat- Harvard gets another crack at RPI at the Bright Center, the team that eliminated the Crimson in last year's ECAC semifinals at the Bright, while Princeton and Quinnipiac will be a battle of travel partners.

There's still a long way to go in the season, however, so nothing to get too excited about with the different pairings yet.

ECAC: If the Playoffs Started Today 1

We'll have a power rankings next week, but as teams head to the exam break (only two ECAC teams are in action this week, and they are both non-conference games), let's look at what the playoffs will look like if they started today (something we will do with more frequency when it gets closer to playoff time). So with apologies to Jim Mora, let's talk playoffs.

Byes:
1. Quinnipiac
2. Cornell
3. Union
4. Colgate

Matchups
12. Dartmouth at 5. Yale
11. Harvard at 6. St. Lawrence
10. Clarkson at 7. Brown
9. Princeton at 8. RPI

Harvard would get the tough trip to the North Country by way of one of the tiebreakers in the ECAC, although perhaps with the recent history between Brown and Harvard, Crimson fans would be grateful to head into upstate New York rather than over to Providence.

Of course, another month of play will probably make this all irrelevant anyway. But when no games are being played, this is the type of stuff we have to discuss.

Reactions to Harvard's Loss against UConn

Not really being a basketball guy, I don't have a lot of meaningful things to say about yesterday's basketball game against UConn (besides the obvious that Jeremy Lin is a good basketball player and the Crimson played well against a talented opponent), but I am good with Google and spare time, so I turn it over to the professionals for their reactions, be it from columns or from Twitter, after the jump...

(photo by Steve Slade of Jeremy Lin's block courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications and GoCrimson.com)

Thoughts from Lavietes: Harvard Men Pound Rice

Wow!

The Harvard men put on an impressive showing last night in Lavietes Pavilion, pushing past the Rice Owls from C-USA, 85-64. The Crimson move to 6-1 on the season, its best start in 25 years. It was quite a performance: I had been expecting a little tougher competition from the Owls, whose only losses before last night came at the hands of national powerhouses Arizona and Texas (Rice was only trailing by 5 against the Longhorns in the second half before faltering.) Harvard clearly was the better team last night though: the score was close for about the first ten minutes, through which the Crimson had a one point lead, before the floor dropped out on Rice, and Harvard was able to take a 14 point lead into halftime. From then on, the game was never in doubt, as Harvard would extend it to a 25 point lead before cruising to the win, shooting a lights-out 60.8% from the field.

I called the game last night alongside Charlie Hobbs as part of our annual Sports Orgy on WHRB, and the contest was the second half of a double header that also featured the Harvard women knocking off Holy Cross.

After the jump, you'll find my thoughts on the Crimson's winning effort.

Women's Basketball Holy Cross Game Wrap-up

As part of the WHRB Sports Orgy last night on December 8th - and I hope all of you tuned in for what turned out to be a great night of Crimson basketball - we covered our first women's basketball game of the season, as Harvard took on Holy Cross.

View From the Booth: Crimson drop two in two different ways

Harvard hockey skated against Dartmouth and Brown on Sunday and Tuesday, and dropped their tilt against the Big Green 6-2 and their meeting with the Bears 4-1. The two results are disappointing for different reasons, which we explore after the jump. Read on to get our five thoughts, as well as some Canadian national team news regarding Louis Leblanc.

Crimson Quick Hits - November 29 Edition

Our soccer/hockey doubleheader didn't go quite the way the Crimson faithful would have liked, as Maryland knocked Harvard out of the NCAA Tourney with a 2-0 victory at Ohiri Field and Dartmouth beat the hockey team in the Bright for the first time since 1996. I'm sure Tom and Brendan will be checking in soon enough with some more thoughts on the hockey team, but I thought I'd run through some quick announcements as well as post a couple videos that should serve as a nice tonic after a rough day for Harvard sports.

Harvard Soccer Takes on Defending National Champions

On Sunday afternoon at 1PM, the Harvard Crimson and Maryland Terrapins will face each other at Ohiri Field in the third round of the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship in a game that can be heard on 95.3 FM WHRB in the Boston area and online at WHRB.org. After the jump, we'll take a look at both teams as they battle toward the Elite Eight.

View From the Booth: Harvard sputters at the end

Harvard and Boston University skated an exciting back-and-forth overtime game on Tuesday evening, and we've got our five thoughts from the booth after the jump. Also you'll find some news on Crimson NHL prospects courtesy of the Western College Hockey Blog.

Breaking Down the ECAC: Week 4- Turkey Edition

It's Thanksgiving week and the ECAC teams have a lot of non-conference games going on. But first, we'll take a look at last week- same format as usual.

1. Quinnipiac (10-1, 6-0) Last Week: 1st
Last weekend- Ok, I'll admit to some skepticism about Quinnipiac before this weekend. They were undefeated in ECAC play, sure, but they didn't really have a signature win yet. That changed last week and Quinnipiac proved that a name in net might not be needed in the 2009-10 ECAC season, as the Bobcats swept Colgate and Cornell on the road. On Friday night, they beat Colgate in a battle of previously unbeaten ECAC teams, 5-2, before skating into Lynah Rink on Saturday and grabbing a 3-0 lead on Cornell that eventually became a 3-2 final.
Key Player- Jeremy Langlois had two goals against Colgate for the Bobcats.
Up Next- Quinnipiac is involved in the only Wednesday game, hosting travel partner Princeton. They then take on Hockey East heavy UMASS at home on Saturday.

2. Union (5-3-3, 2-0-2) Last Week: 3rd
Last Weekend- The Dutchmen, the only other team besides the Bobcats undefeated in league play, get bumped up simply because of the Quinnipiac results. Union had no games at all last week.
Key Player- Hard to pick one when your team doesn't play a game. Sorry Union fans.
Up Next- Union is taking the not-too-long road trip down to Troy, NY for two games in the RPI Holiday Tournament. Union takes on Lake Superior State in the first round and then one of the teams in the Bentley/RPI game in the second round.

3. Cornell (5-2, 4-2) Last Week: 4th
Last Weekend- The Big Red started the weekend off strong by knocking around Ivy League rival Princeton 5-2. Then Cornell got off to a slow start against Quinnipiac on Saturday, falling behind 3-0, although the Big Red did cut into the lead to make the game 3-2.
Key Player- Brendon Nash had a goal and an assist in Cornell's win over Princeton.
Up Next- It is just a real rivalry week for the Big Red. On Tuesday night, the Big Red face their neighbors and travel partners the Colgate Raiders in a game that will likely see some toothpaste boxes loaded down with rocks make their way to the ice. Then Cornell travels to NYC on Saturday night, where they will face a former historic rival, the Boston U. Terriers, in front of a sold out Madison Square Garden crowd that will be evenly split, although no one will be able to tell because everyone will be wearing red and white.

4. Colgate (6-3-4, 4-1-1) Last Week: 2nd
Last Weekend- Colgate lost their first ECAC contest of the year, falling 5-3 to the Quinnipiac Bobcats. The Raiders then rebounded on Saturday night with a 5-4 OT victory over the Princeton Tigers. This was the eight contest decided by a goal or less for the Raiders this year, and their 5th OT contest. The Raiders are 4-0-4 in these eight contests.
Key Player- Francois Brisebois had two goals, including the game winner in OT, against Princeton.
Up Next- The Raiders travel down to face their biggest rivals and travel partner, the Cornell Big Red, on Tuesday. That is the only game of the week for Colgate.

5. Yale (3-2-2, 2-1-2) Last Week: 5th
Last Week- Yale lost in OT against non-conference foe Massachusetts 4-3 in OT before going to OT against travel partner and Ivy League rival Brown, getting a 6-5 win. Yale lead 4-1 and 5-2 but allowed the Bears to force OT.
Key Player- Broc Little had two goals this weekend, including the OT winner against Brown.
Up Next- Yale hosts fellow Connecticut school Sacred Heart in non-league play on Tuesday night before traveling to face another AHA school, Holy Cross, on Saturday afternoon. Next Monday, Yale faces Vermont, also a non-conference game.

6. RPI (7-5-1, 3-1-0) Last Week: 6th
Last Week- Only one game for the Engineers last week, but it was one the 'Tute would like to forget. Facing the previously winless Niagara Purple Eagles in a midweek game, RPI fell 4-1 to their non-conference foe.
Key Player- Paul Kerrins had the lone RPI goal this week.
Up Next- RPI hosts their annual holiday tournament with Bentley, Union, and Lake Superior State joining RPI in Troy. RPI will host Bentley in the first round before facing one of the two teams, Union and Lake Superior State, in the second round.

After the jump, teams 7-12, the 3 stars, and 3 games to watch.

Men's Soccer Press Conference Now Available

 Andre Akpan celebrates his goal over the Monmouth Hawks in NCAA Tournament play. Photo courtesy Harvard Athletic Communications and GoCrimson.com.

Men's soccer coach Jaimie Clark, senior forward Andre Akpan and freshman defender Richard Smith discuss Harvard's 3-0 win over Monmouth in the 2nd round of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.
Click here for audio.

Final Reactions: The 126th Game

If you're only going to show up for one quarter, make sure it's the fourth. That's the lesson I learned Saturday, although I suspect Yale head coach Tom Williams learned something else entirely. But more on that in a moment.

View From the Booth- Harvard Has a Tough Home Weekend

The Crimson only picked up one point as they opened up ECAC and regular season play at the Bright Hockey Center this past weekend facing St. Lawrence and Clarkson. After the jump, we will have our five thoughts on the game.

... Fair Harvard Holds Sway

I'll leave THE GAME to the football guys to actually describe once they recover from an amazing broadcast, but just wanted to put up this photo of the great crowd of Crimson Crazies that was out at the Yale Bowl to watch Harvard's 14-10 win over the hated Yale Bulldogs in the 126th playing of THE GAME, courtesy of the Harvard Department of Atheltics and GoCrimson.com.

For We Know That O'er Old Eli...

Today's Video: Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

Well, it's the end of the Ivy League football season, and this is it. It's the 126th playing of "THE GAME," one of the oldest rivalries in college football. There are plenty of storied traditions:

1875: Both teams met on the field for the first time, although the game was not football, but a rugby/soccer mix. Harvard grabbed 4 goals and 4 tries, while shutting the Elis out, to claim first blood.

1905: In what could be described as the first Game of the Century, undefeated Harvard and Yale clashed in what would be an 8-0 Yale victory. No touchdowns were scored. That edition of THE GAME was described as such: "It was the most magnificent sight ... every lineman's face was dripping with blood."

1916: Yale coach T.A.D. Jones tells the Elis “Gentlemen, you are now going to play football against Harvard. Never again in your whole life will you do anything so important," inspiring them to a 6-3 victory at the Yale Bowl.

1968: THE GAME to end all games. "Never in my lifetime will I ever see another ending like that one. It just doesn't happen." - John Yovicsin. Yale enters Cambridge on a 16 game winning streak, with a future NFL star at running back and Brian Dowling, who inspired a character in Doonesbury, at QB. The Crimson are down 16 in the waning minutes, but with 42 seconds left, the Crimson trailed 29-21. With no time remaining, Harvard would then make it 29-27 and need to go for two. And they got it, earning a share of the Ivy League title.

1983: THE GAME had its 100th playing. Much like the first game, it was Harvard that would claim the win 16-7 at the Yale Bowl.

2005: After 122 meetings, Harvard-Yale finally had its first overtime game. And the overtime game did not disappoint. First though, it took an effort just to get to OT, as the Crimson trailed 21-3. But Harvard rallied, getting the game to 24-24. After the 1st OT, the score had not changed. Nor did it in the second. The sun was setting over New Haven, and the possibility that a tie would need to be called on account of darkness seemed possible in the light-less Yale Bowl. But then, Clifton Dawson would run from 2 yards out to give the Crimson the improbable and historic win.

2009: What lays in store for these two teams as they meet for the 126th time? Let's start with where they were last week.
Harvard (6-3, 5-1) was at home for Senior Day in Cambridge, facing fellow Ivy League leader Penn in a showdown for the Ivy League title during the pouring rain. Penn jumped out to a 17-0 lead. The Crimson cut into the deficit to make it 17-7, but they were battling the elements, the clock, and the stiff Penn defense, and a goal line stand by the Quakers left the Johnnies with a bitter taste in their mouth and little chance at an Ivy League title.
Yale (4-5, 2-4) will be looking to finish the year at .500, after being dropped last week on the road against Princeton. Princeton led 21-3 at one point, but Yale made a game out of it, falling 24-17. The Elis gave up 383 yards on the day, including 247 rushing yards, but their offense also put up 402 yards on the day.

Pregame coverage of the 126th Playing of THE GAME will begin at a special time, 10:45 AM. Here are some of the highlights:
- Baltimore Raven center, Pro-Bowler, and Harvard Crimson alum Matt Birk will be on the show to talk about Harvard-Yale and his current NFL career.
- Former writer of the Harvard Crimson and current writer for Sports Illustrated, Pablo Torre, joined us to chat as well.
- Tim Murphy, as always, talked with us a few minutes about Harvard going into THE GAME.
- We look at the five greatest Crimson victories in THE GAME, and talk with the players that made them special, along with guest analysis with John Powers of the Boston Globe.
- Some other Harvard athletes show their support for the Crimson on Harvard-Yale weekend as two Crimson hockey players, no strangers to the radio booth, stopped by to talk with Kicker Patrick Long, the host of our football halftime show, in a special segment we're calling "Kicking It Top Shelf".
- Of course, as always, James Yoon and Charlie Hobbs will give us the inside scoop on Harvard-Yale, and make their predictions for THE GAME.
- A special thanks to the seniors of the Harvard Crimson football team, who lent us their time and voices for a very special presentation which will bring us to our broadcast, where Alasdair Wilkins, Kara Hollis, and Scott Reed will have the call live from the Yale Bowl at 12 PM.
- And a second special thanks to the entirety of the WHRB Sports department, Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan, Kara Hollis, James Yoon, Scott Reed, Brendan Roche, Tom McCarthy, Raafi Alidina, and Charlie Hobbs, who all put a ton of work into making this broadcast the best broadcast of THE GAME ever. So don't miss a minute, beginning with the pregame at 10:45 AM and kickoff at 12 PM on 95.3 FM WHRB, and streaming online at WHRB.org.

After the jump, we'll talk about the rest of the action in the final week of Ancient Eight play.

Breaking Down the ECAC: Week 3

The fourth week of the ECAC is off to an early start with some non-conference games, so before those happen, let's turn to last week in the ECAC. Same format- power rankings, recaps, upcoming schedule, key player, 3 Stars of the Week, and then the 3 Games to Watch.

Power Rankings

1. Quinnipiac (8-1, 4-0) Last Week: 2nd
Last Week- Quinnipiac started off the week strong with a 5-1 rout of the Harvard Crimson off an Eric Lampe hat trick, and then followed that up with a 4-2 win over Dartmouth.
Up Next- Quinnipiac faces a tough road trip as they take on Colgate Friday night before heading to Ithaca to take on Cornell on Saturday.
Key Player- Eric Lampe had a hat trick and an assist against Harvard on Friday night, giving him four points on the weekend.

2. Colgate (5-2-4, 3-0-1) Last Week: 4th
Last Week- The Raiders knocked off the Brown Bears on the road on Friday night by a score of 5-3, before tying the Yale Bulldogs 3-3 on Saturday.
Up Next- The Raiders are back at Starr Rink this week to face fellow undefeated team Quinnipiac, before taking on Princeton on Saturday.
Key Player- Robbie Bourdon scored a goal in each game for Colgate last weekend.

3. Union (5-3-2, 2-0-2) Last Week: 6th
Last Week- Union had a convincing four point weekend in the North Country, defeating St. Lawrence 4-3 on Friday night before knocking off Clarkson 5-1 to remain undefeated in ECAC play.
Up Next- Union has no games this week.
Key Player- Kelly Zajac had two goals and an assist this weekend for the Dutchmen.

4. Cornell (4-1-0, 3-1-0) Last Week: 1st
Last Week- Cornell saw their winless streak against Ancient Eight rival Yale move to five games, as the Big Red again fell to the Elis, this time by a score of 4-2 at Ingalls Rink. Cornell bounced back in a big way by beating up hapless Brown to the tune of 6-0.
Up Next- Cornell begins a three game home stand this weekend, facing the Princeton Tigers on Friday night and then Quinnipiac on Saturday.
Key Player- Blake Gallagher netted two goals for the Big Red in their win over Brown.

5. Yale (2-1-2, 1-1-2) Last Week: 7th
Last Week- It was a three point weekend for the Bulldogs as they defeated Cornell on Friday night 4-2, before tying Colgate 3-3 on Saturday.
Up Next- Yale faces non-conference opponent UMASS on Wednesday night, before taking on their travel partner, the Bears from Brown, on Saturday in Providence.
Key Player- Brian O'Neill had two goals and an assist on the weekend.

6. RPI (7-4-1, 3-1-0) Last Week: 3rd
Last Week- RPI opened up with a convincing 5-2 road win at Cheel Arena against Clarkson, before faltering the next night in a close 2-1 game against St. Lawrence.
Up Next- RPI is off from conference play for the rest of the month. There only game this week is against winless Niagara on Nov. 18th.
Key Player- Chase Polacek continues to rack up RPI's key player award, this time for his two goal weekend, scoring an EN shorthander on Friday and then tallying a PP goal on Saturday.

After the jump, teams 7-12, our three stars, and the three games to watch.

Men's Soccer: NCAA Tournament Edition

It's been a long while since we did a men's soccer post, but tonight they were given the No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament, giving them a first round bye in the field of 48 and home field advantage for at least the second round.

After the jump, we will look at the two teams Harvard can end up facing in the second round.

THE HEAVE - ESPN Video

Alasdair titled this shot "THE HEAVE" and we're trying to get the name to stick.

Any way, here is the video of "THE HEAVE," yesterday's 3OT winning shot by Jeremy Lin against the William and Mary Tribe, courtesy of GoCrimson.com via ESPN, where it was the Top Play on Sportscenter Boston, as well as being a top play on the national edition (still waiting to see where it is ranked). No matter what, this is great publicity for the Harvard program similar to the attention Harvard received last year on ESPN and in the national media after their shocking upset over Boston College, who of course had just downed #1 North Carolina mere days before.

Reactions to Harvard Basketball's Triple OT Thriller

That was the greatest finish to a basketball game I have ever seen.

All right, now that I've begun my post with some utterly absurd hyperbole, let me attempt some reasoned analysis. But it's hard to overstate just how incredible senior guard Jeremy Lin's final shot was. With the Crimson down 1 to William & Mary and less than four seconds left in triple overtime, Lin rushed down the court past multiple Tribe defenders and, while being fouled from his left and falling down, heaved up a desperation three from thirty feet out. He had already missed far more makeable game-winners at the end of regulation and the first extra session. He had no business making such a shot. At best, he might have a chance to win it from the line, where he had been solid but inconsistent all night. But up the shot went, and the result was unreal.

Nothing but net. Harvard 87, William & Mary 85.

View From the Booth: Harvard men's hockey salvages weekend with tie against Princeton

Harvard men's ice hockey hit the road once again this weekend, traveling to Quinnipiac and Princeton for two ECAC tilts. The Crimson struggled Friday night and fell to #20 Quinnipiac 5-1, but came back on Saturday afternoon to earn a hard-fought 3-3 tie with #19 Princeton. Get our five thoughts on the weekend after the jump.

Senior Day and a Battle for the Ivy League Title

Today's Video: Fair Harvard

It's the last home game of the 2009 Season for the Harvard Crimson (6-2, 5-0), the last chance for the seniors to play in front of their families and friends on Soldier's Field at Historic Harvard Stadium. Of course, it's also their last chance to walk off Soldier's Field after a win, and this is a big one as they face fellow Ivy League leader Penn (6-2, 5-0). The winner of this game is guaranteed a share of the Ivy League title. The loser needs help next week to get it. For all intents and purposes, this is an Ivy League Championship Game, and Harvard's seniors will be trying to end Senior Day on a high note, with the team's third straight Ancient Eight title and the chance to claim it all next week against Yale.

Looking back at last week for these two teams, we'll start with Harvard, who was on the road for the first time in awhile as they traveled to NYC to face the Columbia Lions. The Crimson lead the way throughout thanks to a balanced rushing attack that saw six Crimson rushers garner 151 yards and three touchdowns (2 for Gordon, 1 for Scales). QB Collier Winters also had an effective game throwing for 214 yards and a touchdown, but he also tossed two interceptions on the day. Still, the Crimson were comfortably up 34-0 in the fourth before conceding two consolation touchdowns to the Lions for the 34-14 victory.

Penn, meanwhile, faced their rival Princeton, and hopefully, the basketball rivalry will be more competitive than the football one was, as Penn ran away with a 42-7 victory. QB Kyle Olson had three touchdown passes and 238 yards, while Lyle Marsh fell just shy of the century mark on the ground as part of Penn's 215 yards rushing. After 21 straight points, Penn let up a Tigers touchdown, before putting up another 21 points in the second half. Princeton had only 25 rushing yards on the day, and gave up three turnovers while forcing none.

We'll have more on this match-up on Saturday morning at 11:30 AM as James Yoon and Charlie Hobbs will take over the pre-game coverage duties, before sending it out to Alasdair Wilkins, Kara Hollis, and Scott Reed over at Harvard Stadium.

Now let's go around the Ivy League, after the jump.

Non-Sports: Blog Related Difficulties

For whatever reason, the sidebar on our blog was disappearing on the front page of the blog- well, not disappearing, but relocating to the very bottom of the page. This was, as they say, problematic, because that's where we keep, among other things, our upcoming schedule of broadcasts- something I'm sure you want to see and something we'd certainly like you to be aware of.

So we've switched over to a new template for the time being, although that's caused a whole new set of problems, including having to reset all of the colors on the blog to make this look like a blog for Harvard and not Columbia, and causing our WHRB Sports Blog image to be very off-centered. The colors thing is a relatively easy fix, the header image being off-centered has not been so far, but hopefully will be resolved soon.

Just wanted to let our loyal readers know that we are
a) working on it
b) hopeful you keep with us as the blog gets its facelift, even if it means the blog changes colors while you are on it
c) very interested in your feedback- if there's a problem with the colors for you, let us know so we can keep the blog readable.

Thanks all,
WHRB Sports

Breaking Down the ECAC: Week 2

A full weekend of ECAC play has passed by, so it's time for another edition of WHRB's weekly power rankings. Same format as last time- this weekend's results, a key player, and what games are ahead. Then after that, we'll have our three stars and our three games to watch.

Power Rankings
1. #3 Cornell (3-0, 2-0) Last Week: 4th
Last Week- Two convincing home wins for the Big Red bring them to the top of the power rankings in week two. On Friday night, Cornell knocked off the Dartmouth Big Green 5-1, never giving the Hanover crew a sniff at victory. Then on Saturday night, Cornell trailed their biggest rival, Harvard, 3-1 in the second period, before rattling off five straight goals, including four in the third period, to win a 6-3 game in convincing fashion.
Key Player- Blake Gallagher had three goals and an assist on the weekend for the Big Red.
Up Next- Cornell will be looking to get a win against the only team that consistently had their number last year, as they face the Yale Bulldogs on Friday night in New Haven. Then, on Saturday night, it's Cornell's fourth straight Ivy, as they take on Brown in Providence.

2. #20 Quinnipiac (6-1, 2-0) Last Week: 2nd
Last week- Two weekends ago, the Bobcats had their one blemish on the schedule with a loss to Robert Morris, but they are back to their winning ways after a series sweep of the North Country teams in Connecticut. On Friday, the Bobcats skated away with a 4-2 win over Clarkson, and then added a 5-2 win over St. Lawrence on Saturday.
Key Player- Mike Atkinson thrived when his team was down a man, netting a hat trick for the Bobcats against Clarkson with two shorthanded goals and an empty netter.
Up Next- Quinnipiac welcomes the Harvard Crimson to the TD Banknorth Sports Center for a NESN-televised game that starts at 7:30 PM. Then on Saturday night, they take on the Dartmouth Big Green.

3. (ARV) RPI (6-3-1, 2-0) Last Week: 9th
Last week- RPI started off their ECAC campaign with their seventh annual Black Friday game, and they were looking to remain undefeated on the occasion. It seemed like it would be difficult to do that with the league favorites Yale coming into the building, but the 'Tute had no trouble at all, winning 5-2. The next night, RPI suffered no letdown after the big win, beating Brown 3-1.
Key Player- Chase Polacek had five points for RPI (3 G, 2 A) in the weekend series, including the game winner against Brown. This is Polacek's second straight week as the Key Player for RPI.
Up Next- RPI has the always difficult North Country trip this weekend, starting at Clarkson on Friday night before facing St. Lawrence on Saturday night.

4. Colgate (4-2-3, 2-0) Last Week: 8th
Last week- Colgate was able to get two wins at Starr Rink this weekend, but neither win was exactly pretty. On Friday night, Colgate was down 3-0 to the Harvard Crimson and Alex Evin had been chased from the net, showing how bad the Raiders can be at their worst, but a four goal third period saw them skate away with a 5-4 win, showing how good they could be at their best. Then the Raiders had a back and forth battle with a hungry Dartmouth team, and were able to gain a slim lead and hang on to it at the end.
Key Player- David McIntyre had two goals and two assists for the Raiders on the weekend.
Up Next- The Raiders will be looking to get their first win on the road as they face the Brown Bears on Friday night and then Yale on Saturday night.

5. (ARV) St. Lawrence (5-3-1, 1-1) Last Week: 7th
Last Week- St. Lawrence opened up their ECAC season strongly, earning a 5-2 win at Hobey Baker Arena against the Princeton Tigers, but on Saturday night, they lost to Quinnipiac by the same score line.
Key Player- Alex Curran was one of three Saints players to earn a goal and an assist this weekend.
Up Next- St. Lawrence have their league home opening weekend as they start off Friday night hosting Union, before playing RPI on Saturday.

6. Union (3-3-3, 0-0-2) Last Week: 10th
Last Week- Union had two identical score lines this weekend as they hosted Brown and Yale this past weekend in the ECAC Home Opener for the Dutchmen. Both games ended in 3-3 ties. On Friday, it was Union that needed to battle back to earn the tie, then on Saturday, the Dutchmen had a lead by a last second goal evened things up with the Bulldogs.
Key Player- Mike Schreiber tallied two goals and an assist on the weekend for the Dutchmen.
Up Next- Union will be seeking their first conference win of the season as they travel to the North Country to face St. Lawrence on Friday and Clarkson on Saturday.

After the jump, we'll see how far last week's number one and number three teams have fallen, give our three stars of the week, and give our three games to watch.

Ivy League Champs to take on local foe in NCAA Playoffs

The women's soccer team, which claimed an outright Ivy League title on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory at Columbia, also earned the league's automatic berth into the Women's NCAA National Championship tournament. After the jump, we'll have the matchup, a look at some past results, and the rest of the bracket.

Top Shelf online from this past weekend

As we posted at the beginning of the season, "Top Shelf" will be posted online after it airs on WHRB during the first intermission of every game, and so now the first two episodes of the regular season are online and available for streaming on the Top Shelf website or as a free download from the iTunes store. In this week's episode, hear Alex Biega, Kyle Richter, and guest Ian Tallett discuss Halloween costumes, road trips, and the win against Dartmouth.

View From the Booth- Harvard Drops a Tough One to Biggest Rival

Coming off a tough loss on Friday night in Hamilton, the Crimson responded well through two periods against fierce rival the Cornell Big Red, who were ranked #5 in the country at the time. But another tough third period left the Crimson on the losing end of things once again. Now we present our five thoughts on the game after the jump.

Reminder: Sportstalk Today at 1PM

Another Sunday afternoon means it is time for another Crimson Sportstalk on 95.3 FM and WHRB.

We'll have recaps of all the week's action with our Harvard Headlines, including a look at the women's soccer game that gave them the outright Ivy League Title, and the women's hockey team, which earned its 500th win in program history this weekend.

Scott Reed will stop by to talk with us and give us a season preview of the men's basketball season which gets underway next week. We'll also have an interview with Coach Tommy Amaker.

Scott will also be there to talk with us about the Harvard-Columbia football game, and give us a look ahead to next week's de facto championship game versus Penn.

And Tom Brennan will be there as well to talk about the men's hockey team's weekend at Colgate and Cornell.

It can all be heard live on 95.3 FM and online at WHRB.org starrting at 1PM.

View From the Booth: Can the Crimson bounce back tonight against Cornell?

Harvard led Colgate 4-1 after two periods, but the Raiders roared back with four straight goals in the third frame to take the win 5-4 at Starr Rink. Now the Crimson skate into Lynah Rink, where last night Cornell dumped Dartmouth 5-1 with four power play goals. Get our five thoughts on this weekend thus far for the Crimson after the jump.

If Harvard Can Make It Here...

This week's video: 2008 Harvard-Columbia Halftime Show

After a three game home stand, the Harvard Crimson (5-2, 4-0) take to the road again, this time traveling down to New York City to face the Columbia Lions (2-5, 1-3) in Ivy League play.

Last week on Halloween, it was all a treat for the Crimson as they faced the Dartmouth Big Green, particularly in the backfield. Gino Gordon became the first Crimson player to gain over a 100 yards on the ground and 100 yards in the air for the Crimson. Counterpart Treavor Scales added another 120 yards, and the two combined for five touchdowns as the Crimson ran away with the score 42-21.

The Lions, meanwhile, lost their fourth straight, after giving up a 22-10 lead against the Yale Bulldogs. Yale scored with 58 seconds left to win 23-22. Columbia was lead by freshman Sean Brackett, who passed for 180 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception in his first start. Brackett was starting for sophomore M.A. Olawale, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

After the jump, we'll look at the rest of the Ivy League. For more on the Harvard-Columbia game, tune into our pregame show at 12:00 PM with James Yoon and Charlie Hobbs, and of course, the game at 12:30 PM with Alasdair Wilkins and Scott Reed.

New York State of Mind for Harvard Crimson

This weekend, it's all about New York for Harvard as a bunch of sports are in action against New York area opponents.

On Friday afternoon, the women's field hockey team closes out their season on the road against Columbia in New York

On Friday night, in a game that can be heard on WHRB, the men's hockey team travels up to Hamilton, NY to face the Colgate Raiders, before a Saturday road game in Ithaca, NY against arch-rival #5 Cornell, which can also be heard on WHRB.

The #10 women's hockey team is also in action against New York teams, this time at the Bright Hockey Center, as they face the #2 Clarkson Golden Knights on Friday and the #7 St. Lawrence Saints on Saturday. A win this weekend will give the Crimson their 500th in program history.

On Saturday, it will be Harvard vs. Columbia down in New York City in a variety of sports. The first game on Saturday can be heard here on WHRB, as the football team looks to remain unbeaten in Ivy League play. Then at 4 PM, the #11 men's soccer team will look to add to their Ivy League record with their last road constest of the regular season. Then at 7 PM, The women's soccer team will be looking to clinch sole possession of the Ivy League title after clinching a share of the title last week against Dartmouth.

Of course, we'll have a recap of this New York heavy weekend on Sunday on Crimson Sportstalk.

Breaking Down the ECAC: Week 1

It's that time of the week where we at WHRB look around the ECAC to get a sense of what's going on around the league. Last week we went through the teams alphabetically, this time we'll attempt a "power rankings." The rest is the same format as last time, with a key player for each team, and then a league-wide three stars.

1. Yale (1-0)
Last Time Out- Yale finally got their season underway this week, and a big win vaulted them to the top of the power rankings. The first win didn't have as much as an effect on that, an 8-0 exhibition pasting of the Ontario Institute of Technology, but the big win was when Yale skated into Princeton the next night and won 5-2, after a four goal third period.
Key Player- Denny Kearney had two PP tallies against OIT, before grabbing two assists against Princeton, one on the PP, one on the SH GWG.
Up Next- Yale travels to the Capital District to face RPI on Friday and Union on Saturday in ECAC play.

2. Quinnipiac (4-1)
Last Time Out- The Bobcats get into the top part of our power rankings despite a loss this weekend because of their four game winning streak to start the year. This weekend Quinnipiac split with Robert Morris (2-4-0), winning the first game 5-0, before losing 8-5 in the second game.
Key Player- Greg Holt had three goals this weekend for Quinnipiac, one in the Friday night game and two in the Saturday game.
Up Next- Quinnipiac opens up its ECAC season at home with a Friday night game against Clarkson and then a Saturday afternoon game against St. Lawrence.

3. Harvard (1-0, 1-0 ECAC)
Last Time Out- The Crimson kicked off ECAC play for the whole league as they opened the year on the road at Dartmouth, grabbing their first win away from the Bright Hockey Center since the 2008 ECAC Semifinals with a 5-3 scoreline. The Crimson were up 5-1 in the third and let the Big Green back into the game.
Key Player- Alex Killorn netted two goals and added an assist to lead the Crimson to victory.
Next Up- Harvard travels to upstate New York to take on the Colgate Raiders at Starr Rink before heading to Ithaca in one of the best ECAC rivalry games, as they skate into Lynah to take on Cornell.

4. Cornell (1-0)
Last Time Out- Cornell also opened up their season with a win, but it was a 3-2 OT victory against a now 0-5-1 Niagara team, and it was at Lynah. Certainly Cornell will always be tough to beat at home, but it is interesting that they needed an extra few minutes to put away a winless team.
Key Player- Colin Greening had a goal and an assist to lead the Big Red to victory.
Next Up- Cornell opens up their ECAC season at home, with a Friday night game against Dartmouth before facing big Ivy League rival Harvard on Saturday night.

5. Princeton (1-1)
Split weekend for the Tigers, although the results leave plenty of question marks. On Friday night, the Tigers opened up the season in the non-conference Ivy Showdown by facing the Brown Bears at Hobey Baker- and they required an extra session to put away Bruno with a 1-0 scoreline. Then on Saturday night, a 2-1 lead over Yale skating into the third period turned into a 5-2 victory for the Elis. Not how the Tigers envisioned their opening games at Hobey Baker.
Key Player- Marc Hagel had the OT game winner against Brown on Friday night and an assist against Yale on Saturday.
Next Up- Princeton faces St. Lawrence on Friday night at home and then Saturday afternoon they take on Clarkson, also at Princeton.

6. Clarkson (3-4)
Last Time Out- It's hard to judge what is a sub-.500 team at the moment, because Clarkson has played two very tough road trips, including last weekend at Minnesota-Duluth (5-2-1), where they lost 4-1 and 4-2 in the two game series. Clarkson is perfect so far at home however.
Key Player- Mark Borowiecki had a goal and an assist this week against UMD.
Next Up- Clarkson travels down to face Quinnipiac on Friday night, before taking on Princeton on Saturday afternoon.

After the jump, we'll have teams 7-12, as well as out three stars of the week and a new feature, our three games to watch this week.

View from the Booth: Harvard 5, Dartmouth 3

With the Harvard hockey season now officially underway, we'll be bringing you expanded coverage of the Crimson here on the WHRB Sports Blog. We'll have a preview of every weekend posted by Friday afternoon, as well as a recap and analysis of the weekend's results for Harvard on Sunday evening.

Click through to see my five thoughts on the Crimson's winning performance against the Big Green up in Hanover, N.H.

Reminder- First November Sportstalk Today at 1pm

It was a busy weekend for Harvard athletics and we'll have a recap of it all on 95.3 FM WHRB and WHRB.org this afternoon at 1pm.

Highlights include-
Discussion of the Crimson's first win away from the Bright Hockey Center since the 2008 ECAC Tournament.
A recap of Harvard's big win over Dartmouth on the gridiron.
A continuation of our interview with John Powers.
An interview with TNT analyst and former NBA coach Doug Collins.
And of course, Harvard Headlines, with a recap of all this week's action.

So tune in at 1pm on WHRB.

It's the Big Green Harvard Crimson!

Today's Video: In honor of Halloween, it's the football scene from "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!" (note link should NOW be working.)

The Ivy League football season is coming up on its halfway point. Last week saw the first week of all Ivy vs. Ivy games, which continues until the end of the season. This week, the Harvard Crimson look to end a three game homestand on a high note as they face the Dartmouth Big Green.

Let's look back at last week, starting with the Harvard Crimson (4-2, 3-0 Ivy), who took on the Princeton Tigers (1-5, 0-3 Ivy). The Crimson started off with a bang as less than 3 minutes in, Collier Winters found Chris Lorditch for a 77 yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0. After Princeton's lone points of the day, a Ben Bologna field goal, it was all Johnnies, who were up 24-3 at the half. Geno Gordon than made it 31-3 with a run in the third quarter, while third stringer Cheng Ho took advantage of the playing time to add a touchdown in the fourth that made it 37-3 for the final score. The best pass of the day may have come from WR Mike Cook, who threw a touchdown pass to Matt Luft only to see it negated by an ineligible receiver down field penalty.

Meanwhile, there was much to celebrate for the Hanover crowd as the Dartmouth Big Green (1-5, 1-2 Ivy) snapped a seventeen game losing streak by beating the Columbia Lions (2-4, 1-2 Ivy). Nick Schweiger ran for a school record 244 yards and a touchdown, earning him both Ivy League and National recognition. Connor Kempe was 8 for 22 for 75 yards. Dartmouth's defense grabbed three turnovers, included a fumble returned 39 yards for a touchdown, in a game that also wasn't in doubt, as that score put Dartmouth up at 21-0 in the fourth quarter, grabbing a 28-6 win.

Now Dartmouth comes to Harvard Stadium looking to get their first winning streak in six years. Speaking of six years ago, that was the last time Dartmouth bested the Crimson, with a 30-16 win at Harvard Stadium. Are the Big Green poised to get the win? Or is last week's win over Columbia just a signed (but un-noterized) written promise to convince Dartmouth to come running up to the ball only for the Harvard Crimson to quickly pull it away, leading to a loud "AAAUUUGH!" from the Hanover faithful? WHRB will be here to answer that question, starting with our pregame coverage at 11:30 AM with Scott Reed and James Yoon, and then live from Harvard Stadium at 12 PM with Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan, and Kara Hollis.

Leaving you in the able hands of the on-air folks to break down this game further, let's look at the rest of the Ivy League and see how many more Halloween/"Peanuts" references I can cram into this post, after the jump.

Rivalry Week with Dartmouth Kicks off Tonight

Do something great with all you’ve got. Be ambitious. Aspire to change the world. If you’re an engineer – take on climate change and move us toward a more sustainable future. If you’re a musician – play or write something that truly moves people. And if you play football – beat Harvard! Please! This year!- Dartmouth College President, and former Harvard administrator, Jim Yong Kim. (emphasis mine)

The Harvard Crimson are going to be seeing green all weekend as they face the Dartmouth Big Green in five sports this weekend.

The first game of the Harvard-Dartmouth rivalry is tonight, as the Crimson men's hockey team travels to Hanover to begin Ancient Eight and ECAC play. The drop of the puck is scheduled for 7 PM, and WHRB will begin its coverage with a pregame from Thompson Arena at 6:45 PM, as Tom Brennan and Brendan Roche will have the call.

Then on Saturday, four sports are in action against the Big Green on Halloween. At 11 AM, the women's soccer team takes on Dartmouth at Ohiri Field, and the No. 14 men's soccer team takes on No. 21 Dartmouth. Both the men's and women's teams are looking to recover from losses to Princeton at Ohiri Field and to remain near the top of the Ivy League standings.

At 1 PM over on Jordan Field, the field hockey team also face the Big Green. The Crimson are coming off two big losses to ranked opponents (9-0 to No. 4 Princeton, 9-1 to No. 9 Boston College) and will be looking to turn it around against Dartmouth.

Last, but certainly not least, the football team is slated to kickoff against Dartmouth at 12 PM. WHRB will have coverage of that game, beginning with pregame coverage at 11:30 AM with Scott Reed and James Yoon, before the 12 PM broadcast with Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan and Kara Hollis.

Both schools will be looking to win this weekend rivalry series- and Dartmouth's new president knows he will be razzed by his former colleagues at Harvard if his school doesn't.

Harvard Men's Hockey Preview Part IV: Schedule and Season Predictions

In the final edition of our blog preview, we'll take a look at the ECAC at large, as well as some highlights of the Crimson's regular season schedule. Click through to get our ECAC season predictions and schedule thoughts.

Harvard Men's Hockey Preview Part III: Positional Breakdown, continued

With the forwards previewed earlier this week, it's time to look at the Crimson's defensemen and goaltenders. Harvard returns four D-men who skated in 30+ games last season, so the Crimson defensive corps has a wealth of veteran experience to build on, as well as a couple freshmen who will be in the mix. After a jump you'll find a look at each defenseman with the Crimson and some possible pairings, as well as the Crimson's goaltending.

Harvard Men's Hockey Season Preview Part III: Positional Breakdown

With the Crimson's lone exhibition game under their belt, it's time to take a look at the Crimson across the roster and break down the team by position. We'll tackle every positional group for the Crimson - and tell you what each skater could bring to the Harvard Crimson in 2009-10. After the jump, you'll find a breakdown of the Crimson's forward corps. Tomorrow will bring a look at defense, goaltending, and special teams.

Breaking Down the ECAC: Week 0

The ECAC season officially opens when the Crimson travel to Hanover, NH to face Ivy League rival the Dartmouth Big Green, but just about every team has gotten some exhibition work, and for non-Ivy League teams, some substantial games in, so let's take a look around the ECAC.

Edit: Sorry for any confusion, but I was confused in regards to Brown, Princeton, and Yale's schedule. I thought they were participating in a tournament at Princeton, but am mistaken. Princeton's schedule remains correct, but the Brown and Yale games against the Ontario Institute of Technology are at Brown and at Yale, not in New Jersey as I originally thought.

1. Brown (0-0) - The only time Bruno saw the ice was in the exhibition against the Crimson in Providence, a 7-2 "loss" after two regular periods and a special teams period.
Key Player: None this week.
Next Up: Brown will face Princeton (non-conference) at Princeton before playing at home against the Ontario Institute of Technology.

2. Clarkson (3-2) - The Golden Knights kicked off their season with an exhibition against Toronto, which they won easily, with a 6-1 victory. They then traveled out west and were swept in a two game series by Michigan State, 6-1 and 4-3. They are now on a three game winning streak after a 4-3 OT win over Niagara, a 5-3 win over RIT, and a 4-3 non-conference win over North Country rival St. Lawrence.
Key Player: Senior Matt Beca has five goals in five games, including a game winner.
Next Up: The Knights will have a tough road trip as they travel to Minnesota-Duluth for a two game series.

3. Colgate (1-2-2) - Colgate opened up their season against Waterloo in an exhibition match, and they won 6-3. They then tied Niagara 4-4 before beating RIT 3-2 in a neutral site game. A trip west saw them tie Nebraska-Omaha 1-1 on the first night before losing 4-1 the second night, followed by a loss to UMass-Lowell 5-3. Colgate then had another exhibition, this time against the US U-18 team, which won 4-1.
Key Player: Brian Day has three goals in five games.
Next Up: The Raiders will face two New York teams with a game at home versus Army and a rematch with Niagara, this time at home.

4. Cornell (0-0) - Cornell only has two exhibition games on the year, a 7-0 win over Windsor and a 3-2 loss to the US U-18 team.
Key Player: Michael Garman opened up the season with a shutout, stopping 20 shots in 60 minutes of play against Windsor.
Next Up: The Big Red only have a Friday game, versus Niagara.

5. Dartmouth (0-0) - Dartmouth's lone exhibition game did not go quite as planned, as they fell 7-4 to the #8 McGill Redmen on Saturday. Dartmouth was leading 2-1 when starting goaltender Jody O'Neill was pulled in favor of the backup. His one goal against came on six shots.
Key Player: Adam Estoclet scored two for the Big Green.
Next Up: Dartmouth opens ECAC play at home against Harvard.

6. Harvard (0-0) - Harvard faced the same #8 McGill squad on Friday night, and fell behind 3-1 before coming back to tie the game 3-3.
Key Player: Doug Rogers had the game tying goal for the Crimson on Friday.
Next Up: The Johnnies begin the new season by traveling to Dartmouth to face the Big Green.

After the jump, we'll look at the rest of the ECAC, and give our three stars of the week.

Reminder- Sportstalk Today at 1pm

Another Sunday, so it's time for another Crimson Sportstalk on WHRB.

Today's our big hockey preview show as our men's hockey booth looks back at the exhibition from Friday night as well as ahead to the first ECAC clash next week against Dartmouth.

We'll also have an interview with coach Ted Donato.

Other Highlights: Alasdair Wilkins will be in to talk with us about yesterday's convincing win for the Crimson against the Princeton Tigers on the gridiron.
We will have another installment of our national media interview series.
And of course, Harvard Headlines, wrapping up all of this week's action in the fall sports.

That's all today at 1pm on 95.3 FM WHRB and online at WHRB.org.

Harvard Hopes to Fiercely Fight Princeton on Homecoming Day

Today's Video: Tom Lehrer's Fight Fiercely Harvard

It's an Ivy League rivalry weekend between the Harvard Crimson and the Princeton Tigers, as the two Ancient Eight foes face off in field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and, of course, football. The football game also marks a new tradition for the Johnnies, as today is the first Harvard "Homecoming" Game.

Last week for the Crimson, (3-2, 2-0 Ivy) was a disappointing loss against the Lafayette Leopards (5-1) as they could not get anything going in the 35-18 loss. Harvard fell behind early on two turnovers which Lafayette converted for touchdowns, and they were down 21-3 at the half. Collier Winters added two late consolation scores for the Crimson in the fourth quarter with a 14 yard pass to Marco Iannuzzi and a 47 pass to Chris Lorditch. Lafayette rushed for 133 yards and 3 touchdowns, while QB Rob Curley went 21 for 31 with 210 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

Things weren't much better last week for the Princeton Tigers (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) as they fell to Ivy League rival Brown 34-17. The Tigers passing defense was torched by Kyle Newhall, who put up 309 yards en route to two touchdowns and an interception. Princeton only was able to rush for 52 yards on the day. QB Tommy Wornham had both touchdowns, one through the air and another on the ground.

We'll have more on this game in just over an hour (at 11:30 am) during the Harvard pre-game show with Scott Reed and James Yoon on 95.3 FM and WHRB.org, before kickoff at 12:00 pm brought to you by Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan, and Kara Hollis.

After the jump, we'll look around the Ivies in the first week where no team has out of conference play, something which will continue for the rest of the year.

Postgame: Harvard 3 McGill 3 OT F

Well, some technical problems (not on WHRB's end) tonight meant the game could not be heard, so I figure some quick post-game stats are in order, following the brief analysis.

Analysis
Coach Donato talked about the importance of this game for the Crimson because it is their one and only chance to work out the kinks before starting ECAC Hockey play. Harvard, at times, looked like a team playing their first game. Passes weren't connecting, players were falling or running into each other, and they had trouble at times getting out of the zone. Still, the Crimson did a great job of hanging around a McGill team that, while officially 2-0 on the year, has already played 7 games coming into tonight, and which is ranked #8 in the CIS standings. It was also a great job of not letting up despite being down early 2-0, and later 3-1. Both of these things were seen the most in the third period, a period spent almost entirely in McGill's zone. It should also be important to not let the scoreline leave a false impression of the game: Harvard had plenty more opportunities, but faced a quality goaltender in Hubert Morin.

From what we've seen so far, the Crimson will be playing a very aggressive, fast-paced, physical game. All four lines tonight were speedy, and any turnover, anywhere on the ice, could be and was quickly converted into opportunities in the McGill end. Certainly there's some things, particularly defensively, that need to be worked on, but this was a great start for the 09-10 Crimson campaign.

Scoring Summary
1st Period
09:18 McGill EV goal by Guillaume Doucet, assisted by Simon Legare-Marcotte and Ben Gazdic to make it 1-0.
17:31 McGill PP goal by Francis Varreault-Paul, assisted by Andrew Wright and Alex Picard-Hooper to make it 2-0.
19:42 Harvard EV goal by Michael Biega, assisted by Louis Leblanc and Alex Killorn to make it 2-1.

2nd Period
10:37 McGill EV goal by Guillaume Doucet, his second on the night, assisted by Stephen Valente and Simon Legare-Marcotte to make it 3-1.

3rd Period
10:49 Harvard PP goal by Alex Biega, assisted by Conor Morrison to make it 3-2.
17:55 Harvard EV goal by Doug Rogers, unassisted to make it 3-3.

After the jump, we'll look at some more stats and our three stars of the game.

Harvard Hockey Scrimmage and Exhibition News

The men's hockey team scrimmaged Brown Tuesday night at Meehan Auditorium, and handily defeated the Bears by a cumulative score of 7-2 over three separate periods of play. The two teams skated for three long periods - two regular strength periods and one special teams period. Sophomore defenseman Ryan Grimshaw, now fully recovered from a preseason wrist injury, potted two man-advantage goals, and freshman Alex Fallstrom added two more goals. The Crimson outscored the Brunos 4-1 in special teams play, including one short-handed goal for each squad.

Although we at WHRB Sports were unable to attend the scrimmage, it is particularly encouraging to hear that the Crimson special teams shows early signs of promise. Former assistant coach Sean McCann had run very effective Crimson special teams units in previous seasons, so to hear that the transition from McCann to new assistant coach Bobby Jay has not diminished one of the team's strengths is a positive.

It's a long road from a good scrimmage against Brown to consistent success in the regular season and in the ECAC tournament - however Tuesday night the Crimson started on the right note.

Friday night at 7 p.m. Harvard meets McGill University at the Bright Hockey Center in their only exhibition tuneup for the regular season, and you can catch the action live on GoCrimson.com.

Crimson Football Hopes to "Give Her Ten" on Head of the Charles Weekend

This Week's Video: Fan-made Head of the Charles (2007) Celebration

Tomorrow afternoon marks the third and final non-conference game for the Harvard Crimson (3-1, 1-0 Ivy), as they look to build on a three game winning streak in their game against the Lafayette Leopards (4-1, 1-0 Patriot). The game marks the beginning of a three game homestand for the Johnnies, after two straight on the road. The Leopards are playing their fourth Ivy League opponent in a row and are undefeated against the Ancient Eight, having beaten Penn (20-17 OT), Yale (31-14), and Columbia (24-21). The weather report is that it will be chilly and there's the possibility of rain, so conditions might favor the run for these two teams.

Last week for the Harvard Crimson, it was the odyssey to Ithaca, as the team traveled to upstate New York to take on Ancient Eight foe Cornell (2-2, 1-1 Ivy) in a battle of Ivy League unbeatens. The Crimson got off to a fast start, forcing a three and out on the Big Red's opening drive, before converting on excellent field position to get out to a 7-0 lead. After a second successful stop, it seemed like the Crimson were about to run away with it, but sloppy execution followed by a missed field goal left the Crimson with no points. The offense continued to struggle, particularly through the air, and they had only a tenuous 14-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. But good teams know how to close out games, and the Crimson did so in style, adding two touchdowns, including a Collier Winters draw with nine seconds left that saw the Crimson escape with a 28-10 victory, coach Tim Murphy's 100th career win. The ground game and the defense both had huge days for Harvard. The rushing game claimed 254 yards and all 4 touchdowns, while the stout defense limited Cornell to only 182 yards, 62 of which came on the ground.

Last week, it was game number three of four straight against Ivy League opponents for the Leopards, as they were home against Columbia (2-2, 1-0 Ivy). Lafayette racked up a ton of yards on the day, 405, a number helped by the 287 yards and a touchdown from quarterback Rob Curley. It wasn't all rosy for Curley, however, as he was forced into throwing three interceptions on the day, which helped give the Lions a lead late in the game. But Maurice White ran in a touchdown with 13 seconds left in the game to complete a rally for Lafayette, giving them a 24-21 victory.

That ends the blog's look at tomorrow's Harvard game. Scott Reed and James Yoon will have much more in-depth coverage on tomorrow's pregame show (airing at 11:30 AM) and of course the game itself with Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan, and Kara Hollis will be live in the booth from Harvard Stadium beginning at 12:00 PM. That can all be heard on 95.3 FM and WHRB.org.

After the jump, we'll look at the rest of the games in the Ivy League.

Harvard Men's Hockey Season Preview Part II: The Class of 2013

Looking at the class of 2013 as a whole, the Crimson are bringing in one of the most talented recruiting classes to ever skate into Cambridge. The result has been some strong rankings for the Crimson frosh from the national media. Inside College Hockey has the Crimson recruiting class at fifth in the nation, behind some big names in the hockey landscape, including Notre Dame, Denver, and Harvard opponents Boston College and Minnesota. The Crimson rank above a lot of top programs too, beating out the defending champion Boston University Terriers, as well as North Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Around the ECAC, the closest incoming class is RPI's, who were ranked 9th, while Cornell and Yale were ranked 13th and 14th respectively.

Meanwhile, Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News added in a "hurrah for the smart kids," in his blog article on the most intriguing collegiate recruiting classes. Harvard represented the ECAC, while St. Cloud State, Boston College, and Michigan made the list for their respective league.

After the jump, we'll profile all of the new Harvard skaters.

Harvard Men's Hockey Season Preview Part I: 2008-09 Recap

With 15 days until the regular season opens in Hanover, N.H., it's time to start our 2009-10 Harvard Men's Hockey preview here on the WHRB Sports Blog. First up is a recap of last year and after the jump you'll find an analysis of 2008-09 along with last year's pluses and minuses, and a look at last year's seniors.

Top Shelf returns for Season Six

Top Shelf, the Harvard men's hockey intermission show that airs on WHRB, returns for its sixth season with the first episode of the 2009-10 season, and the first episode is available exclusively on iTunes and at the online home of Top Shelf.

With the beginning of the season less than three weeks away, it's time to begin getting ready for the 2009-10 campaign, and what better way than a brand new episode of Top Shelf?

Here's the summary of Season 6, Episode 1:

It’s a full booth for the inaugural episode of the sixth season of Top Shelf, as Jimmy Fraser swung by campus for one more taping before heading off to begin his professional hockey career. Jimmy joins Alex Biega and Tom Brennan, and Kyle Richter returns to the studio for the first time since 2007-08. Hear Jimmy’s professional plans, some discussion of foreign languages, a lengthy discussion of Mark Messier’s visit with the Crimson, possible professional endorsement opportunities for Jimmy, and plenty more about the upcoming season.

Hockey Headlines - October 12

For 52 of 58 of the D-I men's college hockey programs, the season has just begun. But all Ivy League icers are still a couple weeks away from beginning exhibition play because of Ivy League restrictions.

That said, nearly all prominent college hockey news sources have posted a ECAC/Harvard season preview of some kind in the last week. After the jump, you'll find our breakdown of those previews, plus a few more bits of Harvard hockey news.

Early Edition- Harvard Clashes with Big Red on Saturday

This Week's Video- Last Year's Halftime Show at the Harvard-Cornell Game

What if you got tomorrow's newspaper, today? I don't know, and that's not what we're offering by this early edition of our weekly Harvard and Ivy League preview- we (well, mostly I) mean that this is getting posted a few hours earlier, because I will be without Internet access as I begin the odyssey toward Ithaca. Since we don't have Gary Hobson-like powers to tell you the results of this week's game, we'll head back toward last week to get a taste of this weekend's Ivy League match-up between the Harvard Crimson (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) and the Cornell Big Red (2-1, 1-0 Ivy).

Harvard was back on the road last Saturday as they traveled to another Patriot League opponent, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (0-4, 0-0 Patriot). Lehigh got in front with a touchdown pass from Chris Lum to Alex Wojdowski, but the Johnnies put up 28 straight points to put the game out of reach and take the win 28-14. It was a big day for the Crimson defense, as they picked off the inexperience Lum four times, including John Takamura's 60 yard interception return for a touchdown. Collier Winters had 15 completions for 152 yards, two touchdowns, and his first career interception. The Crimson run game, a question mark entering the game with Gino Gordon out injured and Treavor Scales out with a family emergence, but the run game became an exclamation point as Cheng Ho rumbled to 132 yards and a touchdown, adding a touchdown reception.

Cornell was also playing a Patriot League opponent, but one at the opposite side of the standings as they faced the Colgate Raiders (6-0, 1-0 Patriot) in a battle of undefeated teams. Colgate jumped out in front 14-0 thanks to running back Nate Eachus running into the endzone for two of his three touchdowns on the day. The game got as close as 21-10 before Colgate put the game away with 17 unanswered points. The passing game for both teams was pretty equal, as both teams grabbed 217 yards through the air, but the discrepancy was the run game, as Colgate had 344 yards on the ground while holding the Big Red to 63 yards. 84 of Colgate's running yards came from quarterback Greg Sullivan. Both teams tallied an interception in the game, as Colgate won 45-23.

That's about it for the blog spiel on the Harvard-Cornell game. As always, Scott Reed and James Yoon will have more in-depth coverage of this Ancient Eight contest on the pregame show beginning at 12pm, while Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan, and (for this week only) myself have the call live from Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca beginning at 12:30. And as always, both of those can be heard on 95.3 FM and here at WHRB.org.

After the jump, we'll take a look around the Ivy League, including a game that has already been played this week.

Reminder- Sportstalk Today at 1pm EST

Another week of Crimson Sportstalk is here on 95.3 FM and whrb.org.

We'll have recaps of all the Harvard action with our Harvard Headlines.
Color commentator Tom Brennan will be there to give us some postgame analysis of yesterday's football game.
We'll have the highlights of Coach Murphy's postgame press conference.
And we'll have a whole lot more.


Alasdair Wilkins will be jumping in to host it all this week, filling in for me since I'm not feeling 100%.

So tune in at 1pm for the best source for Harvard sports news, Crimson Sportstalk, 1pm at 95.3 FM and WHRB.org.

Harvard Looks For First Non-Conference Win

This Week's Video: Harvard University Band Performance

Harvard football (1-1, 1-0 Ivy) returns to non-conference play this weekend with a trip down to Bethlehem, PA, where the Crimson will take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (0-3, 0-0 Patriot) in what could be a rainy affair.

Last time out for the Johnnies was the "Friday Night, Under the Lights" game against Ivy League opponent Brown. The Bears got off to a good start, but the Crimson trimmed the deficit to 14-10 at the half, and a dominant start to the second half saw Harvard take the lead to 24-14. With three minutes remaining, things got tense for the Crimson as Brown began a drive that would lead to a touchdown, followed by an onside kick recovery with 30 secs. left. After electing to not go for the 42 yard field goal that would have tied the game, Brown sent the offense out, and QB Kyle Newhall had his pass to the endzone batted down to seal the win for Harvard.

Lehigh is playing their second straight Ivy opponent, as they faced the Princeton Tigers (1-1) last weekend and lost 17-14. It was two big plays that hurt the Hawks- a 77 yard interception return and a 68-yard run for touchdowns put Princeton ahead 14-0. Lehigh had 332 yards rushing last week, compared to Princeton's 162 yards. The other interesting note will be to see who takes the majority of the snaps for Lehigh. Junior J.B. Clark threw for 89 yards and a touchdown, but also two interceptions, while Sophomore Chris Lum threw for 135 yards. Lum has been getting more playing time as the week's have passed, while Clark has more touchdowns (3) and interceptions (5).

The pregame, with Scott Reed and James Yoon, will have much more in-depth coverage of this game starting at 12pm on 95.3 FM and WHRB, so let's turn to the rest of the Ivy League.

Hockey Headlines - September 29

After a quiet first few weeks of September, there's been an influx of Harvard hockey-related news in the last couple of days.

After the jump, you'll find the preseason ECAC picks, some good news about a recent alum, and even more good news about a star freshman.

Reminder- Sportstalk Today, 1pm

Just a reminder- Crimson Sportstalk airs today at 1pm on 95.3 FM and WHRB.org.

Some of the highlights-
Alasdair Wilkins set down with Ivan Maisel, senior writer for ESPN, about Maisel's column on Andrew Hatch's journey from Harvard to LSU and back again.
We'll have highlights of the post-game press conference from Harvard's Friday night win over Brown.
And of course, we'll have Harvard Headlines, recapping a busy week for Harvard sports as fall Ivy League play kicked off for most of the teams.

That's all on 95.3 FM or online here or with your Iphone if you have the WHRB app.

Top-Ten Teams Do Battle Tonight

The no. 6 Harvard men's soccer (6-0) travels down to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for tonight's out of conference clash with the no. 3 Demon Deacons of Wake Forest (4-1-1) in what will be the toughest test of the season for the Crimson.

A lot is at stake for the Crimson. A result down south will place the Crimson in the top five of the national rankings, which would be the highest ever ranking for the Johnnies, and could very well cement Andre Akpan's pursuit for the Hermann Trophy. The Crimson are also hoping to remain among the five teams with perfect records, and a win tonight would be the best start for a Crimson squad since the 1970 team that went 12-0. The Crimson enter the match 1-0 against ranked opponents, knocking off then ranked no. 14 Boston University at Ohiri Field.

Wake Forest also has a lot to play for. The Deacs, who are at 4-1-1, saw their one loss come at the hands of ACC Opponent Virginia, the first time Wake Forest had been defeated in 35 matches at Spry Stadium. They got back to their winning ways at home with a 2-1 victory over Elon, but one thing is for certain- the Deacs won't want to lose two of three games at home after such an impressive streak. They will also be trying to keep another impressive streak alive, as they have not fallen to a non-conference opponent in 45 straight matches, with their last non-conference loss coming in 2005 in the NCAA tournament against Cal. Wake Forest enters this game 1-1-1 against ranked opponents, drawing with then no. 12 Notre Dame and defeating then no. 7 Indiana, with the loss coming to Virginia.

Harvard and Wake Forest have never met on the pitch before. Harvard is 8-14-4 against schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference all-time, including 1-0 this year after defeating Boston College on the road. Wake Forest, playing its first game against an Ivy League opponent this season, is 1-2-0 all-time against the Ancient Eight. Their last game against the Ivy League was in last year's NCAA Tournament, where they beat Dartmouth 7-0.

Harvard Game Notes Here
Wake Forest Game Notes Here

Match of Champions Tonight on WHRB

I said last week I wanted to start off each pregame post with a video. This week's video: Harvard Scores a Touchdown against Brown in the first ever night game at Harvard Stadium.

Now that tradition has been carried out, let's turn our attention to the game, the official kickoff to the Ivy League season.

Both teams return under the lights at Harvard Stadium as the Crimson kick off their 2009 Ivy League and Home Campaigns. Both teams enter at 0-1 with inconsistent signal callers, but a talented running and receiving corps. Both teams want to avoid 0-2, especially since in Ivy League play, only eight teams have recovered from an opening Ancient Eight loss to go on and win the Ivy Title- Harvard being the latest to do it, last year. Of course, last year's loss at Brown is a storyline too. For the Johnnies, they want to get revenge on the only blight in their 9-1 record and 6-1 conference record. For Bruno, it's all about proving last year's game in the torrential downpour in Providence wasn't a fluke.

Last week's key stats: Collier Winters had 195 yards and two touchdowns in the air for the Crimson, while throwing no interceptions against a talented Holy Cross secondary. Dominic Randolph threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns against a talented Harvard secondary. The result was a 27-20 loss that knocked Harvard to the "also receiving votes" part of the national polls.

Kyle Newhall threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns against a weak Stony Brook secondary, and was also picked off two times. Brown's defense earned three turnovers, but the game was lost on special teams, with a missed extra point and a missed game winning field goal being enough to send Brown to 0-1.

Everything else Harvard-Brown will be covered by the pregame show, hosted by Scott Reed and James Yoon, which starts at 6:30 tonight. The pregame includes the Harvard player of the game for last week, Derrick Barker, an interview with Coach Murphy, and a snippet of an interview with ESPN's Ivan Maisel, in addition to analysis of Harvard-Brown.

And of course, Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan and Kara Hollis will have the game itself at 7pm. Kara also sat down with Pat Long and Captain Carl Ehrlich for the halftime show "Kicking a Touchdown." This match of the reigning Ivy League champions is sure to be a great one, especially with an expected crowd of over 20,000. If you're not one of the 20,000 making it out to the stadium, the game will be on 95.3 FM and WHRB.org.

So since everybody else has got the Harvard-Brown game well in hand, let's turn to the rest of the Ivy League, after the jump.

Hockey Headlines - September 24

With 29 days to go until the Crimson's first and only exhibition game against McGill University, there are a couple bits of Harvard hockey-related news after the jump.

Harvard Headlines- Mid-Week Edition

It's been a while since our last Blog version of the Harvard Headlines but it's a busy day for the Crimson, and there's plenty of information about the Crimson across the Web, so today seemed like the best day to change that. With that in mind, here we go.

Ivan Maisel has a new ESPN column about a similarity between Harvard and Yale- both teams have (or will have in the case of the Crimson) quarterbacks on their depth chart who went from the BCS to the Ivy League. The article compares Patrick Witt (younger brother of former Harvard QB Jeff Witt), who transferred from Nebraska to the Elis, with Andrew Hatch, who transferred from LSU back to the Johnnies.

The article is worth the read just to again prove what many already know if they follow Harvard sports- that head coach Tim Murphy is a class act. Murphy kept in contact with Hatch after he originally left Harvard, and even sent a congratulatory note to Hatch after his first career start and win over Appalachian State. [ESPN]

The weekly Ivy League teleconference occurred yesterday. Coach Phil Estes of Brown spoke of the emphasis his team put on the kicking game this week after an effort at Stony Brook saw them miss an extra point, the game winning field goal, in addition to poor coverage on kickoffs resulting in good field position. Speaking about Harvard's offense, Coach Estes spoke positively of Collier Winters' ability to elude the pass rush, and says his team cannot solely focus on containing Winters because Harvard can run and throw the ball as well. [Ivy League Sports]

Harvard head coach Tim Murphy also fielded some questions, including the difficulties of preparing for a Friday night game and about the Brown game being a rivalry game.

Coach Murphy had this to say about the nature of the rivalry between Harvard and Brown.

Every game with us is a "rivalry" game. I get this question every week. Our big rival is obviously Yale and traditionally Princeton as well. We've got a bull's-eye on our front and our back as well... Whoever wants to call us a rival is fine with us.

[GoCrimson]

Moving off the gridiron and on to the ice, recent Harvard alumnus and last year's co-captain and co-host of Top Shelf, Jimmy Fraser, was mentioned in the Providence Journal as someone who had made an impression on the Baby Bruins' coach Rob Murray during the first day of training camp. Fraser will have an opportunity tonight to continue to impress coach Murray as Providence starts their preseason against Springfield in Marlboro. [Providence Journal]

Staying on the ice, the ECAC held its women's hockey coaches' teleconference yesterday, at the end of which the ECAC revealed the coaches' season predictions and the preseason All-Conference Team. Harvard received three first place votes and 103 points total for second place in the coaches' poll behind St. Lawrence University. Goaltender Christina Kessler was named to the All-Conference Team. [GoCrimson]

Midweek Games of the Week
The field hockey (3-1) team looks to get back to their winning ways with another trip to the Nutmeg State as they face the undefeated no. 5 UCONN Huskies (7-0) tonight in Storrs, CT. Last time out, the Crimson gave up a hat trick to Yale's Ashley McCauley during a 4 goal Eli first half, before rallying with three unanswered goals in the second half. The Crimson offense has scored 15 goals so far this season.

Meanwhile, the undefeated no. 6 men's soccer team (5-0) have their second of a four game road trip as they face the New Hampshire Wildcats (2-3-1) this afternoon. The Crimson started the road trip with a 4-1 win over Fairfield. The Crimson are trying to match their best start to a season since 2007.

Mark Messier visits Bright Hockey Center, new helmets for Crimson

Last year, Brendan Shanahan skated with the Crimson for several days as he prepared to sign with the New Jersey Devils midway through the NHL season.

This year, six-time Stanley Cup winner Mark Messier dropped by the Bright Hockey Center in the preseason with a different agenda in mind. Friday afternoon, Messier visited the Bright with an unusual delivery.

Men's Soccer rising on national scene

Another winning weekend for the Harvard men's soccer team, and another impressive haul of national attention for the undefeated Crimson.

On Saturday afternoon, the Crimson trekked to southern Connecticut and defeated Fairfield 4-1 behind senior striker Andre Akpan's two tallies and an assist. That win moves them to 5-0 on the season and the #6 ranking in the just-released College Soccer News poll, up a whopping six spots from last week.

This coming week will provide two more tough road tests, with a match at the University of New Hampshire (2-3-1) on Wednesday and a Saturday afternoon tilt on Tobacco Road against #3 Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons (3-1-1) are coming off a 1-0 loss to Virginia, so expect a taut game between the Crimson and the Deacons in Winston-Salem.

Akpan earned National Player of the Week honors from Top Drawer Soccer for his five-point performance against the Stags, and now stands just six goals shy of Harvard's all-time goal mark. Expect him to narrow that gap against UNH, and if he puts in a strong performance against Wake Forest, Akpan (six goals, four assists in five games) could be considered the early front-runner for the Hermann Trophy.

Reminder- Sportstalk at 1pm Today

Just a quick reminder that Crimson Sportstalk is on today at 1pm on 95.3FM WHRB and whrb.org.

Alasdair Wilkins will be in the booth to give us some perspective from yesterday's 27-20 loss against a very tough non-conference opponent for the football team.

Tom Brennan will sit down to discuss Harvard's 5-0 men's soccer team.

We'll have the highlights from the postgame interviews from Harvard and Holy Cross.

And of course, we'll have Harvard Headlines recapping the past week's action.

It's all at 1pm on WHRB.

Football Season Kicks-Off Tomorrow

Ten Thousand Men of Harvard Lyrics

Note- My goal is to include a video that relates to the Harvard game being played each week- for the season opener, I thought I could do no wrong with linking to a video with the lyrics of Ten Thousand Men of Harvard.

    Harvard football is here as the #25 Crimson travel across the state to face the #23 Holy Cross Crusaders.

    Not much more needs to be said here on the blog than that- Alasdair and I talked about the game a little last Sunday, and our pregame crew will have all the big news and views at 12:30pm.

So with all that in mind, let's go around the Ivy League

Bucknell at Cornell

The Bisons enter this game 1-1, after losing by five points to Duquense on the road 24-19 before beating Robert Morris at home 26-23. Marcello Trig has 320 yards and 3 touchdowns on the year coming into the game. For his career, he has 3,505 yards and 28 touchdowns.

Yale at Georgetown

Georgetown is 0-2 and 0-2 in the conference after losing 20-7 and 28-3 to two Harvard opponents, Holy Cross and Lafayette. Yale coach Tom Williams will be making his Yale debut.

Colgate at Dartmouth

Colgate is sitting at 2-0 on the year after wins against Monmouth and Stony Brook. Both wins came at home. Dartmouth, coming off a 0-10 campaign last year, lost by two touchdowns at Colgate last year.

Citadel at Princeton

Citadel is 0-1 on the year, a 40-6 loss, but that doesn't tell anyone much, as it was a loss to a ranked Division I-A opponent, North Carolina. The Citadel had 39 passing attempts for 123 yards and 20 rushing attempts for 30 yards in their last effort.

Columbia at Fordham

It's a battle of New York as the Lions attempt to invade Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx to defeat the Fordham Rams. Fordham is 0-1 after losing to another set of Rams, Rhode Island, 41-28 two weeks ago.

Brown at Stony Brook

Stony Brook is 0-2 on the year after losing to Hofstra and Colgate in their opening games. This will be the home opener for the Big South team. Sophomore running back Edwin Gowins is set to break the 1500 yard mark in his career.

Villanova at Pennsylvania

The last time Villanova (2-0) traveled to an in-state opponent was to take on the Temple Owls of Division I-A in the inaugural Mayor's Cup, and Villanova emerged with an upset 27-24. After beating Harvard opponent Lehigh at home last week, 38-17, the Wildcats will be looking to move to 3-0 on the year against in-state teams.

Other Harvard Opponents

Lafayette (1-0, 1-0) take on the Liberty Flames (1-1, 0-0). Liberty's loss came to Division I-A opponent West Virginia 33-20, and they beat North Carolina Central last week 35-10.