View From the Booth: Men's Hockey vs. Sweden U-20

On Monday night, the Harvard Crimson skated in an exhibition game against The Swedish Junior National Team. The result, a 2-1 win for the Swedes, still was a good one for the Crimson. (Sweden lost to Merrimack at 12 noon on Tuesday, a 4-1 L. They play D-III Williams College tonight at 7pm, and UMass on Saturday at noon) Here's my take from the game.

1. If I have to pick just one thing clicking for the Crimson, it has to be their forecheck. Harvard did a great jump of pinning Team Sweden in their own zone for stretches of the game, particularly in a first period where the Crimson outshot Sweden 15-5. Harvard played aggressively and won the battles in the corners. Harvard's lone goal came as the result of a turnover just outside the Swedish blue line, forced by the pressure the Crimson applied in the zone.

2. On the opposite side, the glaring negative for right now has to be the power play. This is not too worrisome because it's early in the season and the PP needs time to figure itself out. On the other hand, Harvard's power play never really got going last season after a slow start either, with the Crimson converting 17% of their chances, good for 39th in the country. In this game, the Crimson were 0-9, though some PPs were abbreviated, but 0 goals and 8 shots in 16:33 of PP time isn't going to cut it. Harvard's first PP unit (Killorn, M. Biega, Moriarty up front, Morrison and D.Biega on the point) generated some pressure, particularly in the 3rd. Harvard did not show a 2nd PP unit though, with Coach Donato just cycling his lines to see who would earn PP time. A good PP could be a boon on Saturday- RPI is averaging 15.4 PIM/game.

Below the jump, I have the rest of my five thoughts, the lines from Monday, and an audio game recap.

Postgame Reactions from the 32nd Annual Women's Beanpot

This past Tuesday, the #5 Harvard Crimson and #8 Northeastern Huskies squared off at the Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge for the 32nd Annual Women's Beanpot. It was a closely contested game between the two programs with the most Beanpot wins in women's hockey, but ultimately, the Harvard Crimson prevailed to take their second Beanpot in three years and 13th overall title. Below, we have some views from the booth, along with highlights from the postgame press conference.

Harvard men's hockey: Five thoughts on a rough stretch

The busiest stretch of the season is now over for the Crimson with the conclusion of the Beanpot, and with a strong post-exam run of play fading over the last week, after the we'll look back at the four games since the beginning of February - a disappointing 1-3 stretch for the Crimson.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.