Harvard Visits No. 20 Quinnipiac, No. 19 Princeton; Friday's Game on NESN

Morrison is one of three Harvard freshmen to have scored this season (photo courtesy Patrick Shanahan).

Game Notes (PDF) | ECAC Hockey Live Scoreboard

In the News
Boston Herald: Ted Donato's outlook a Bright one
NHL.com: Brothers dominate landscape for Harvard, Dartmouth
CBC Radio Canada: The new life of Louis Leblanc at Harvard (in French)

Game On
The Harvard men’s hockey team wraps up its five-game, season-opening road stretch by visiting No. 20 Quinnipiac Friday at 7:30 p.m. and No. 19 Princeton Saturday at 4 p.m. The Crimson and Tigers will meet for the 207th time.

On the Air (and the Internet)
Friday’s game will be televised live on the New England Sports Network. Saturday’s tilt will be carried on tape delay in New Jersey and on Long Island by Verizon FiOS. The games will also be broadcast on WHRB-FM 95.3 and WHRB.org. Links to the audio broadcasts, live stats and live video (subscription required) are available at the top of this page.

Behind the Bench
Former Crimson captain, NCAA Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player and 13-year National Hockey League veteran Ted Donato ’91 is in his sixth season as The Robert D. Ziff ’88 Head Coach for Harvard Men’s Ice Hockey. He owns an 83-70-17 record, three ECAC title-game appearances and two NCAA tournament bids.

Road Warriors
The first five games of Harvard’s season will be played on the road. It is the team’s longest season-opening road stretch since beginning 1958-59 with six straight on the road. The next six games will then be at home, beginning with the Nov. 20 home opener against St. Lawrence.

Goals, Goals, Goals
The Crimson is tied for third in Division I in scoring offense with 4.00 goals per game.

Power Surge
Harvard, which had ECAC Hockey’s top power play in league games last season, has started 2009???10 in similar fashion. The Crimson ranks third nationally with an efficiency rate of 33.3 percent on the power play (4 for 12). Marshall Everson (Edina, Minn.) leads the team with two power-play goals.

Last Weekend
Colgate scored four third-period goals to come back from a three-goal deficit and edge the Crimson, 5-4, Friday. Alex Killorn (Montreal, Que.) notched a goal and an assist and Louis Leblanc (Kirkland, Que.) recorded a pair of assists to help Harvard take a 4-1 lead. Kyle Richter (Calgary, Alta.) made 35 saves.

No. 5 Cornell scored five unanswered goals in less than 16 minutes to rally to a 6-3 win Saturday against Harvard. Leblanc, Conor Morrison (London, Ont.) and Doug Rogers (Watertown, Mass.) scored for the Crimson, and Chris Huxley (Weymouth, Mass.) logged two assists. Ryan Carroll (Hackensack, N.J.) made 24 saves in his first start of the season.

Ivy Implications
Harvard, which has won a league-best 21 Ivy League championships, seeks its second Ivy win Saturday. There are five Ivy League games on the weekend schedule.

Outside the Box
Harvard is the nation’s third-least-penalized team, averaging just 9.3 penalty minutes per game.

In the National Stat Rankings
Alex Killorn, Louis Leblanc and Chris Huxley are tied for sixth in the nation in scoring at 1.67 points per game. Huxley is the nation’s top-scoring defenseman, and Leblanc is tied for the national scoring lead among freshmen. Each has five points in three games. Killorn leads the Crimson with three goals and is tied for second nationally in goals per game. Huxley has a team-high four assists and is tied for third with 1.33 assists per contest.

League Leaders
Alex Killorn shares the ECAC Hockey lead with three league goals. Chris Huxley is tied for first with four league assists and leads ECAC defensemen with five league points. Louis Leblanc’s five points in league games lead ECAC freshmen.

First Things First
Eric Kroshus (Calgary, Alta.) scored his first career goal Friday night, and Conor Morrison registered his first a night later.

Streakin’
Chris Huxley, Louis Leblanc and Doug Rogers have each recorded at least one point in each of the Crimson’s three games.

Getting Ahead
Harvard has held multiple-goal leads in every game. The Crimson was up 5-1 against Dartmouth, 4-1 against Colgate and 3-1 against Cornell.

Starting Strong
The Crimson has outscored its opponents, 8-3, in the first 30 minutes of games.

Scouting the Bobcats
Quinnipiac opened the season with a road sweep of nationally ranked Ohio State and has only one blemish on its resume so far, an 8-5 loss Oct. 31 at Robert Morris. The Bobcats began ECAC play at home last weekend with a 4-2 win against Clarkson and a 5-2 defeat of St. Lawrence. Quinnipiac ranks second nationally with 4.14 goals per game and is surrendering 2.43 goals per contest.

Seniors Brandon Wong (4-7-11) and Eric Lampe (6-4-10) are the team’s top two
point-scorers and lead the squad in goals and assists, respectively. Three different players have started in net for the Bobcats. Dan Clarke has made four of those starts, with a 3-0-0 record, .930 save percentage and 2.60 goals-against average.

Harvard vs. Quinnipiac in 2008-09
The Crimson and Bobcats’ first meeting last season was tied at 2-2 before Quinnipiac scored three times in the final four minutes to win, 5-2, in Hamden, Conn. Alex Biega (Montreal, Que.) assisted on Harvard’s first goal and scored its second to tie the game early in the third period. Bryan Leitch scored twice for Quinnipiac.

On the final weekend of the regular season at Bright Hockey Center, Alex Biega and brother Michael Biega (Montreal, Que.) scored in the second period after Quinnipiac took a 1-0 lead. Ryan Carroll made 27 saves to help Harvard hang on for a 2-1 win.

Harvard vs. Quinnipiac Series History
The Crimson is 6-3-2 against Quinnipiac in a series that dates back to the Bobcats’ first ECAC game in 2005. Harvard won a home ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series between the teams in 2008 but is seeking its first road win against Quinnipiac. The Crimson is 0-2-2 in series home games, including 0-1-2 at TD Bank Sports Center.

Scouting the Tigers
Princeton is playing its third straight home weekend to open the season. The Tigers got started with a 1-0, overtime win against Brown and beat Clarkson, 4-1, Saturday, but suffered 5-2 losses to Yale and St. Lawrence in between. The Yale and Brown games were non-league contests. Five of Princeton’s nine goals have come on the power play, and the Tigers lead the nation in penalty killing at 95.2 percent efficiency (20 for 21).

Matt Arhontas and Tyler Beachell have scored a team-high two goals each and with three points share the team scoring lead with Mike Kramer. Defending ECAC Hockey Player of the Year Zane Kalemba owns a 2.71 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.

Harvard vs. Princeton in 2008-09
Princeton scored the final four goals of the game following a first-period equalizer by Michael Biega to beat Harvard, 5-1, at home. Brett Wilson scored twice for the Tigers, while Dan Bartlett added a goal and an assist.

Back at Bright, Bartlett scored to tie the game in the second period, but Matt McCollem (Westford, Mass.) netted the only goal of the third, as Harvard beat sixth-ranked Princeton, 3-2, on Senior Night. Alex Biega notched a pair of assists, and Ryan Carroll made 38 saves.

Harvard vs. Princeton Series History
Only Yale has faced off against Harvard more times than Princeton. Since a 6-3 Crimson win March 1, 1902 in New York City, Harvard holds a 144-53-9 series edge. Harvard is 7-4-0 against Princeton under Ted Donato, but the Tigers defeated the Crimson, 4-1, in the 2008 ECAC title game.

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