CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – After a perfect start to the 2022-23 season, winning a four-game homestand, No. 12/13 Harvard men's ice hockey (4-0-0, 4-0-0 ECACH) kicks off a series of eight straight games on the road when it heads to Rensselaer (5-4-0, 1-3-0 ECACH) and Union (4-7-1, 2-2-0 ECACH) this weekend (Nov. 11-12). On Friday night against Brown, junior forward
Alex Laferriere scored twice to lead the Crimson to a 5-2 win over the Bears.
Matthew Coronato and
Ryan Siedem each added three assists for Harvard. On Saturday night, Laferriere had another solid game, notching a goal and two assists to help Harvard earn a 4-0 win over Yale. Laferriere earned the Tim Taylor Cup as MVP of the Harvard-Yale game played at Harvard. RPI dropped games at St. Lawrence (L, 3-2) and Clarkson (L, 3-0), last weekend, while Union split games against the North Country pair (W, 3-2 at Clarkson; L, 4-2 at St. Lawrence).
WHAT TO KNOW
- Harvard is 3-0-1 in its last four games against RPI at Houston Field House, and 14-5-3 in its last 22 games against the Engineers dating back to the start of the 2013-14 season. Harvard and RPI met in a memorable 2022 ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal series including a Game 1 victory in which the Crimson scored three 6-on-5 goals and won 4-3 in OT. RPI won Game 2, 4-3, in double OT, before Harvard closed out the series with a 3-1 win in Game 3. Harvard is 7-4 in its last 11 meetings against, with all four losses coming at Messa RInk. Harvard last won at Messa on Jan. 31, 2020, a wild 8-5 win over the Dutchmen.
- Junior forward Alex Laferriere is off to a flying start, leading Harvard with nine points (5-4-9) in his first four games. Laferriere is the national leader with an average of 2.25 points per game. Laferriere also got off to a great start in 2021-22, scoring five goals in his first four games en route to an ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year campaign.
- Harvard has scored first in three of its first four games and has outscored teams, 8-2, in the third period of its first four games. Harvard has also outshot teams in all four games played this season.
- Harvard returns 74% of its point production from 2021-22 (10th in college hockey), a group headlined by senior captain and 2nd Team AHCA All-American defenseman Henry Thrun (seven goals, 25 assists) and sophomore forward Matthew Coronato (18 goals, 18 assists). ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year Alex Laferriere (14 goals, 17 assists) is back for his junior campaign, and junior forward Sean Farrell (10 goals, 18 assists in 24 games) also returns, as does senior captain John Farinacci (10 goals, nine assists). In net, senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson (29 career wins, fourth most among all returning NCAA goaltenders) is back.
- Harvard was the youngest team in college hockey in 2021-22, and will be the fourth youngest team in the nation entering 2022-23 (average age 21.0 as of Oct. 1). However, the Crimson returns the fourth-most points (240) of any team in the nation, and sixth-most goals (85) of any team in the country.
- Seniors John Farinacci, Baker Shore, and Henry Thrun were elected by their teammates as the 134th, 135th, and 136th captains in the 124-year history of Harvard men's hockey. Farinacci, a standout on the 2020 gold-medal winning U.S. World Junior Team and at Harvard, has 39 points (18 goals, 21 assists) in 59 games over two seasons in Cambridge. Shore has been a steady presence at center for the Crimson (.513 career faceoff percentage), and is one of two seniors on the team that have played three years of college hockey (began careers in 2018-19) along with Wyllum Deveaux. Thrun, one of 10 returning All-Americans in college hockey, has 53 points (10 goals, 43 assists) and a plus-29 rating in 66 career games.
- Senior defenseman Henry Thrun became the 11th blue-liner in program history to earn All-America honors - a Second Team AHCA All-American - after posting a 7-25-32 line with a plus-12 rating in 2021-22. A two-way defenseman, Thrun entered the year with the ninth most assists (43) among all returning d-men in college hockey and the 12th-most points (53). He leads the team with six assists in 2022-23.
- Over the past three seasons, Harvard has had impactful first-year classes, placing third in the nation in 2018-19 and 2019-20 for points per game from first-years. Harvard has had the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year in four of the last six seasons played, including Adam Fox (2016-17), Casey Dornbach (2018-19), Nick Abruzzese (2019-20) and Alex Laferriere (2021-22 - sophomore). Harvard's first-year class has 10 points thus far in the team's first four games.
UP NEXT
Harvard plays its first nonconference game of the season when it heads to New Hampshire next Tuesday (Nov. 15) for a 7 p.m. contest on ESPN+.
