CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 9/9 Harvard (12-4-1, 10-2-0 ECACH) will take on longtime Ivy and ECAC Hockey rivals Yale (3-10-4, 2-8-2 ECAC Hockey) and Brown (7-10-2, 3-7-2 ECACH) in road contests this weekend. The Crimson is 6-0-0 in Ivy contests this season, having won its home set against Brown (W, 5-2), and Yale (W, 4-0) on Nov. 4-5. Harvard has won four of its last five games overall, and is coming off a weekend sweep of Clarkson (W, 4-1) and St. Lawrence (W, 5-0) last weekend at Bright-Landry Hockey Center. Junior forward
Sean Farrell (three goals), first-year forward
Joe Miller (three goals), and junior goaltender
Derek Mullahy (2-0-0, 0.50 GAA, .980 Save %, 48 saves) all had standout weekends for the Crimson.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Yale is unbeaten in its last five contests (2-0-3), keyed by the play of sophomore goaltender Luke Pearson, who has a 1.25 GAA and .958 Save % in eight games. Senior Cole Donhauser has six points (four goals, two assists) in his last five games to lead Yale up front. Brown is also playing its best hockey of the season, winners of three in a row, and with a 6-4-1 mark in its last 11 games. Sophomore goaltender Mathieu Caron has been fantastic in net, starting all 19 games and posting a 2.25 GAA and .927 Save %. First-year forward Ryan Bottrill leads hte team in scoring with 14 points (6-8-14).
- After this weekend, Harvard will have played 12 of its first 19 games on the road, including a stretch of eight straight road games in November and December, it's longest stretch of true road games in program history. Harvard is 5-4-1 in road contests this season.
- Harvard is a perfect 7-0-0 in games at Bright-Landry Hockey Center, averaging 5.0 goals/game, while allowing just 1.6 goals per contest. Harvard has outscored teams by a combined score of 35-11 at home.
- Senior captain John Farinacci made his season debut for Harvard on Jan. 13 against Clarkson after missing the first half of the season due to injury. One of the team's top returning scorers and a standout for Team USA's gold medal winning squad at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Tournament, Farinacci recorded four assists last weekend in two wins for Harvard.
- Sophomore forward Matthew Coronato and junior forwards Sean Farrell and Alex Laferriere are Harvard's nominees for the Hobey Baker Award. Farrell leads Harvard in scoring with 25 points (10-15-25) while Coronato has 20 points (10-10-20) as Farrell's linemate. Laferriere is second on the team in scoring with 23 points (10-13-23). Farrell is fourth in college hockey with an average of 1.47 points per game, while Laferriere is 8th in the nation with 1.35 points per contest.
- First-year forward Joe Miller (10-5-15) leads all ECAC Hockey first-years in goal scoring, and is one of 12 freshmen in college hockey with double-digit goals. He has been red hot of late, with eight points (6-2-8) in his last five games.
- Harvard's special teams have been a strong point early on this season. Harvard has the No. 12 power play unit in the nation (16-for-65, 24.6%) and the No. 9 penalty killing unit in the nation (42-for-49, 85.7%), including 11 perfect PK efforts in 17 games this season. Harvard has potted five shorthanded goals (No. 5, NCAA) in its first 17 games, with Sean Farrell scoring two of them.
- Starting goaltender Mitchell Gibson (7-3-1, 2.22, .921) has been one of the nation's best in net, and was named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List last week. He entered the year as one of the most experienced goaltenders in the nation and he currenlty has a career 36-21-5 mark in 63 games played, including a 2.33 GAA and .918 Save %. Junior goaltender Derek Mullahy, the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week last week, has also been fantastic in net at 4-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and .956 Save%.
UP NEXT
- Harvard returns home for key ECAC Hockey contests against Colgate and Cornell next weekend (Jan. 27-28). Both games will begin at 7 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.
