CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Men's Ice Hockey returns to conference play this weekend with a pair of games up north to wrap up the 2023 calendar year. The Crimson will face Clarkson on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. before wrapping up the back-to-back with St. Lawrence on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+

WHAT TO KNOW

• Harvard hits the road for its longest conference road trip of the season this weekend. Harvard will meet up with Clarkson on Friday Night before a Saturday night date with St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena to close out the trip. 
• Last season the Crimson took both games up north to close out the regular season with a pair of wins. 
• It will be the first time since opening night that Harvard has not played a nationally ranked opponent over a two-game weekend. 
• The Crimson is 1-0-2 in road conference play this season. 
• Harvard has an all-time record of 58-45-8 against the Saints including a six-game unbeaten streak dating back to 2020. Harvard is 15-1-1 in its last 17 matchups with St. Lawrence. 
• The Crimson has a 62-50-12 record against the Golden Knights but has won four of its last five matchups including back-to-back wins at Cheel Arena. 
• Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday with games streaming live on ESPN+.

LAST TIME OUT 

• The Crimson battled two nationally ranked opponents over the Thanksgiving weekend at Bright-Landry. 
• Harvard welcomed UMass to Cambridge on Black Friday in a battle between two nationally ranked opponents. The No. 15 Minutemen scored three straight goals in the second and third periods to help lift them to the win. 
• Ryan Healey registered his first career multi-goal game after netting a pair of goals against the Minutemen. Healey scored one of six power-play strikes for the Crimson this season early in the first period to give Harvard an early 2-0 lead. The sophomore followed that up with an end-to-end goal for his second strike of the afternoon. 
• Healey now has six points in seven games this season. The Massachusetts native has registered all six of his points in just four games. The sophomore has two multi-point games this season ( UMASS, Princeton). 
• Aku Koskenvuo set another career high with 43 saves – breaking his previous career high he set against the Princeton Tigers earlier this season.
• The Crimson went into the third period tied with No. 3 Boston College after Zakary Karpa netted his first goal of the season after a short two-game absence. 
• Derek Mullahy made 32 stops against the nationally ranked Eagles including a massive diving stop in the third period on a 2-1. 

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION

• The Crimson opens the trip to the north country with Clarkson on Friday night. The Golden Knights currently sit in sixth place in the ECAC standings after posting a 3-1-0 record through four games this season. Overall, Clarkson is sporting a 6-5 record after adding three wins outside of conference play. 
• The Golden Knights have wins over Notre Dame, Vermont, Michigan Tech, Union, Brown, and Yale to open the season. Aryton Martino, Ryan Taylor, and Anthony Romano all return to lead the Knights offensively. The trio all have six points to date this season. Between the pipes, Austin Roden has gotten a majority of the time and is posting a 2.14 GAA and 5-3 record. 
• On the second game of the back-to-back Harvard heads to Appleton Arena for a matchup with the Saints on Saturday evening. The Saints, who have already played 14 games this season have a 2-4-1 record on home ice this season. The Saints have skated away with wins over RIT, Ferris State, and RPI this season. In conference play, the Saints have a 1-3-0 record through four games this season. 
• Felikss Favas and Tomas Mazura lead the Saints in points this season with 10 points each. Mason Waite leads the team in points throughout conference play with one goal and four assists through four games. Ben Kraws has gotten the majority of time in the crease for St. Lawrence this season and is sporting a 3.00 GAA and a .888 save percentage.  

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK 

• Cam Johnson took home ECAC Rookie of the Week honors after adding three points in two games over the Thanksgiving break. Johnson added his first career goal against UMass after stealing the puck on the forecheck and jamming it past the netminder. Johnson picked up a pair of assists to finish the weekend and is now tied for the team lead in points with Ryan Healey. 

CHASING 300

• Coach Donato sits at 299 career wins after defeating No. 7 Cornell on Nov. 11.

FROM THE BLUELINE

• Sophomore defenseman Ryan Healey leads the team in points this season with six points in seven games. The Massachusetts native opened the season with four assists in five games including a multi-point effort against Princeton before netting his first-career multi-goal game against UMass last week. 
• The Crimson defense is currently sixth in the nation in points per game coming from defenseman thanks to Healey leading the way on the back end. 

 SPECIAL TEAM SUCCESS 

• The Crimson currently has nationally-ranked power-play and penalty-kill units through seven games this season. The power-play is sitting in second in the ECAC and fourth in the nation with a success rate of .273. Harvard is only behind Princeton, Michigan, and Minnesota Duluth. 
• The Crimson is 6-22 on the man advantage this year after goals from Alex Gaffney, Joe Miller, Ryan Healey, and Ben MacDonald. 
• On the PK, Harvard is currently 27th in the country and 5th in the conference with a success rate of 0.821. Harvard successfully killed off its first five-minute penalty of the season against UMass last weekend. 

NEXT UP
Harvard returns to action just before the New Year with a trip to Princeton on Dec. 30 and UConn on Dec. 31.