CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Men's ice hockey returns to conference play this weekend with trips to Brown and Yale this weekend. Harvard hasn't played a traditional conference weekend since Dec. 2-3 when it traveled to the North Country for a pair of games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. from Meehan Auditorium on Friday before another 7:00 p.m. puck drop on Saturday in New Haven. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
BACK TO CONFERENCE PLAY

• The Crimson returns to its regularly scheduled conference matchups this weekend with a quick trip down to Brown and Yale. For the first time since Dec. 2-3, Harvard will play a normal conference weekend after a New Year's Eve game against UConn and a trip to the Desert Hockey Classic last weekend. Harvard currently sits at 1-4-3 in conference play and looks to get back on track against its Ivy rivals.
• Last season the Crimson went 3-1 in four games against Yale and Brown. At Bright, Harvard outscored the Bears and Bulldogs 9-2 early in the season after netting six special teams goals. Ryan Healey added a power-play goal in the win over Brown while Alex Gaffney, Zakary Karpa, and Marek Hejduk added tallies against Yale. On the road, Harvard battled the pair with a hard-earned 3-2 overtime win against Yale before dropping the second game of the back-to-back to Brown. 
• Harvard has a 119-49-14 all-time record against the Bears and is 6-3-1 in its last ten matchups. Against the Bulldogs, the Crimson has had success in recent matchups after posting a 7-1-2 record in its last ten games. All-time, Harvard owns the series with a 150-91-23 record. 
• Ryan Healey netted his second multi-goal game of the season after a pair of goals against UMass Lowell. Offensively, Ryan Healey has led the Crimson defenders with four goals, and six assists this season. 
• After coming close in recent weeks, Michael Callow netted his first career goal against ASU after a great pass from Zakary Karpa. Callow has points in back-to-back games this season for the first time in his career after adding an assist against UMass Lowell in the finale at the Desert Hockey Classic.  

 LAST TIME OUT

• Harvard dropped both games at the Desert Hockey Classic to fall to 1-9-3 on the year. The Crimson battled against No. 12 ASU after goals from Ryan Fine and Michael Callow helped bring the Crimson within one heading into the third period. In the finale against UMass Lowell, Harvard battled back late in the game but was unable to come back from a three-goal second period. 
• Ryan Fine added his second goal of the season against ASU after throwing a puck on net that deflected past the Sun Devils netminder. Christian Jimenez and Salvatore Guzzo picked up their first points of the season with the assists on the play – Guzzo's assist was the first of his collegiate career. 
• Fellow first-year, Matthew Morden picked up his first career point on an assist on Alex Gaffney's second-period tally against UMass Lowell. Ryan Healey finished the game with two goals while Joe Miller added three assists. Both sophomores lead the team in points with 10 points each. 

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION 

• Brown currently sits at 5-10-1 with a 3-6-0-1 record in conference play this season. Coming off a conference weekend last time out, the Bears split the weekend with Union and Cornell. Alex Pineau scored with just under thirty seconds left in regulation before Ryan Shostak added the OT winner to help lift the Bears to an overtime victory. On Saturday, Brown dropped a close 2-1 contest to RPI despite a 24-save performance by Lawton Zacher. The Bears have wins against Stonehill, Colgate, St. Lawrence, and Union this season.
•  Leading the way offensively for the Bears is Ryan St. Louis and Max Scott who both have 15 points on the year. St. Louis, the son of NHL Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis has nine goals and six assists this season while Scott has been dishing it with a team-leading 10 assists. St. Louis added nine goals in his first ten games this season – including a hat-trick against Stonehill. 
• Lawton Zacher has been the starter for the Bears this season and has posted a 3-6-1 record with a 2.70 GAA and a .908 SV%. The first-year made a season-high 40 saves in the Mayor's Cup against the nationally ranked Providence Friars at the end of December. 
• Yale is posting a 6-9-0 record to date with a 4-5-0 ECAC record. A good weekend for the Bulldogs, Yale took both games on the road against RPI and Union after a gritty 2-1 win on Friday night and 4-2 win on Saturday last week. Winners of three of their last four games the Bulldogs are currently ahead of the Crimson in the Ivy and ECAC standings.
• Yale has wins over Brown, St. Lawrence, Merrimack, LIU, RPI, and Union. 
• David Chen leads the Bulldogs in scoring with six goals, and seven assists in 15 games this season. Between the pipes, Jack Stark and Nathan Reid have split the cage this season with Stark posting 2.80 GAA and a .894 SV% while Reid has a 4.15 GAA and a .865 SV%.

MILLER STAYS HOT

• Joe Miller has been on a tear in recent weeks after adding five points in his last four games. Originally coming off a weekend with goals in back-to-back games against Princeton and UConn, Miller added three assists against UMass Lowell.
• No other Crimson player has registered a three-point game this season.

THE NEW GUYS 

• Harvard welcomes seven first-years to the program including Michael Callow, a fifth-round selection of the Anaheim Ducks, and Ben MacDonald, a third-round selection of the Seattle Kraken. 
• After Matthew Morden and Salvatore Guzzo picked up assists at the Desert Hockey Classic six of the seven first-years have recorded a point throughout the 13 games played this season. 
• Among the rookies, Ben MacDonald, Ryan Fine, Cam Johnson, and Michael Callow have scored for the Crimson this season and have produced over 25% of the goals on the year. 
•  With the helpers from Guzzo and Morden in Arizona, rookies now have 22 of 67 total points to date this season. 

BACK 12 BACK 

• Joe Miller scored in back-to-back games to close 2023 to make him the first Crimson skater to pot goals in consecutive games this season. Miller scored on the backhand after forcing a turnover in the offensive zone against Princeton before adding a power-play marker on Saturday against UConn. 
• Miller leads the team with five goals this season and has scored three of his five against the Princeton Tigers. 

FROM THE BLUE LINE

• Sophomore defenseman Ryan Healey is tied for the team lead in points this season with 10 points in 13 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.
• Healey has already exceeded his rookie-year production after netting his first goal against UMass Lowell at the Desert Hockey Classic. Healey was named to the ECAC All-Rookie team after adding eight points in 34 games last season last season. 

SPECIAL TEAM SUCCESS 

• The Crimson currently has a nationally ranked power-play through 13 games this season. The power-play is sitting in second in the ECAC and 15th in the nation with a success rate of .233%. Alex Gaffney and Ryan Healey lead the team in power-play markers. 

NEXT UP 
Harvard finally returns to Bright-Landry for its first conference home game since Nov. 4 where it will play host to Union and RPI next weekend.