TEMPE, AZ. - Harvard men's ice hockey (1-7-3, 1-4-3 ECAC) is set to compete in the Desert Hockey Classic this weekend with game one against the host Sun Devils on Friday. Harvard will face-off with ASU at Mullet Arena at 9:00 p.m ET. Harvard will then play either UMass Lowell or Omaha depending on the result on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET. 

HEADED OUT WEST 

• Harvard travels west to compete in the Desert Hockey Classic this weekend with action set to begin on Friday against No. 12 Arizona State. The Crimson will then play again on Saturday with an opponent to be determined based on the outcome of the Friday night game. The Crimson join Omaha and UMass Lowell in the tournament who will face-off in the early slate on Friday. 
• Harvard played UMass Lowell earlier in the season in a closed scrimmage to begin the season. 
• The Crimson competes in the tournament for the first time in program history and heads out west for the first time since 2019 where it also played ASU in a pair of games in Irvine, CA at the SoCal Clash. The Crimson won the opener against the nationally ranked Sun Devils after a three-goal second period and skated away with an overtime win in game two. 
• Last season ASU hosted Air Force, Michigan Tech, and Boston University at Mullet Arena with Michigan Tech topping the Terriers in the Championship game. 
• This is the first nationally ranked matchup for the Crimson since playing Boston College on Nov. 26. 

 
MATCHING UP 

• Harvard has a 4-1-1 all-time record against the Sun Devils and heads to Arizona for the first time since 2016 when it played a back-to-back in Glendale and Tempe. The Crimson skated away with two wins during its first trip to Arizona while also recording a 4-1 win at Bright-Landry two years later. 
• Another unfamiliar foe, Harvard has only played Omaha three times since 1998 and holds a 2-1-0 record in its history. Yet to host the Mavericks, the Crimson played two games in Nebraska in 1998 before a 17-year break until the two schools met again at the 2015 NCAA Tournament in South Bend, IN. Jimmy Vesey scored the only goal for the Crimson in the first round of the tournament.
• UMass Lowell joins Harvard as the other East Coast team to make the trip to Tempe and currently leads the all-time series with three wins in four games. The Crimson last played the River Hawks in 2017 at the TD Bank Catamount Cup where it fell by a score of 5-2 to the Hockey East program. The lone win for Harvard came on the road in 2015 when it beat No. 4 UMass Lowell in a 4-2 victory to cap off back-to-back wins over top-5 teams after beating No. 1 BU just four days earlier. 

 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION

• ASU checks in as the only nationally ranked program on the most recent USCHO poll. Slotting in at No. 12, the Sun Devils have played a heavy schedule at Mullet Arena so far after already playing 14 of their 22 games this season in Tempe. Posting a 10-2-2 record on home ice the Sun Devils have wins over four nationally ranked opponents after defeating Merrimack twice, Denver, Providence, and a shootout win over Cornell. 
• The Sun Devils have played two ECAC opponents this year after hosting Dartmouth in early December and a trip to Lake Placid for the Adirondack Winter Invitational last weekend where they defeated Cornell in the finals. Regulation wasn't enough for the Sun Devils as all three victories over ECAC opponents have come in the shootout.  
• UMass Lowell currently sits at 6-11-2 and is coming off a 4-3 loss to AIC last week. Omaha hasn't played since Dec. 9 when they tied St. Cloud State after defeating them 4-1 the previous night. 

 
LAST TIME OUT 

• The Crimson dropped both matchups last weekend against Princeton and UConn just before the new year. Harvard got out to a two-goal lead against Princeton after first-period tallies from Jack Bar and Joe Miller.
• Bar notched his first of the season in his return to the lineup as the Ontario native had been sidelined since Nov. 10 due to injury. The second goal of his career, Bar got all of a Ryan Healey pass for an early lead.
• Joe Miller followed Bar with a great individual effort off the forecheck to force a turnover and convert for an early lead. Miller added his second goal of the weekend against UConn on the power-play to take the team lead in goals. 

BACK 12 BACK  

• Joe Miller scored in back-to-back games over the weekend 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 goals against the Princeton Tigers. 

 IVY CHECK-IN 

• Harvard currently sits in fifth place in the Ivy League right behind Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Cornell. The Crimson has only played four Ivy games to date this season and has a win against Cornell and ties with Princeton and Dartmouth. 

FROM THE BLUE LINE

• Sophomore defenseman Ryan Healey leads the team in points this season with eight points in 11 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 tied his production from his rookie year where he was named to the ECAC rookie team after putting up eight points in 34 games. 

CHASING 300

• Ted Donato currently sits at 299 career wins as he looks to break the 300 win mark in the 2023-24 season.  

SPECIAL TEAM SUCCESS 

The Crimson currently has nationally-ranked power-play unit as it currently sits in third in the ECAC and 19th in the nation with a success rate of .212.