Men's Ice Hockey 2/4/2024 10:16:00 AM

Men's Hockey Ready for Northeastern Rematch in 71st Beanpot Opening Round

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Men's ice hockey is ready for a Beanpot rematch with the rival Huskies tomorrow in the 71^st Dunkin Beanpot. This time, the programs meet in the first round with the winner going on to play Boston College or Boston University a week later. The Crimson has the early slate and will play at 5:00 p.m. with live streaming on NESN, ESPN+, and TSN+ in Canada.

WHAT TO KNOW

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION

The Crimson meets Northeastern for the second consecutive Beanpot game – setting up a rematch from last year's Beanpot Final. Coming off of two big wins in their last two outings, the Huskies have defeated No. 2 Boston University and No. 6 Maine this week to shoot up the Hockey East standings. Sitting in 11^th place in Hockey East on January 24^th, the Huskies have jumped to sixth after four straight wins.

LAST TIME OUT

Aku Koskenvuo was stellar between the pipes as the sophomore stopped 37 of 39 shots against the reigning national champions but Harvard ultimately fell to No. 7 Quinnipiac by a score of 2-1 on Friday night.
In a tight battle at M&T Bank Arena, Marek Hejduk scored late with the extra attacker to pull the Crimson within one in the final minutes.
The Crimson has held its last two nationally-ranked opponents to just two goals in its last two matchups. (Cornell & Quinnipiac). Earlier in the season Harvard allowed 29 goals in five games to ranked opponents.
Setting a new season high, the Crimson registered 21 blocks on Friday. Mason Langenbrunner and Jack Bar led the way with three blocks each.
Marek Hejduk has goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his career and goals in three of his last four games.
Michael Callow added an assist on the Hejduk goal for his ninth assist of the year. Callow now leads the team in points among rookies. Callow has points in five of his last six games and nine points since his first career goal on January 5^th.
Ryan Healey picked up a helper to give him points in nine of his last 11 games and a total of 13 points over that span.
Ian Moore played in his first full game since November 24^th against UMass.

THE 70TH BEANPOT

In the opening round last year, Harvard earned a dramatic 4-3 (OT) win over Boston College after then-first-year Marek Hejduk scored the game-winner with 1.5 seconds left in the extra frame. Hejduk scored a pair of goals, as did sophomore forward Matthew Coronato. Senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson made a season-high 45 saves in the win.
Last year's finals meeting was the 46^th meeting in Beanpot history and the first time the two met in the finals in the history Beanpot. Harvard is posting a 24-22 record against the Huskies in the history of the Beanpot.
Harvard has played for a Beanpot title three times throughout the Ted Donato Era. In 2017, the Crimson beat Northeastern, 4-3, in the opening round, then topped BU, 6-3 to clinch its first Beanpot since 1993.

A BEANPOT HOMECOMING

The Crimson have eight players from Massachusetts on the roster who will suit up in the Beanpot this season. First-years and Boston area natives Ben MacDonald and Michael Callow will play in their first Beanpot on Monday.

AMONG THE NATION'S BEST IN JANUARY

Only four defensemen in the month of January had a better month than Ryan Healey after posting six goals and four assists. Healey netted two goals twice in the month and has been one of the most consistent producers all season for the Crimson.

ECAC PLAYERS OF THE MONTH

Ryan Healey and Joe Miller took home ECAC monthly honors after Healey was named Defender of the Month while Miller earned Forward of the Month, the league announced last week.
The second ECAC nod of the season for Healey, the Massachusetts native added 10 points in eight games in January, starting with a two-goal performance against UMass Lowell at the Desert Hockey Classic.
With points in six of his last seven games, the sophomore has added at least two points in four of those seven tilts. Throughout this stretch, Healey has two-goal games against UMass Lowell and RPI on his way to having one of the best goal-scoring seasons from a Crimson defenseman in recent memory. Healey is tied for sixth in the ECAC in goals and the only defenseman in the conference with more than six goals.
Joe Miller joins Healey as the Offensive Player of the Month after a 12-point January. The reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year notched two separate three-point games throughout the month after a three-assist game against UMass Lowell and two goals and a helper in the most recent win against the Raiders.
Miller has also jumped up the ECAC scoring charts after a red-hot month. Currently tied for fourth in goals and eighth in points, Miller has capitalized on his opportunities as the sophomore is one of only three skaters among the top seven in goals with less than 50 shots this season. ( As of Jan. 31)

POINT NIGHT AT BRIGHT-LANDRY

Six different Crimson recorded at least two points against Colgate last weekend as Ben MacDonald, Joe Miller (3), Ryan Fine, Ryan Healey, Marek Hejduk, and Casey Severo all recorded a multipoint game.
Ryan Fine added his first career two-assist game while fellow first-year Ben MacDonald netted his first career game-winning goal while also finding the back of the net twice.

TWO-GOAL DEFICIT

Falling behind early to Colgate on January 20^th, the Crimson battled back after a three-goal second period and eventually skated away with a win over the reigning conference champions.
The win over the Raiders marks the first time this season that the Crimson overcame a two-goal deficit to eventually win the game.

THREE STRAIGHT FOR KOKSENVUO

Aku Koskenvuo was the first Crimson netminder to get two consecutive starts this season after beating Yale on January 13^th. Notching his first career shutout against the Bulldogs, Koskenvuo made 28 stops against RPI on January 19^th to win his second game of the season.
It was the first time in his career that the sophomore got back-to-back starts and the first goalie this season to win consecutive games for the Crimson.
Following up a pair of wins in early January, Koskenvuo added his third win of the season against Colgate last weekend. Originally, falling behind 2-0 to the Raiders Koskenvuo went on to make 34 stops in the win to close out the four-game homestand.
The three consecutive wins from the Finnish keeper marks the longest streak from a Crimson netminder since Mitchell Gibson won six consecutive games down the stretch last season.

FIRST SHORTY OF THE YEAR

On January 19^th, Joe Miller scored the first shorthanded goal of the season for the Crimson after getting a hail mary pass from Jack Barand beating the defender in the race before chipping it past the RPI goalie.
Miller's shorthanded goal was the first since Henry Thrun scored on the PK last year in the ECAC playoffs vs Princeton.

THREE-POINT NIGHT

Michael Callow and Cam Johnson joined Joe Miller as the only players this season to record a three-point night after the win over RPI on January 19^th.
Callow added a goal and two helpers while Johnson added three assists.
A career night for both players, Johnson joins Joe Miller as the only skaters with three assists in a single game this season.

ON A RUN SINCE ASU

Michael Callow has been on fire since notching his first career goal against ASU in early January. After only recording two points in his first 11 games in Cambridge, Callow has added seven points since his first goal since January 5^th.
With eight points in his last seven games, the Boston native has jumped into fourth in team scoring after adding four points over the weekend.

CLUTCH CASEY

Casey Severo has four goals in his last six games and has already tripled his production from his rookie year. The New York native has scored in key moments this year, as all six goals this year have either narrowed the deficit to one, tied the game, or given the Crimson the lead.
- The first goal of the season against Dartmouth | 1-1 T (W, SO)
- Tying Goal against Colgate | 3-3 T (L, SO)
- Pulled Crimson within one in the third period against Brown | 5-3 L
- Quickly notched the tying goal in the first period against RPI | 6-3 W
- Started three-goal third period with an early third-period goal | 5-4 L (OT)
- Go ahead goal against the Raiders in the second period | 6-3 W

JOE MILLER STAYS HOT

Joe Miller has been on a tear in recent weeks after adding 14 points in his last 10 games.
Originally coming off a weekend with goals in back-to-back games against Princeton and UConn, Miller added three assists against UMass Lowell at the Desert Hockey Classic while also adding a power-play marker against Brown and a helper on the game-winning goal against Yale.
In his return to Bright-Landry, he added four points over two games to continue his hot streak. Adding a short-handed and power-play goal over the weekend Miller now has goals in three of his last four games.
Dating back to the Brown game, the Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick has 9 points in his last 6 games.

THE HEALEY AND MILLER CONNECTION

Ryan Healey and Joe Miller have led the way offensively since the Princeton and UConn weekend after adding 27 points combined since December 30^th.
Before the Cornell game, Healey had scored in three straight games – something that no other Crimson player has done this season.
Joe Miller has four goals in his last four games.
The duo has been a part of eight of the last 25 goals while at least one of two has been a part of 16 of the last 25 goals.

AMONG CRIMSON D-MEN

Sophomore Ryan Healey is second on the team in goals through 19 games this season. Already tripling his goal-scoring production from his rookie year, the Massachusetts native ranks among some historically great Crimson d-men this season in terms of his goal-scoring production.
Healey is on pace to have the most goals from a Crimson defenseman since Riley Walsh in 2018-2019.
- Riley Walsh: 12 G | 31 GP | 2018-19
- RYAN HEALEY: 8 G | 20 GP | 2023-24
- Riley Walsh: 8 G | 30 GP | 2019-20
- Adam Fox: 8 G | 31 GP | 2018-19
- Jack Rathbone: 7 G | 28 GP | 2019-20
- Jack Rathbone: 7 G | 31 GP | 2018-19
- Henry Thrun: 7 G | 33 GP | 2022-23
- Henry Thrun: 7 G | 31 GP | 2021-22

HEJDUK HEATING UP

Marek Hejduk recorded his first two-point game of the season on January 20^th against the Raiders after adding the tying goal and a helper on the first goal of the game.
Hejduk has goals in two of his last three games.
Hejduk added another goal against the Bobcats to give the sophomore goals in back-to-back games and two in his last three games.

SPECIAL TEAM SUCCESS

The Crimson currently has a nationally ranked power play through 20 games this season. The power-play is third in the nation with a success rate of .286%.

3OO CLUB

Ted Donato notched his 300th win against Yale on January 13th. One of only three coaches in Harvard Hockey history to hit the 300-win mark, Donato joins William Cleary (324) and Ralph Weiland (315) as the only coaches to record 300 career victories.
Donato sits only 24 wins away from becoming the all-time winningest head coach in Harvard men's hockey history.
Donato currently sits in seventh in all-time wins among ECAC Coaches. Behind former Harvard Coaches Bill Cleary and Ralph Weiland, Donato is one of seven ECAC coaches to hit the 300-win mark in their careers.
Donato is one of 53 Division I coaches to record at least 300 wins and one of only 15 active coaches currently in the top 50.