Crimson Trio Criscuolo, Vesey and Kerfoot, "All for One" (Michael Ledecky, Harvard Crimson) |
Harvard’s intrepid hockey journalist Mike Ledecky snapped this singular moment in time, March 21, 2015, from the Olympic sheet in Lake Placid. Harvard hockey’s greatest troika since
the famed “Commuter Line” of the 1970’s is portrayed basking in pure tournament
glory, as Kyle Criscuolo, Jimmy Vesey and Alexander Kerfoot huddle around the coveted Whitelaw trophy as
newly crowned ECAC Hockey champions. Having just slayed the dragon represented
by the Yale Bulldogs six days prior, this trio gleams with possibility. If they
continue their magical ride, two more wins would bring them back to Boston
Garden and a neighborhood Frozen Four. The next week, however, brought
heartbreak instead.
Crippled by a brutal opening period, The Crimson were felled
in the NCAA’s opening round by Omaha and their white-hot goalie Ryan Massa out in South Bend, Indiana,
crushing the heady dreams of these three sportsmen in single elimination. A new
season has allowed their wounds to heal, and the Crimson are back in the national
polls once again as contenders. With Captains Vesey and Criscuolo flanking
speedy centerman Alex Kerfoot yet again, this top unit is tearing up Division I
competition at an eye-popping four points per game clip. With irony lost on no one,
the schedule makers have given the Crimson a painful reminder--a trip back to
Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena, the venue of last season’s NCAA burial.
Moments after shutting out Princeton last week, two-year
captain Criscuolo spoke about his club’s return to the scene of the crime. “We
have some unfinished business out there. We’re definitely looking forward to
getting back to South Bend.” Eight months ago they were on an NCAA private jet
soaring directly into South Bend. Maybe the thin air of playing on the national
hockey stage caused them to stumble out of the gate. “It was a new experience
for us as a team,” said Kerfoot before practice last week. “We were a young
group and even if guys don’t admit that they were nervous, we definitely came
out and started like that.” It was a nightmarish opening stanza for the Crimson
in their first NCAA hockey match since 2006. Omaha scored in the opening two
minutes, and then in the final two seconds to put Harvard in a hole from which
they could not escape. “We didn’t have a good start in that game and I think
that ultimately cost us the game and cost us our season,” said Vesey. “We
thought that we had a team that very easily could have been in the Frozen Four.”
Vesey and company staged a furious onslaught in the third period, tilting the
ice against the Mavericks with a 19-6 shot advantage. Vesey solved Massa early
to cut the lead to 2-1, but that was as close as they got, before Omaha
hammered two empty-net nails into the Crimson coffin to close out their season
4-1. Massa and his Mavericks went on the Frozen Four, while Harvard’s magic
ride came to a crashing halt, resulting in red-rimmed eyes and choked up sound
bites from the bowels of Compton Arena.
“Everyone in the locker room was very emotional after that
game, I think especially, for the seniors,” said Kerfoot. “Knowing they would
never put on the Harvard jersey again, when it finally hits you that they’re
not going to be with you any more, and that’s our last game as a team, it’s
kind of tough to handle.” Vesey, who was dragged out of the morgue-like room to
face the national media mere minutes after the final horn, epitomized the teary
pathos from that dark night in South Bend. But he and his mates have gained
from that trial. “It was definitely emotional, but playing in those big games
has made us more ready for this year to make a run. I think we’re a stronger
team because of that experience.”
Vesey chose to forego a lucrative professional contract to
stay in Cambridge for his senior year, earning a ‘C’ on his shoulder to join
linemate Criscuolo as one of Harvard’s two designated leaders. Vesey’s sense of
obligation to his club includes the pressure to generate scoring early and
often. “We’re the first line, and we’re looked at to carry the offensive load,
and I think we embrace that. Coach plays us in all the big situations. We start
most games and most periods, and I think that if we go out and have a really
good momentum shift, then it rubs off on the rest of the team.” The trio has
amassed 10 goals and 24 points already, whether they are wearing capes or hard
hats.
The night after suffering their first loss to powerhouse
Quinnipiac last week, Vesey and company found themselves facing another
brilliant goalie in Princeton’s Colton Phinney. This time brought their lunch
pails to work, as Vesey solved Phinney barely five minutes into the game, and
his trio wore down the Tigers with their relentless cycling. “I think we
stopped trying to make too many plays in the neutral zone and just got it down
low and started to play the way we were playing last year,” said Criscuolo
after the game. He emphasized how they needed to “Play below the circles because
ECAC hockey you got to play down low.” Coach Ted Donato acknowledged the efforts of
his top unit in their surgical 3-0 win at Hobey Baker Rink last Saturday. “I
thought our first line really led
the charge for us, setting the tone. I think that as skilled as those guys are,
they find their success when they use that skill with their work ethic.”
With a weekend off and sitting on a 4-1-1 record, Harvard
now returns to South Bend, the scene of all that sports pathos eight months
ago. Criscuolo’s talk of unfinished business resonates. “Obviously that’s where
our season ended last year,” said Vesey. “We were left with a bitter taste in
our mouth the last time we played there, so we definitely want to have a better
showing.” “It will be some emotions going back there,” said Kerfoot, “but we’re
not playing against Omaha, we’re playing against Notre Dame, it will be
different, but it will be fun.”
For Vesey, this trip represents more than just unfinished
business; he sees it as a building block for Harvard’s new title aspirations. “We’re
in three tournaments this year: next weekend at Notre Dame, then we play New
Year’s at Minnesota, and then obviously the Beanpot, and we want to win as many
of those as we can. We think that playing in those tournaments is going to get
us ready for the stretch run in the spring.” The Crimson will have their NCAA
tourney game face strapped on for this early Holiday tourney, as the country’s
best line looks to strike Notre Dame early and often. The Irish might not know
what hit them.
AGEN TOKO-ANGKASA
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