Saturday evening at Bright the Harvard Crimson defeated the McGill Redmen 5-2.
It was not a thriller, even for an exhibition game.  Harvard has some new
players that looked very good, but only time will tell if the team lives up to
its potential.
 
The match featured the vastly superior skating skills of Harvard overrunning
the visitors from Montreal.  McGill tried to contain the Crimson and set the
tempo of the game.  It was a very chippy affair with numerous penalties.  The
Crimson's five goals feature mostly outside shots finding the net.  Harvard
scored a couple of power play goals.
 
The Redmen played Friday night at Yale and looked a tad fatigued.  They played
a very workmanlike up and down game.  McGill knew they couldn't match
Harvard's speed so they liked to go for the long ball play whenever they got a
chance.
 
Harvard's team speed looked much better.  It was very encouraging to see the
Crimson moving well.  There has been a fair amount of talk that the Harvard
Men are going to go for more goals this season and thus win more games, place
higher in the standings and be more exciting.  While they did score five goals
last night, I seriously doubt that most of those shots that went in would have
made it to the net against ECAC League teams.  The framework for creating
chances that produce goals is still wanting.  The belief that hustle and drive
alone will develop an attack is a flawed concept.  J.R. Prestifilippo played
the first two periods and looked very strong.  First-year Oliver Jonas played
the third and made a number of fine saves.  The defenders are all pretty
strong and mobile.  Captain Jeremiah McCarthy and his partner Mark Moore
looked good together.  Ben Storey and first-year Tim Stay were the steadiest
pair.  Both are big and can move the puck extremely well.  Matt Scorsune and
first-year Liam McCarthy also looked strong.  Geordie Hyland and Brice Conklin
fill out a very talented blue line squad.  They can get caught napping, but
overall they along with Presto are Harvard's main strength.  Up front the line
of Craig Adams and first-years Steve Moore and Chris Bala at times looked
excellent.  Moore has some very nice moves and looks like he could become a
potent scorer.  Adams continues his strong play, but needs to remember his
mates.  Bala was wonderful on the point during power players.  He's got a nice
feel for the game that let's him create interesting plays.  First-year Harry
Schwefel, Jamin Kerner and Doug Sproule had a good outing.  They played well
as a line.  It was nice to see Kerner motoring again and he took his goal out
of the corner expertly.  First-year Graham Morrell, Rob Millar and Brett
Chodorow were a line, as were Trevor Allman, Clayton Rodgers and Henry Higdon.
Overall I continue to be nonplussed by the current Harvard game plan.  The
Crimson could be in for it next Friday when they visit the Cornell Big Red.
 
 
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 good shooting
 hungerf
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