A Brief History

Harvard is the Nosferatu of hockey. They periodically rise from the dead and cause quite a bit of damage, though they are almost always destroyed in the final reel -- often by themselves. The Crimson enjoyed several strong seasons before the formation of the ECAC. The early 70's saw the completion of an eight-year stretch of home-ice regular season finishes, then in the late 70's and early 80's Harvard was mediocre to poor.

But Bill Cleary launched Harvard's domination of the conference throughout the 80's: both Fusco brothers won the Hobey Baker and the Crimson finished lower than 4th just once from 1982 through 1995, winning the RS title in seven of those years. The apex was the national championship season of 1988-89.

The Crimson suffered under coach Ronn Tomassoni's plodding, defensive style, until RT finally got the heave-ho after 1999. But even as Harvard continues to draw strong talent from the prep school ranks, as collegians their personnel tend to slack off and underachieve. In other words, the hockey team follows the strategy that has for decades been the academic hallmark of the school.  Ted Donato has shown a Schaferesque touch, and the Crimson managed to win every even year ECAC title between 2002 and 2006, while dependably exiting after the first game of each NCAA tourny.

First Team All-Americans

* Hobey Baker