Harvard football made a change earlier today to its schedule, changing the start time of the Oct. 29 Dartmouth game from noon to 6 p.m.
For the first time in program history, Harvard football will host two night games next season.
The Crimson will face off against Dartmouth at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, moving the game from its originally-scheduled noon start. It will be just the sixth time that Harvard has played football under the lights at home, and it will mark the inaugural night game between schools that first played each other in 1882.
The Big Green’s visit will also be the first time that the Crimson has played a home night game other than the home opener, and the first such game not played in September.
Since lights were added to Harvard Stadium in early 2007, the Crimson has hosted one night game every season. Harvard has never lost at home at under the lights, sitting on a 4-0 record going into the 2011 season.
But in addition to the program’s success on the field, night games have also boosted attendance and student interest. Since 2007, the night game is generally the best- or second-best attended contest on the home schedule, depending on whether The Game is played in Allston or New Haven.
In 2010, the Crimson drew an average of 16,918 fans. Last year’s night game, the home opener against Holy Cross, drew 21,704. In 2009, when Harvard’s average attendance was 10,701, the night game against Brown brought 17,263 fans to the stadium.
Average annual attendances fluctuate wildly for both Harvard and Yale depending on the host of The Game, which draws tens of thousands more fans than other contests on the schedule.
This season’s Dartmouth game is also just the third Saturday night game at home in Crimson program history. On two other occasions, night games were moved from Friday to Saturday to avoid conflicting with Yom Kippur.
While the matchup is a historic one for Harvard, it carries even more significance for Dartmouth. The Oct. 29 Ivy League contest is Dartmouth’s first-ever night game.
Months before they’ll put on a Harvard uniform for the first time, four incoming Crimson freshmen were chosen in Saturday’s National Hockey League draft.
With these four additions, there will be eight NHL draftees on Harvard’s roster going into the 2011-12 season.
The structure of the NHL draft differs from that of the other three major American sports. Unlike in MLB, the NBA, and the NFL, players selected by NHL teams can continue to compete on the amateur level while remaining the protected picks of the team that originally selected them.
Baseball, football, and basketball prospects are forced to choose between signing a professional contract or retaining amateur status and NCAA eligibility shortly after the draft.
Two future Harvard icemen, goaltender Stephen Michalek and forward Petr Placek, were taken in the sixth round. Forward Colin Blackwell and defensemen Max Everson—brother of junior forward Marshall Everson—were both taken in the seventh round.
In total, five rising Harvard freshmen have been drafted. Patrick McNally was selected in the 2010 draft and will suit up for the Crimson for the first time this fall.
Junior forward Alex Fallstrom and senior forward Alex Killorn were selected by NHL teams before their freshman seasons, and junior defensemen Danny Biega was taken before the start of his sophomore year.
While draftees have the option to play through college, not all do. Louis Leblanc, formerly class of 2013, left Harvard after his freshman year to sign with Montreal Canadiens.
But for now, the Crimson can look forward to the addition of five rookies with NHL-caliber talent.
Harvard graduate Max Perlman, who led the Ivy League in ERA his senior season, was selected by the Oakland Athletics Wednesday in the 35th round of the 2011 MLB draft.
At Harvard, any student has to put in the maximum level of effort in order to get A’s.
For recently-graduated starting pitcher Max Perlman, that hard work has finally paid off, and the A’s have literally been achieved.
Perlman was drafted by Oakland on Wednesday during the third day of the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He was taken in the 35th round as the 1066th selection overall.
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The 2011-12 season may still be five months away, but Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker is already planning for 2012 and beyond.
Yesterday, Amaker landed his first commitment for the class of 2012: Evan Cummins, a 6’8, 205-lb power forward from Northfield Mount Hermon High School (Mass.).
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Senior wide receiver Marco Iannuzzi, shown above in earlier action, was picked sixth overall by the CFL's BC Lions.
As the spring season concludes, a new chapter is just beginning in senior wide receiver Marco Iannuzzi’s football career. As was announced by the Canadian Football League earlier today, the Calgary, Alberta, native was selected by the BC Lions in the first round of the CFL draft. Click here for the full draft results.
The No. 6 overall pick, Iannuzzi sits atop the all-time leader board in both career and single-season average kickoff returns with 26.5 and 34.5 yards per return, respectively. This past season, Iannuzzi scored two touchdowns on kickoff returns for the Crimson, including a 95-yard return against Brown in Harvard’s first Ivy League game this year.
The football star wasn’t the only Harvard athlete who earned major recognition this weekend. Though both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams lost in the finals of their respective Ancient Eight tournaments earlier today, stellar pitching from freshman Laura Ricciardone and junior Rachel Brown helped the Crimson capture the Ivy League title against rival Cornell. Harvard shut out the Big Red, 5-0 and 4-0, respectively, this weekend to sweep the best-of-three championship series. The series served as a rematch of last year’s Ivy League Championship, in which Cornell earned victory over Harvard.
