Rassey Wins Exhibition Debut, Men’s Hockey Dominates No. 17 Northeastern 4-1

On Friday, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team opened its season with a dominant 4-1 win in its exhibition game against No. 17 Northeastern. The victory marks substantial promise for the incoming era of Crimson hockey under new head coach Rob Rassey, who took over after longtime coach Ted Donato ’91 announced he was leaving the program in May.

For Harvard, the exhibition game was an opportunity to test its strength before the start of the regular season against a ranked opponent, the No. 17 Huskies (2-1, 0-1 Hockey East).

The Crimson largely outhustled the visitors in the first period, utilizing a strong forecheck and pressure off the cycle to jump out to an early lead.

After overlapping penalties on both teams, Harvard’s fourth line got the scoring ball rolling at even strength.

Junior forward Will Hughes rimmed a pass along the boards to sophomore defenseman Matthew Biotti, who fired a shot at Northeastern’s freshman goaltender Sam Caulfield. Navigating the chaos in front of the net, junior forward Justin Solovey tipped the puck through Caulfield’s five-hole, tallying the Crimson’s first goal of the season.

Harvard was far from satisfied with just a one-goal lead, though. A penalty on Huskies freshman forward Dawson Sharkey gifted the host a power-play opportunity, and sophomore forward Aidan Lane made no mistake on a brilliant cross-seam dish from fellow sophomore forward Heikki Ruohonen, extending the advantage to 2-0.

“For us, the way that we do the depth chart really isn’t like a first, second, third, fourth line. I don’t look at those guys as fourth line. For me, I think they had tremendous value,” Rassey said about his team’s lineup. “They’re the guys that, just from a mentality standpoint, really set the tone for us. And I thought they did that tonight. [Solovey’s] early goal was big and got us going.”

Junior goaltender Ben Charette wasn’t tested much early in the contest, but his first save of the game was a difficult one. After Northeastern found itself on a two-on-one rush, the Crimson’s netminder slid across the crease to snuff the Huskies with his glove.

Northeastern eventually got past Charette in the waning seconds of a power play, as sophomore forward Jack Pechar was left alone in the slot and beat the goaltender low glove-side to cut the deficit in half.

Undeterred by the tally, Rassey ensured that his Crimson kept pressing in the middle frame. The fourth line, led by goal-scorers Solovey and Lane, kept finding success off the forecheck, and the shot totals read 15-6 in Harvard’s favor at the halfway mark.

Roughing penalties on Solovey and Northeastern freshman defenseman Noah Laberge opened the game up at four-on-four, as Charette and Caulfield made impressive saves at both ends.

Ultimately, the Crimson capitalized on the game’s heightened pace. Sustained offensive zone time wore out the defending Huskies, and Harvard’s junior defenseman Sean Keohane — serving as the extra blueliner — rifled a slap shot bar down on Caulfield, restoring the two-goal lead. Notably, junior forward William McDonough tallied his first career assist and point with Keohane’s goal.

Freshman defenseman Alex Huang also nearly had his first collegiate point on an odd-man break, but the Quebec native’s one-timer went just wide of Caulfield’s right shoulder.

The Crimson appeared to score its fourth goal early in the third period when captain Michael Callow tucked one past an out-of-position Caulfield. However, after a lengthy review, the goal was called back for offside.

“The thing that got me excited – even though it got disallowed – was his play in his own zone before it led to the rush,” Rassey said, talking about Callow’s shot. “Everybody came back hard, stopped, came back, took care of [their] own end, and then [they] get to go play offense. So that’s what I like to see.”

The Crimson’s defense shifted to effective shutdown hockey, limiting the Huskies to just three shots on goal through the first 10 minutes of the final frame.

Northeastern sophomore forward Miguel Marques committed an embellishment penalty that gave Harvard a power play, but the Crimson could not convert on the opportunity.

Instead, junior forward Mick Thompson was put in the box for slashing, putting the Huskies at the man-up advantage. Despite being on the kill, it was Harvard that created a golden scoring opportunity via a three-on-one shorthanded break, though the effort did not end in a goal.

The Crimson finally iced the game with five and a half minutes to go. Ruohonen won the faceoff, allowing captain Matthew Morden to glide the puck around the perimeter and dish a quick pass to Thompson for the score.

Up 4-1, Harvard fended off Northeastern’s comeback attempts until the final buzzer, finishing with the same scoreline as the teams’ last clash in the Beanpot’s Third Place Game in February.

“It was good to see that stuff come together and start to see it in shape,” Rassey said. “But there’s also a lot of teaching that’s going to come out of this too, from learning how to manage hockey games.”

“I would call this Night Zero,” he added. “But it was a lot of good stuff. A lot of good stuff that we’ll take from it.”

Harvard will play its official season opener next Thursday, when it takes on the No. 19 University of Massachusetts Amherst in the first of a two-game series. Both matchups are set for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+. Thursday’s game will take place at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

—Staff writer Kai I. Russell can be reached at [email protected].