Dartmouth at Harvard: Pregame Notes and Line Combinations

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Good evening and welcome to Bright-Landry Hockey Center on the campus of Harvard University where tonight the No. 11 Crimson host Dartmouth in the second half of a home-and-home series in ECAC play. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.

The Ivy League foes first met on the ice in 1907 and are set for their 208th all-time meeting tonight. Harvard is 3-0-1 in the last four meetings, including last night's 7-0 contest at Dartmouth's Thompson Arena.

Harvard captain Jimmy Vesey opened his senior season with four-point performance on a goal and three assists, leading five players with multi-point efforts, seven different goal scorers and 11 with points.

The Crimson scored 121 goals last year en route to winning 21 games and winning their first ECAC title since 2006. Players that scored a total of 106 goals returned, including the entire top line of Vesey (32), junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo (17), and junior Alexander Kerfoot (8).

Sophomore Merrick Madsen made 25 saves for the shutout in his first collegiate start, coming on a night the Crimson posted their largest offensive output in a season opener since 1995. The victory marked Harvard's seventh in 12 season-opening games under head coach Ted Donato.

The Crimson scored on all three of their power plays, including two in the first period. Kerfoot finished with a goal and two assists while defenseman Victor Newell, his junior classmate Sean Malone, and freshman Ryan Donato recorded two assists each.

Big Green senior James Kruger allowed five goals before sophomore Devin Buffalo stopped 12 of their 14 shots he faced in his collegiate debut.

Dartmouth played a pair of exhibition contests before last night's opener, losing 5-4 to the U.S. Under-18 Team before a 7-0 win over Prince Edward Island. Sophomore Corey Kalk scored three goals over the two games.

Here are tonight's lines:

BIG GREEN (0-1-0, 0-1-0 ECAC)

Brad Schierhorn - Nick Bligh - Kevin Neiley
Jack Barre - Carl Hesler - Corey Kalk
Kevan Kilistoff - Brett Patterson - Grant Opperman
John Ernsting - Troy Crema - Tim O'Brien

Geoff Ferguson - Ryan Bullock
Tim Shoup - Karan Toor
River Rymsha - Josh Hartley

Charles Grant
Devin Buffalo
James Kruger

CRIMSON (1-0-0, 1-0-0 ECAC)

Jimmy Vesey - Alexander Kerfoot - Kyle Criscuolo
Ryan Donato - Sean Malone - Colin Blackwell
Luke Esposito - Tyler Moy - Lewis Zerter-Gossage
Seb Lloyd - Jake Horton - Devin Tringale

Desmond Bergin - Clay Anderson
Wiley Sherman - Brayden Jaw
Jacob Olson - Victor Newell

Merrick Madsen
Michael Lackey
Peter Traber