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This weekend, we settle all family business

By Mark Alden Branch ’86 | 12:33pm March 13 2015

Is a Godfather reference in the headline a little over the top for a few sporting events with Harvard? Sorry, but there is a lot at stake in these games with our fiercest rival.

Tonight, the men’s ice hockey team faces off against the Crimson at Ingalls Rink in a best-of-three series in the ECAC Tournament quarterfinals. Subsequent games will be tomorrow night and Sunday, if necessary. The Bulldogs (17–7–5) are fighting to advance to the semifinals—and ultimately for the ECAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament—against a Harvard team (17–11–3) they’ve beaten three times this season.

But the hockey team still has a shot at the NCAA regardless of what happens this weekend; they’re ranked No. 12 in both national polls and in the PairWise rankings that predict the field for the 16-team national tournament. For the men’s basketball team, it all comes down to tomorrow night.

Ivy League Coach of the Year James Jones and his basketball Bulldogs had a chance to clinch their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1962 last Saturday night, but they lost to Dartmouth on a last-second layup. (The night before, they had beaten Harvard in Cambridge to ensure a share of the Ivy title.)

So as cochampions of the league, Bulldogs and Crimson must play one more time to determine who represents the Ivy League in March Madness. After their best season in more than a decade, led by Ivy League Player of the Year Justin Sears ’16 and All-Ivy first-teamer Javier Duren ’15, they must win their third meeting with Harvard to stay alive. Tipoff is tomorrow at 4:00 pm at the Palestra in Philadelphia; the game will be televised on American Sports Network and ESPN3.

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The Yale Alumni Magazine is published by Yale Alumni Publications Inc., an alumni-based nonprofit that is not run by Yale University. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration.

Filed under men's basketball, men's ice hockey, hockey, basketball, Harvard

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