Donato to coach Harvard, it seems.

[pfibiger]

http://www.ushockeynews.com/

with Bill Cleary helping out.

[RichS]

This will be Donato's first coaching gig, right?  Sounds like he may need a lotta help from Cleary and his assistants.  

[min]

What kind of playing style/game plan will Ted Donato bring to Harvard? Is he an offense- or defense-oriented kind of coach?  

To those who remember, what type of player was Donato anyway?

Also, what is his record against Cornell as a player? Since TBRW is down, I have a feeling that Donato may have never lost to Cornell during his playing days...  :-/

Somebody please prove me wrong!

[KeithK]

Donato lost two games to Cornell as a player - the playoff series at Lynah in 1990.  Bill Cleary's final games as coach.

The USCHO article says he had 50 goals in four seasons at Harvard.  So not a huge scorer, but not bad either.

[JT]

Donato was on a very high scoring line with 1991 ECAC player of the year Pete Ciavaglia and Mike Vukonich.  He also was on the 1992 Olympic Team.

He'll a get a nice taste of losing to Cornell this year.  

[CUlater 89]

Donato's totals were down because he got hurt his junior year and missed much of the season.  See  http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=00001396

Donato was considered the next Lane MacDonald by the coaching staff during his sophomore year (when Harvard won the NCAAs).  A good skater and great passer and finisher (he played point on the "world-class" power play in 1988-89), he fit the mold of the ideal player that Cleary recruited.  He also was solid defensively and for much of his time in the NHL, he's been a good two-way player.  And, from what I recall, he never dissed Cornell and the Faithful publicly, unlike MacDonald, Bourbeau and others.  He was part of a great class of '91 (including Ciavaglia, Weisbrod (now GM of Orlando Magic) and Vukonich).  [OT] In fact, the class of '91 throughout the ECAC (and Hockey East) seems to have been one of the best in recent memory.

None of that necessarily indicates his coaching style, but from everything I've read, including Jayson Moy's interview with Mazzoleni, it seems like Harvard wants to get back to the style of game played when Donato was in school (puck possession, free-skating, stick-to-stick passing).

[rstott]

CUlater 89 is right- -â€" very free staking.  Those Harvard teams of the late 80s cleared the puck out of their own zone so fast â€"- the puck would be loose along the boards, bang, one pass and they were skating it over the red line.  

And I have never seen team more deadly on the three-on-two break.
In the 1986 NCAA championship game they were trailing Michigan State in the third period.  Harvard finally got a 3-on-2 (the only one they got in the period) and they scored to tie the game.

If they go back to that style, it will be great to watch.  And certainly a contrast with Cornell.

[min]

ahhh, i forgot about playoffs... i remember reading sometime ago that before schafer came along, cornell hadn't beaten harvard in like ten years...

this thread has been very informative. thanks people.

[KenP]

According to USCHO, Donato is in:

[q]Harvard has called a news conference for 11 a.m. (ET) Friday morning, where it is expected to announce Ted Donato as its new head coach. [/q]

[Brian]

It's official!  It's been scrolling across ESPN's bottom line all afternoon.

[So '02]

Very conflicted am I. Harvard sucks, yet Teddy D. rocks. This must be great for him. He has now fulfilled every Hockey playing Bostonian's dream. High School hockey at CM, College hockey at Harvard (including national championship), Drafted by the B's, and now coaching at his alma mater. Ted Donato is a great guy, very active in the Boston community, I remember him winning plenty of Sixth Man awards when he was at his peak with the Bruins. Its going to be tough to cheer against him.

[KeithK]

Hey, there are seven occasions every year that you can cheer for him to win each season.  Isn't that enough?

[David Harding]

The announcement, includes a link the press conference transcript
http://gocrimson.collegesports.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/070204aaa.html