Sean Farrell and Nick Abruzzese have been at the center of Harvard’s potent offense all season.
Now the Crimson teammates will get a chance to shine on a bigger stage.
The duo was named the U.S. Olympic team last week and will represent the United States at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, China next month. Farrell and Abruzzese will be two of 15 current NCAA players on the roster, as the NHL announced in December that is players would not compete in the games due to the scheduling issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was really special and just a great moment for my family.” Farrell told gocrimson.com of being named to the team. “It will be cool to mix in with kids from Minnesota and stuff like that, kids that we don’t usually see play or play against too often.”
The remaining 10 roster spots will be filled by eight European professional players and two AHL players. All 25 players on Team USA played collegiate hockey, including former Yale forwards Brian O’Neill and Kenny Agostino. O’Neill is the only returning Olympian on the roster.
Farrell and Abruzzese have been a fixture on Harvard’s top line this season. While there’s no guarantee they’ll play together for Team USA, it would make sense to keep the duo together given their success this season. But regardless of where either one of them is in the lineup, getting to compete in the Olympics together is an added bonus.
“To have a guy on your team that you get to share this amazing experience with makes it that much sweeter,” Abruzzese said.
Harvard’s program has plenty of experience sending players to the Olympics. Head coach Ted Donato represented the United States in the 1992 Olympics, while his son Ryan played in the 2018 games as a member of the Crimson.
“That’s an honor; they deserve it,” Harvard assistant coach Jim Tortorella said of Farrell and Abruzzese competing in the Olympics. “I think it’s a good representation of the types of players that we have in our program on a regular basis. We’re excited for them. Nobody is looking at it like, ‘Hey you’re kind of abandoning us.’ That’s not the case at all. They deserve that opportunity to represent the country and represent our school and themselves.”
The Olympics run from Feb. 3 to Feb. 20. Team USA ice hockey opens play on Feb. 10 when it faces China in a preliminary round game at 8:10 a.m. ET. Harvard has six games scheduled during the Olympics, although that number is tenuous at best given the fluidity of the college hockey schedule over the last few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s tough to leave the team in the middle of the year but opportunities like this don’t come around very often,” Abruzzese said. “I think it was a pretty easy decision. It’s pretty special to go to the best level of international competition and play.”
Their absence will be felt in Harvard’s lineup; Abruzzese is the team captain and leads all Division I men’s players in points-per-game, while Farrell is tied for the team lead with eight goals. With those two gone, the Crimson will need other players to step up.
“We’re looking for some other guys to make some moves,” Tortorella said. “Every day in practice, our forwards play against some really good defenseman. To lose Nick and Sean, we hope that some of the forwards that have played hard against our defenseman in practice can make that next step.”
