PRINCETON, N.J. -- Fifteen former Ivy League men’s ice hockey players made their way onto National Hockey League (NHL) opening night rosters entering the 2018-19 season.
Each of the six participating institutions are represented—with Harvard pacing all Ivy League programs with six former players on NHL clubs.
Fourth-year right wing
Garnet Hathaway and second-year left wing
Matt Lorito represent Brown. Hathaway, who breaks camp with the Calgary Flames for the second-straight season, has tallied five goals and 16 assists in 99 NHL games—including a career-high 13 points in 59 appearances last season. Lorito, who had one assist in two games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2016-17, begins the season on the New York Islanders injured reserve.
Cornell is represented by a trio of players—
Jacob MacDonald,
Riley Nash and
Joakim Ryan. MacDonald will be making his NHL debut after leading American Hockey League (AHL) defensemen with 20 goals and 55 points over 75 games last season. Nash inked a three-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets following a career-best 41-point season for the Boston Bruins a year ago. The eighth-year center has registered 53 goals and 86 assists in 399 career NHL games. Ryan, a second-year defenseman for the San Jose Sharks, claims three goals and nine assists in 62 NHL appearances.
Dartmouth alumnus
Ben Lovejoy returns for his 11th NHL season and his third as a defenseman in a New Jersey Devils sweater. The Ivy League’s elder statesman boasts 18 goals and 74 assists in 473 NHL games—the most appearances of any Ivy on an NHL opening night roster.
Six Crimson alumni break training camp with NHL clubs—
Alex Biega,
Ryan Donato,
Alexander Kerfoot,
Alex Killorn,
Sean Malone and
Jimmy Vesey. This is the third-straight season that Harvard headlines the Ivy League contingent on NHL opening night rosters.
Biega is a fifth-year defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks, who has two goals and 18 assists in 138 NHL appearances. Still technically a rookie, Boston Bruins center Donato accumulated five goals and four assists in 12 NHL games following the conclusion of his NCAA season in 2017-18. Kerfoot, who enters his second NHL season as a center for the Colorado Avalanche, tallied 19 goals and 24 assists over 79 NHL games in his rookie campaign. Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Killorn enters his seventh NHL season, having compiled 87 goals and 134 assists in 435 NHL contests. His 87 career goals and 134 career assists pace all Ivies on NHL opening night rosters. Malone, also technically a rookie with one career NHL appearance as a center, opens the season on the Buffalo Sabres injured reserve. 2016 Hobey Baker Award winner Vesey begins his third season as a left wing for the New York Rangers, having notched 33 goals and 22 assists over 159 appearances in his first two professional seasons.
Mike Condon, a fourth-year goaltender with the Ottawa Senators, is Princeton’s representative. He has appeared in 127 NHL games, including 115 starts, and boasts a .907 save percentage and 2.76 goals against average.
Third-year right wing
John Hayden opens the 2018-19 campaign with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Yale alumnus owns five goals and 12 assists in 59 NHL appearances. Fellow Bulldog alum
Alex Lyon begins the year on the injured reserve for the Philadelphia Flyers. The second-year goaltender saw his first NHL action in 2017-18, making 11 appearances and seven starts in net. He claims a .905 save percentage and 2.75 goals against average in the NHL.
Fifteen of 31 NHL clubs feature a former Ivy League men’s ice hockey player on opening night.
Twenty-two Ivies made NHL appearances during the 2017-18 regular season, including 14 on opening night rosters. Six of eight Ivies—Nash, Ryan, Lovejoy, Donato, Kerfoot and Killorn—who competed in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season return to NHL clubs to open the 2018-19 season. Three of those players—Ryan, Donato and Kerfoot—earned their first Stanley Cup playoff minutes in 2017-18.
Ivy League men’s ice hockey teams open the 2018-19 regular season on Oct. 26.
Brown
Garnet Hathaway, Calgary Flames
* Matt Lorito, New York Islanders
Cornell
Jacob MacDonald, Florida Panthers
Riley Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
Joakim Ryan, San Jose Sharks
Dartmouth
Ben Lovejoy, New Jersey Devils
Harvard
Alex Biega, Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Donato, Boston Bruins
Alexander Kerfoot, Colorado Avalanche
Alex Killorn, Tampa Bay Lightning
* Sean Malone, Buffalo Sabres
Jimmy Vesey, New York Rangers
Princeton
Mike Condon, Ottawa Senators
Yale
John Hayden, Chicago Blackhawks
* Alex Lyon, Philadelphia Flyers
* Injured Reserve