BOSTON -- Forward Jimmy Fraser and defenseman Brian McCafferty were presented as next season's captains of the Harvard men's hockey team Saturday at the team's annual awards banquet, held at the Harvard Club of Boston. Senior forward Mike Taylor received the John Tudor Memorial Cup as the Crimson's 2007-08 most valuable player.

Alex Biega was named the team's assistant captain for 2008-09, while defensive partner Ian Tallett earned the Donald Angier Hockey Trophy as Harvard's most improved player. Michael Biega and Matt McCollem shared the George Percy Award as top rookies, while seniors David MacDonald and Tyler Magura received the Ralph "Cooney" Weiland Award for devotion to the game.

The team banquet celebrated a 17-13-4 season that saw Harvard rebound from a midseason slump to finish third in the ECAC Hockey regular season and reach the league title game. The banquet featured a video tribute to the 2007-08 Crimson and its senior class of MacDonald, Magura, Taylor, Paul Dufault, J.D. McCabe, Alex Meintel, Jon Pelle and Dave Watters.

Fraser and McCafferty will be the 114th and 115th men to captain the Crimson, as determined by a team vote. They will follow MacDonald and Taylor as the team's second straight set of co-captains and the fifth set in program history. Alex Biega will be the first Harvard player to wear the "A" designation since Tom Cavanagh and Ryan Lannon in 2004-05.

Fraser is the Crimson's most experienced returning player. He has skated in 97 games for Harvard, contributing on the power play and penalty kill as well as at even strength. The Port Huron, Mich., native centered the Crimson's top defensive forward line this season, helping Harvard allow an ECAC Hockey-low 1.86 goals per league contest. Fraser has 45 career points on 11 goals and 34 assists.

McCafferty, a native of Lexington, Mass., has been a key contributor on the Harvard blue line for three seasons, playing in 95 career games. He ranks second among active Crimson players with 47 career points on six goals and 41 assists. He notched three goals and 14 helpers in 2007-08, ranking fifth on the team in scoring while contributing to Harvard's league-best defense.

Alex Biega earned third-team All-ECAC Hockey selection and All-Ivy League honorable mention this season. In addition to his role in the team's defensive success, the Montreal native quarterbacked a Crimson power play that converted more than 20 percent of its chances. He ranked third on the team with a +10 rating and ranked fourth in scoring, first among defensemen, with 22 points on three goals and 19 assists.

Taylor was one of college hockey's top players in the second half of the season. He ended his career on a 14-game scoring streak, during which he recorded 25 points. The Maple Grove, Minn., native led the conference in playoff scoring with 11 points on three goals and eight assists. He finished the year with team highs of 35 points and 23 assists to go with 12 goals and a +8 rating.

Taylor played on Harvard's top power-play unit and helped the Crimson lead ECAC Hockey in league penalty killing at 91.3 percent. He scored three shorthanded goals and four game-winners and had five points (3-2-5) in the Beanpot, scoring the third-period goal that forced overtime in the championship game.

Tallett earned the Angier Trophy with a strong sophomore season on the blue line after appearing in just two games as a freshman. He shared the team plus/minus lead at +13, recording a minus rating only once in 22 games. He was a combined +7 in Harvard's two Beanpot games, helping the Crimson reach its first Beanpot final in a decade and take eventual national champion Boston College to overtime in the Beanpot title game. The St. Louis native had five assists on the season.

Michael Biega's scoring surge in late November and December helped Harvard survive the toughest part of its season. He scored the first three goals of his career in one game, a 3-3 tie Nov. 28 at rival Yale, and finished sixth on the team in scoring with nine goals and seven assists to earn a share of the Percy Award.

McCollem emerged as an offensive threat late in the season. He did not score a goal in the first 18 games of his career, but tallied in four of the next six games and finished his freshman campaign with five goals and nine assists. One of those goals came in the Somerville, Mass., native's Beanpot debut, and another came in his first ECAC playoff game.

The Weiland Award, named in honor of the former Harvard coach and Hockey Hall of Fame member, goes to the player or players whose devotion to the game has repeatedly been evidenced by aggressive and spirited play and by selfless contribution to the total team effort representative of "Cooney's type of hockey player."

As a team captain along with Taylor, MacDonald guided the Crimson to a dramatic late-season turnaround. He helped Harvard go unbeaten in its last seven league games and carry that momentum into its playoff run. In addition to being a standout defensive defenseman and leader on the league's top defensive team, the Halifax, N.S., native scored twice and added five assists. MacDonald was +7.

Magura, co-recipient of the Weiland Award with MacDonald, has long been regarded as one of ECAC Hockey's top defensive forwards and penalty killers. He was on the ice for only four even-strength goals against and was +2 despite playing on Harvard's defensively focused forward line. The Fargo, N.D., native had two goals and three assists, including the third shorthanded tally of his career.

Tim McLoughlin was named MVP of the junior varsity team at the banquet, while Mark Rinaldi earned the JV team's Heart and Determination Award and Eric Kester took home the Kevin Hampe Award.