Fraternal Forechecking
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The following article appeared December 28 on the Harvard Magazine Web site.
By Craig Lambert
Sibling rivalry can inspire, but sibling unanimity has some
impressive virtues, too. Consider the brothers Biega—Alex
’10, Michael ’11, and Danny ’13—of
Harvard’s ice hockey team. All hail from Montreal, Canada,
and have been playing sports together most of their lives: ice
hockey, soccer, and rowing, for example, at Salisbury School, a
small, all-male private school in Connecticut with some formidable
athletic teams. The Biega triumvirate all played on New England
championship hockey teams there—Michael’s goal off a
rebound from Alex’s shot won the school’s first
title—with Alex and Danny chosen as captains and Alex and
Michael successively honored as Salisbury’s athlete of the
year. All three hope to play professionally in the National Hockey
League (NHL). Yet the brethren aren’t clones: Alex and Danny
are defensemen, and Michael’s a forward.
Danny’s new to Cambridge, but his older sibs have done
damage on the intercollegiate ice for years now. Alex, this
year’s Harvard captain, was named Harvard’s most
valuable player last year, when he made the New England All-Star
Team and the all-Ivy first team. With four goals and 16 assists,
his 20 points were second on the squad, no mean feat for a
defenseman. “With my stature,” he explains,
laughing—at five feet 11 and 195 pounds, Alex is small for a
defender—“you have to be an offense-minded
defenseman.” He is the first defenseman in more than 20 years
to lead Harvard in assists. (Three years ago, the Buffalo Sabres of
the NHL drafted him in the fifth round; he’ll join that
organization after college.)
As a freshman, Michael notched a hat trick against Yale, and last
year, with six goals and 11 assists for 17 points, was right behind
Alex as the team’s third-leading scorer. (Forward Doug Rogers
’10, at 8-13-21, led the Crimson.) Michael and Alex joined
forces on a power-play unit that was best in the Eastern College
Athletic Conference (ECAC) with 19.2 percent effectiveness, scoring
24 times in 125 chances.
Complete article can be accessed via the Magazine Web site by clicking here.
