Lo and behold, Harvard went 4-0 out of the break, scoring 22 goals and holding the opposition to just five.

Pissed, indeed.

Welch was frank with the media when he had to be, and he broke the stoic captain’s mold when the situation demanded it. But though a veteran of the interview room from his four-year career with the Crimson, Welch found himself facing a new brand of inquiry this season.

All of a sudden, the questions weren’t about Welch, the two-time All-American blueliner.

Welch’s 18 points marked the lowest total since his freshman year—all six of his goals came on the power play—and since gritty, physical, defensive play never grabbed any headlines, the captain spent most of his time extolling goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris’ sensational season and Harvard’s potential.

The limelight was no longer on Welch, and he couldn’t have cared less.

“If anything,” he mused, “Dov becoming a Hobey Baker finalist put more attention on our team.”

And that’s what Welch spent the season talking to reporters about, anyhow: the team.

It was a different, more subdued role for the senior, but he filled it gladly, night after night in front of reporters, making eye contact after every question and answering each as politely as he could.

Of course, there was another side to the blueliner—the hard-nosed, do-what-it-takes captain who never hesitated to light a fire under his squad—but that surfaced only rarely during interviews.

And even then, if you looked hard enough in the senior’s eyes, you could see that Welch knew exactly what he was doing.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.