Release from 10.10.2024

Sam Harvey: "I really want us to have success as a team"

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With three shutouts in his first five games of the season, Sam Harvey has set a new league record. Ahead of the road game in Ljubljana, the HCB Südtirol Alperia goalie talks about the team's potential for improvement, his performances and the upcoming clash with Olimpija.

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Sam Harvey came to Bolzano from North America in the summer of 2022. After a strong debut season, the Canadian moved to Lukko Rauma in Finland a year later, but returned to South Tyrol in January 2024 and played 23 more games for the Foxes. HCB got off to a good start in the current season with five wins from six games, thanks in part to Harvey. The 26-year-old was the first goalie in the win2day ICE Hockey League to keep a clean sheet in three of his first five games of the campaign. He is also chasing Sebastian Dahm's record, who had a total of ten shutouts in the 2020/21 season (see story). "It's a good start but I think we can be more consistent. I think sometimes during games we have lows, we have highs. It's really important for us to keep going, keep getting better game after game," said Harvey, who doesn't want his performance to take centre stage: "I really want us to have success as a team, to win games. It's always nice to have shoutouts, but it's not a main goal."

Despite the clear 2:8 defeat against Asiago, Bolzano - together with Graz and Ljubljana - has the best defence in the league so far with only twelve goals conceded. "The defense is really important for us, it's one of the main part of our system. I'm glad that we have that kind of system here that has been successful for a couple of years now. It's really important to work well defensively, it's our main focus and then after that, that allows us to have success offensively as well," says the netminder. Harvey also follows the fortunes of other league teams. On Friday, Bolzano travels to Ljubljana (7.15pm, streamed on live.ice.hockey), one of the surprise teams so far. "Teams like Graz and Ljubljana, they're really pushing hard. They took a big step this year. Olimpija is a hard working team, they have a good goalie. They do really good on the attack, so it's going to be a good match up for us."

Watch the full interview with Sam Harvey in the video: