Mitch Olson

When senior defenseman Mitch Olson and rest of the 1979 squad wrapped up their 7-18-1 season, the worth in Harvard hockey history, the ECAC championship seemed about as likely as a change in the Christmas exam schedule.

Now, four years later, the exam schedule remains the same but the Harvard hockey squad has indeed won the championship, and Olson, who has been Harvard hockey at both its best and worst, has been named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Sports Profile

The story of Olson's college hockey career is in many ways the story of the Harvard hockey team's a cent to the top of the ECAC. When the 5-ft., 8-in., 170-lb. defenseman arrived in Cambridge from Minnetonka, Minn., the icemen had no home area. Watson Rink was being converted into the Bright Hockey Center, so the squad had to find open Boston-area rinks to practice in, and used the Boston University facility for its "home" games. It was far from an ideal setup, and the victories came few and far between.

After his sophomore year, the Eliot House resident decided that it was time for a change and took the year off. During his 12-month leave of absence, he want on an Outward Bound program, helped his parents build a house, and traveled through South America with a professor from St. Louis University, collecting and studying the plant life there.

"It was another adventure and an experience," Olson says of his journey. "By doing as many things as possible, you find out what you don't want to do."

When Olson returned to Cambridge last year, one of the things he didn't want to do was play hockey. Coach Bill Cleary put no pressure on the defenseman, but let him know that he could return whenever he felt the urge.

"It was tough," Olson recalls, "I was living with my brother Greg [the team captain] and Greg Britz [starting forward], as well as sharpening the women's team's skates. The itch finally got to me and I went back."

He began skating in November, and played the first eight games on the J.V. squad, returning to the varsity at the beginning of January. From then on Olson and the rest of the Crimson went on a late-season rampage that led to a second-place finish in the ECAC championship and a playoff berth in the NCAA tournament.

Then came this year, when Olson and the rest of the Crimson squad were simply unstoppable. With his stellar performance in the ECAC semifinals and finals came the glory and the recognition.

But long before his three goals in the two games at the Garden, Olson had been contributing in less obvious ways. Although he scored only four goals during the regular season (one of them coming on an open net in the Yale game), he produced 14 assists, fifth best on the squad. Even more important was his aggressive checking and shot-blocking, which helped make Harvard one of the first defensive teams in the East.

In fact, his defense has been so good lately that RPI Coach Mike Addesa named Olson as one of the main factors in the usually high-scoring Engineers' poor offensive showing two weeks ago.

Taking Charge

What caught everyone's attention last week, however, was not his timely checking or his clutch shot-blocking but his scoring. In Friday's game, Olson scored the tying goal against UNH netminder Todd Pearson, who had been stonewalling the Crimson all evening. He then was credited with an assist for the go-ahead goal, and ended Harvard's three-minute scoring spree with another tally of his own.

On Saturday night against Providence, with the icemen holding a tentative one-goal lead. Olson put the game out of reach when he slammed in a rebounding Jim Turner shot.

Scoring, however, has not been a major aspect of Olson's career at Harvard. He scored more goals this season than in his three previous ones put together, but the senior doesn't mind that he has spent more time developing his defensive skills than his offensive ones.

"Last weekend was great, but I'd rather shut a team down," he says. "I'd rather stop goals than score them. Defense is what I pride myself in Period."

Napoleon

He has played defense ever since he began playing hockey 17 years ago in the peewee and bantam leagues of Minnesota. From then on it's been his position, despite the fact that most blueliners are considerably larger. "My size hinders me a bit, but I don't get out-positioned," he says.

The fact that Olson plays defense has made it possible to avoid sibling rivalry while playing on the same team as his younger brother, Greg, something he has done ever since his junior year at Hopkins Lindbergh High School.

When the anthropology major graduates this year, it will probably mark the end of his hockey career, but not his quest for excitement. Olson plans to visit Australia and work there for a year. When he finally returns to the States, he will apply to medical schools.

For now, however, Olson's thoughts are concentrated on a closer location: Bright Hockey Center and tonight's game against Michigan State.

"I think we have a very good chance," he says. "We have the confidence and we have the chemistry."

They also have a great playoff performer--Mitch Olson.