It's Playoff Time at Bright

When they announce the starting lineups tonight at Bright Hockey Center for Harvard and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), among the players at center ice will be the 1982-83 ECAC Rookie of the Year.

They haven't voted on it yet, but in a season when the East's leading scorer and top-ranked the candidates down to two. One plays for Harvard--Grant Blair, the other for RPI--George Servinis.

A flock of first-year Engineers have been tearing up the league with their offense, but the big gun for RPI is Servinis, whose 49 points (21 goals and 22 assists in 20 games) left the nearest ECAC rival 10 points behind. Servinis is the left wing on an all-freshman starting line, along with center Adam Oates (6-29-35) and right wing Mark Jooris (13-23-36).

Each of the three were top scorers in different Canadian junior leagues. Oates was the source of some controversy, since he played for pay in the highest division of Ontario's leagues, he missed RPI's first seven games while the NCAA was debating his eligibility.

Other high-scoring Engineers include junior Marty Dallman (15-20-31). who was a high school star in these parts. breaking the Massachusetts goal-scoring record last year playing for Woburn. In all, five RPI forwards finished with more than 30 points in ECAC play, while only Scott Fusco did the same for Harvard.

The last time tonight's opponents clashed, the Crimson left Troy. N.Y. with a 7-4 victory, even thought the powerful RPI attack put 48 shots on the visitors net. It was Servinis's chief rival for rookie-of-the-year honors who stymied the Engineers that night, in his first collegiate start. Since then Blair has held Harvard's ECAC opponents to 2.68 goals per game, the East's lowest mark and the NCAA's third-best.

RPI's edge in the scoring department isn't overwhelming, thanks to a well-balanced Harvard offense--since Crimson Coach Bill Cleary reshuffled his lines just before the Beanpot, each of the lines has been producing But in the defensive department. Blair gives Harvard clear advantage: his RPI counterpart, senior Gerry Fink, has a 4.27 goals against mark.

And if the home team is favored this weekend, maybe nit's because RPI, while always dangerous on offense, occasionally lorgets how to play defense. The Engineers have recorded some interesting scores: 12-7 and 11-7 wins over Maine and Princeton, respectively and a 10-9 overtime squeaker over UNH.

That's something of a switch for RPI. Coach Mike Addesa notes teams used to be criticized for too much emphasis on detense But, he notes, "the qualities of the group we have now make it very scoring minded" It's a relatively young squad, inexperienced in collegiate play and the Engineers Canadian junior league veterans were trained to put offensive skills ahead of disciplined, defensive hockey.

Some differences between the two teams stand out. Harvard plays in the ECAC's largest rink. RPI in the smallest. The contrasts in playing styles are predictable: Harvard relies on sharp passing and fast skating, the Engineers on their size advantage--they have a set of fairly massive blueliners.

Also, while Harvard always seems to do well against other tough teams--it was 6-3 versuzs the other team now in the playoffs--the Engineers haven't done so well, going 3-7 against those learns, 0-5 on the road.

How They Do It

The format of the quarterfinals is a new one. Unlike last year's one, game affair, it's a two-game series--not decided by total goals as in the NCAA quarterfinals. Instead, if the teams split the two contests, or tie twice, they will play a 10-minute mini-game. If that tie-breaker ends in a tie, sudden death play will decide who goes to the Boston Garden for the semifinals.

THE NOTEBOOK: Tonight will mark Crimson Captain Greg Olson's first game at Bright since he was sidelined by a broken ankle in December... RPI was leading in its division until the final weekend of the regular season, when it lost in overtime at St. Lawrence and suffered a 9-2 pounding at Clarkson.