Harvard Men's Hockey From 'A' to Zamboni

A Harvard Men's Hockey Primer

A is for atop the standings. The Crimson has already won its fifth straight Ivy League title with a 9-1 mark and leads the ECAC by two-and-a-half games with a 15-2 record and four games to play.

B is for Blair. That's Grant Blair. That's the leading goaltender in the country. That's also Harvard's goaltender. Blair has a 15-4-1 mark and a nation's best 2.76 goals-against average.

C is for cold. That's what the temperature is inside Harvard's Bright Center. The rink is super-cooled to keep the ice very hard and the high-flying Crimson skating very fast. At home, Harvard is unbeaten in its last 12.

D is for defense. That's half of the equation for the Crimson's success this year. The squad has allowed only 42 ECAC goals (best in the conference) and behind the play of its strong blue-line corps and standout goaltender Grant Blair is allowing only 2.75 goals a game overall.

E is for ECAC. That's the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the biggest college athletic conference in the country. In Division I men's hockey, the ECAC has 12 teams. The conference champion is determined in an eight-team post-season tournament.

F is for Fusco. That's Scott Fusco. That's Harvard's all-time leading scorer (100 goals, 119 assists). He's a leading candidate to win the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's Heisman Trophy. His brother Mark won it three years ago.

G is for the Garden. That's where the Beanpot Tourney and the ECAC Tournament are held. The Crimson's lost the 'Pot five straight years, but it has a chance to bring home the ECAC Trophy for the first time in three years in March.

H is for Harvard. That's the oldest college in America. That's also a university that won its last NCAA team championship in any sport in 1906. That's a long time ago.

I is for Ithaca. That's the home of Harvard hockey hatred in the world. That's where the Crimson blew out Cornell, 11-3, in December. That's a victory that stunned the hosts, who were riding an 8-1-1 Ithaca streak against Harvard.

J is for June. That's when Grant Blair, Mark Benning, Peter Follows, Scott Fusco, Rob Ohno, and Tim Smith pick up their diplomas and leave their Crimson sweaters behind.

K is for Killer B's. That's Allen Bourbeau and Tim Barakett, the two players who key the Crimson's second line. The pair are tied for third in team scoring with 34 points apiece. Their left wing is freshman Ed Krayer. The productiveness of the trio has picked up the Crimson offense from last year.

L is for lopsided. That's what the Crimson's scoring distribution was last year. The Firing Line of Scott Fusco, Tim Smith and Lane MacDonald scored 58 percent of all the Harvard goals last year. This year, they have accounted for only 37 percent of Crimson tallies.

M is for mentor. That's Crimson Coach Bill Cleary '56. That's one-of the most prolific scorers in Harvard history and a member of the gold-medal winning 1960 United States Olympic Team. Cleary is the 15-year Harvard coach that has a career record of 222-164-21.

N is for North Dakota. That's Grand Forks, N.D. In 1983, the Crimson traveled to the Flickertail State for the NCAA Final Four. Harvard won its opening round game against Minnesota, 5-3, but lost in the finals to Wisconsin, 6-2.

O is for the other league. That's Hockey East. It was formed two years ago, when Ivy athletic directors threatened to put a rein on the increasing professionalization of college hockey. The so-called super league has seven members and a 34-game regular-season schedule that includes frequent trips across the country for contests with Western College Hockey Association teams. Nonetheless, the ECAC is 5-1-1 against Hockey East this year.

P is for Providence. That's Providence, Rhode Island. That's where the 1986 Final Four will meet. The games are scheduled for the Providence Civic Center. The semifinals are March 27 and March 28. The consolation and final are held on Saturday, March 29.

Q is for quarterfinals. That's where the Crimson stumbled last year. That's also the first round of the eight-team ECAC and NCAA Tournaments. Two Eastern teams and two Western teams will host the two-game, total-goals quarters on March 21 and 22.

R is for RPI. That's the ECAC team that is the NCAA and defending conference champion. The Engineers rode a 38-game winning streak to the national crown. Right now 11-4-1 and second place in the ECAC, RPI visits Harvard Saturday night, looking to close the gap and avenge the Crimson's victory in Troy, N.Y., in January.

S is for Sarajevo. That's in Yugoslavia and that's where Scott Fusco played for the United States Olympic Team in the 1984 Winter Olympics. That year off is also why Fusco is still scoring goals for the Crimson five years after he matriculated.

T is for tradition. That's a large part of Harvard hockey. That's a lot of championships; that's a lot of banners hanging in Bright; that's excellence year after year.

U is for UMD. That's the University of Minnesota-Duluth. That's the team that ended the Crimson's season last year with a pair of 4-2 NCAA quarterfinal victories in Minnesota.

V is for Veritas. Truth is that I couldn't think of anything that started with `V' except Vermont, Friday's opponent, and quite frankly Vermont didn't deserve its own letter just after raising its drinking age.

W is for Weiland. That's Ralph "Cooney" Weiland, the great Harvard hockey coach for 21 years, who died this summer. Cooney coached the Crimson to 315 wins, seven Ivy championships and two ECAC titles.

X is for x'd out. That's the two injured Crimson players. Freshman defenseman Chris Biotti, a first-round NHL draft choice, has torn ligaments in his knee and is apparently lost for the season. Sophomore Allen Bourbeau, one of the Crimson's most potent scorer this year, has been out with torn stomach muscles. His condition is day-to-day.

Y is for the Yard. That's the home of Ed Krayer, Josh Caplan, Craig Taucher and Chris Biotti, the team's four freshmen.

Z is for Zamboni. That's the name of the machine that cleans the ice between periods. That's the end of the list.