The Captain in Street Clothes

He wore a coat and tie.

So he was better dressed than most of the 9214 spectators.

He used crutches to get up to his seat. And a cast was wrapped around his left knee.

So he stood out in that way.

But just glancing around the Providence Civic Center Saturday night, you wouldn't single him out.

Unless you knew his name.

Scott Fusco.

And his history.

Ivy League Player of the Year.

ECAC Player of the Year.

Hobey Baker Award winner as the best player in college hockey.

And his position on the Harvard men's hockey team.

Penalty killer.

First-line center.

And captain.

He sat below a sea of green and white--Michigan St. fans who had travelled half-way across the country to see their team battle Harvard in the NCAA Tournament final.

He had to listen to their haunting cheers.

"Go green. Go white. Go State."

And he couldn't silence those cheers with a goal.

The Crimson was playing in its biggest game of the year--its biggest game in three years--and Scott Fusco was watching.

He strained knee ligaments on the opening shift of the first period of Harvard's semifinal game against Denver Friday.

His team won without him.

But his team wasn't winning now.

Late in the third period, Harvard was losing 6-5.

And he wasn't on the ice.

And behind him, the cheers were getting louder.

"I felt very helpless," Fusco said. "I felt like I let the team down. When they really needed me, I wasn't there."

But his teammates thought they could win without him.

They missed him, but they still thought they could win the national championship.

"We all just had to look at ourselves," defenseman Randy Taylor said. "Not just one player. It's a big setback without Scott. But we felt we could do it."

"He's our spiritual leader and a great player," forward Ed Krayer said. "But we still should have won."

They had won before.

Without him.

A month ago, Harvard won the quarterfinal round of the ECAC tournament.

And Fusco--who had separted his shoulder in the Crimson's last game of the regular season--was in the stands.

Allen Bourbeau stepped into Fusco's spot on the first-line.

Tim Barakett killed penalties.

Rob Ohno was designated captain.

"We played well without him," Ohno said. "I thought we could do it again."

Friday, Tim Smith smacked in three goals to help the Crimson to a 5-2 victory over Denver.

The number one team in the country fell to a team playing without its number one player.

Saturday, the Crimson took a 2-1 first period lead and led, 4-3, at the end of the second stanza thanks to Bourbeau's hat trick.

Deceiving

It looked like Harvard could win without the man who had pumped in 24 goals and recorded 44 assists on the year.

It looked like the Crimson didn't need Scott Fusco after all.

But soon the score was tied, 5-5.

And with three minutes left in the game, Spartan forward Mike Donnelly slipped a shot into the Harvard net.

Now, the Crimson needed Scott Fusco.

Because in the biggest game of the season, his team couldn't win without him.

"I would like to think I could have made a difference," Fusco said. "You never know."

But Saturday he was just one of 9124 spectators.

And he was on crutches.

And as time ran out, he could only cheer. And hope.

"I was just hoping we would win," Fusco said. "But there was nothing I could do."