Knee Injury Sidelines Pawloski

The Crimson sent five healthy players, one coach and one famous graduate to the Olympic Sports Festival this past summer, but came back with just four healthy players and a coach.

Forwards Allen Bourbeau, Ed Krayer and Lane MacDonald went to Houston, along with defensemen Josh Caplan and Jerry Pawloski. All but Bourbeau were teammates on Harvard assistant Coach Ronn Tomassoni's bronze-medal-winning South team. All but Pawloski would return to Cambridge in September ready to play.

Pawloski, the scrappy junior defensemen whose devastating open-ice bodychecks have intimidated forwards across the ECAC, suffered a severe knee injury in the first game of the Festival, when an opposing player fell on him in the corner. Four days later, back in Cambridge, Dr. Arthur Boland operated on his knee. Pawloski tore the knee ligaments out of his femur--but because the ligaments themselves were undamaged, the operation entailed re-attaching the ligaments to the bone.

The injury has an estimated recovery period of eight months, but causes no permanent damage. And although Pawloski's surgery took place on August 4, he hopes to back on the ice by January or February.

"Knowing the kind of person he is, he's got me believing he'll be back," Tomassoni said.

Bourbeau, who was second on the Crimson in points-per-game last season, finished second in Festival scoring, and his North team copped the gold medal.

Crimson defenseman Chris Biotti was invited to the Festival, but he declined because of a knee injury that sidelined him for the second half of the 1985-'86 season. The first-round draft choice is 100 percent healthy now and will take to the ice with the rest of the team when training camp opens later in the fall.

Finally, Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Fusco went to the Festival as an assistant coach. Fusco was one of four former Olympians selected to help guide the squads. The forward worked with Boston College Assistant Coach Steve Cedorchuk on the staff of the East team.

Speaking of Fusco, three seniors on last year's NCAA runner-up squad are now playing in Europe--Fusco in Switzerland, Rob Ohno in West Germany and Tim Smith in Austria.

One Crimson senior will be returning to Harvard and to the ice this season. As expected, defenseman Mark Benning--who has a year of eligibility left because he played at a club level during his sophomore year at Notre Dame--will return to Cambridge for a fifth undergraduate year to work on his thesis and to patrol the Bright Center blue line.

Another Crimson senior has moved on to professional hockey in North America. Goalie Grant Blair is at the training camp of the Calgary Flames, hoping to join Neil Sheehy '83 in the National Hockey League and in the Saddledome.

Blair is one of six netminders at the Flames camp. Joining him are four veterans of NHL play and one other former collegian, Cornell's Doug Dadswell. Dadswell jumped the Big Red after his stellar sophomore year, hoping to make the big time.

After battling each other for top honors in the ECAC, Blair and Dadswell are locked in a more intense battle for a shot at a professional career.

At the beginning of camp, the two were five and six on the Flames' depth chart and neither has played in Calgary's first three pre-season games. But Dadswell was scheduled to play half of last night's Flames-North Stars tilt and Blair will probably see time this weekend.

The Flames will keep two net-minders and send two to each of their minor league clubs. Both Blair and Dadswell are certainly hoping for a chance to play in Moncton, New Brunswick in the American Hockey League--and hoping to avoid a trip to Salt Lake City of the lowly International Hockey League.

The Crimson, which added freshman Scott McCormick (picked by the Devils in the 9th round of the 1986 draft), now boasts nine players who are NHL property.

Returning Lettermen:  Position  Property of: Steve Armstrong  F Tim Barakett  F  New Jersey Devils Mark Benning  D Chris Biotti  D  Calgary Flames Allen Bourbeau  F  Philadelphia Flyers Josh Caplan  D Nick Carone  F Peter Chiarelli  F Butch Cutone  D John Devin  G Mike DeVoe  F Scott Farden  D Gerald Green  F Rick Haney  F Andy Janfaza  F Ed Krayer  F  New Jersey Devils Lane MacDonald  F  Calgary Flames Dickie McEvoy  G Jerry Pawloski  D  Hartford Whalers Don Sweeney  D  Boston Bruins Craig Taucher  F Randy Taylor  D  Pittsburgh Penguins