Icemen Surprise ECAC Fortune Tellers

You can throw out all those preseason polls that thought Harvard would be unable to defend its ECAC championship. The icemen have regained sole possession of first place in the league. And the way the Crimson played last weekend at Bright Center, other teams in the ECAC will have to worry.

No other team in the league has won 10 games except Harvard (10-2 ECAC). Six of the Crimson's next 10 league games are at home, where it hasn't lost all season. In their past 40 games at Bright, the icemen are 37-2-1.

And the pre-season fortune tellers said it just couldn't be done--that Harvard lost too much talent. Guess those fortune tellers forgot about the talent that didn't leave. They probably overlooked the Crimson's incoming freshman class, which has been tabbed as one of the best in the country by several opposing coaches.

Guess those fortune tellers also forgot about Harvard Coach Bill Cleary, who has been around Cambridge for 17 years. He's seen guys come and go. He's racked up 269 career wins, 14 winning seasons, two ECAC championships and seven NCAA tournament appearances. Guys may leave and new ones may replace them, but the style of hockey certainly hasn't changed.

ECAC Update: The Crimson's hold on first place in the league was bolstered Saturday when rejuvenated Dartmouth upset St. Lawrence in overtime at home in Hanover. Paul O'Hern's game-winner in overtime sent the Larries back to Canton, N.Y., with a winless weekend.

Over in Hamilton, N.Y., Colgate proved itself a force to be reckoned with in the ECAC as it defeated both RPI and Vermont. The third-place Red Raiders (7-1 ECAC) are two points behind St. Lawrence (8-3) and six behind Harvard. Vermont (6-3-1) fell to fourth place with 12 points.

As for the scoring race, RPI freshman Joe Juneau (6 goals, 16 assists, 22 points) regained the top spot over Princeton's John Messuri (10-10--20) last weekend. Colgate's Rejean Boivin (11-7--18) is the league's third-leading scorer.

Don and Jerry: RPI Coach Mike Adessa said that if the ECAC allowed trades, he would make a deal for Harvard defenseman Don Sweeney. If Adessa ever thinks of trading for Crimson defenseman Jerry Pawloski also, Harvard will probably ask for the entire RPI hockey team, along with the city of Troy, N.Y., plus a free trip to Hawaii in return.

Sweeney and Pawloski have been that valuable to the Crimson this year. And with Josh Caplan out last weekend with a sore shoulder, this defensive tandem had more time on the ice.

With Pawloski's strong forechecking and Sweeney's impressive acceleration on the ice, these two seniors anchor the Crimson defense, probably one of the toughest units in ECAC.

Goalie, Goalie!: Crimson netminder John Devin, who recorded a total of 60 saves last weekend, is the league's second-leading goaltender with a 2.84 goals-against average. His weekend sweep also upped his league record to 5-2.

The league's leading netminder? Harvard freshman Michael Francis, who hasn't started a league game since November 28.

Score, Mr. President: Who says that running a country takes up all of your time?

Clarkson's final goal in its loss to Harvard was scored by none other than Ron Reagan. Assist by George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger.