Icemen Looking For Home Ice Edge

It's that Crimson time of year again. The time when the Harvard hockey team focuses on only one thing: winning the ECAC Championship and getting home ice for the NCAA Tournament.

With three weeks remaining in the ECAC regular season, the first-place Crimson finds itself in a favorable position. But that doesn't mean the road to its second straight ECAC title will pose no problems for Harvard.

Harvard (14-2 ECAC) will play its next four league games at Bright Center, where it hasn't lost all season, before heading to upstate New York and closing out the regular season against Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

The Crimson's final six league opponents have posted an overall league record of 49-36. Colgate, which visits Bright this Friday night, handed Harvard its first league loss when the Crimson played the Red Raiders December 6 in Hamilton. N.Y.

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Then it's Cornell, Vermont, and RPI in Cambridge. Harvard will travel to Clarkson February 27 before taking on St. Lawrence the next night.

If all goes well for the Crimson--as well as St. Lawrence--before the final game against the Saints. Harvard will be guaranteed at least a share of first place in the league, since it already enjoys a two-point advantage over St. Lawrence.

First place means home ice for the first round of the ECAC playoffs and Harvard likes to play at Bright. A lot.

Who said anything about the Beanpot?

Pollin' Along: The Crimson (14-6 overall) is ranked eighth in the nation by the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee. The ranking did not include Harvard's loss to Boston College in the consolation game of the Beanpot Monday night at Boston Garden.

Maine (25-4-2), which has dominated Hockey East as of late, is the nation's top-ranked team. Minnesota (25-7) and Lake Superior St. (22-4-6) fill out the next two slots. St. Lawrence (18-6) is three rankings ahead of the Crimson.

Boston University (11-13-3), which lost to Norteastren in the championship game of the Beanpot, is ranked 13th in the nation, two slots ahead of 15th-ranked Colagte (15-7-2). Sort of makes you wonder about how these polls come up with such results.

Posting Up: The post was clanging Saturday night at Princeton's Baker Rink during the second period of the Harvard-Princeton game.

On a Harvard power play five minutes into the period, Jerry Pawloski and John Murphy each took shots that appeared to have beaten Tiger goalie Mark Salisbury.

But the left post got in the way. Both shots bounced directly off the posts and Princeton successfully killed the penalty.

The "post factor" didn't make a difference for the Crimson, as Harvard defeated the Tigers, 3-2.

Big John: Senior goalie John Devin, who came up with some big saves in the final minutes of the Princeton game, continues to lead the ECAC in goaltending with an impressive 2.49 goals-against average.

Some say that Harvard's defensive unit, probably the best unit in the ECAC, has helped Devin's performance. True, but Devin is still the last guy opponents have to pass in order to score. Just ask Princeton about the final minutes of its loss to Harvard.

Kill, Kill: Devin has certainly been a big reason why Harvard leads the ECAC in penalty kills with a mark of 91.6 percent. But while Devin has made the crucial saves, the penalty killing unit led by Captain Steve Armstrong has given league opponents headches. Just ask Princeton again as the Crimson killed three Tiger penalties with two skaters watching in the box.