Icemen Want Revenge At Vermont Tonight

Last March, the University of Vermont stunned the Harvard hockey team, 3-2, in the semi-finals of the ECAC tournament, depriving the Crimson of a Beanpot-ECAC-NCAA sweep.

"We just haven't been playing well. We have to wake up," Hobey Baker Award winner-to-be Lane MacDonald said after Harvard blew a 2-0 third-period lead to lose in overtime.

Nine months later, the Crimson (3-4-1 overall, 3-4-1 ECAC) will once again match up with the Catamounts (2-8-1, 2-4-1) tonight in Burlington. While Harvard finally appears to be awake after a season-long slumber ended with a 5-0 blanking of Cornell last Saturday, tonight's game should prove whether the squad will keep smelling the coffee, and continue displaying its championship form.

"If we play with the same intensity and tenacity we had last weekend, we'll be all right," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said.

Cleary said that he was considering shaking up his two-goalie rotation for tonight's contest at Gutterson Field-house. Sophomore Chuckie Hughes, who has totalled a 4.54 goals-against average and a .854 save percentage in his three games between the twines, is scheduled to man the nets.

But Hughes' classmate, Allain Roy, has sparkled in his last two appearances. Roy stopped 40 shots in the Crimson's 4-2 victory over Dartmouth last Monday, then blocked 24 more in his first career shutout last Sunday against Cornell.

Cleary said he would decide on his netminder after yesterday's practice, but could not be reached for comment before leaving for Vermont.

The decision for Cleary is definitely a tough one. Roy has a 2.77 goals-against average to place him among the ECAC leaders, while Hughes has struggled at times. But putting Roy in as the full-time starter would undermine the two-goalie strategy that made Harvard a national champion last season.

One player who could pose particular difficulty for the Crimson netminder is Vermont forward John LeClair, who has had to sit out of all but one game for the Catamounts with a hand infection. However, it is uncertain whether the star forward, who scored a goal in his only outing this year, will play against the Crimson.

LeClair will be evaluated by doctors this morning, and Vermont's assistant coaches put his chances at about 50-50.

With or without LeClair, Vermont is clearly not the team it was last year afterlosing many strong players to graduation. TheCatamounts started off the season very slowly,dropping their first 8 games, including a 6-0trampling by Brown--which won only one game alllast season.

However, like the Crimson, the Catamounts havecome on strong of late, going 2-0-1 in its lastthree outings. This record included an impressive8-6 road victory over Princeton last weekend, andsomething the Crimson could not accomplish--a tieagainst Army.

The game tonight seems to be a match betweentwo teams that are just starting to put everythingtogether. Both the Crimson and the Catamountsrecognize the importance of this game in salvagingtheir seasons