So Much Free Time...

Well, the ECAC says that Harvard's hockey season is over--cut short by a quarterfinal sweep at the hands of Cornell last weekend.

But don't tell that to anyone around here.

The Zamboni driver is still making fresh ice. The rink is still reserved from 3 to 5 p.m. And a parade of players is still making its way down to Bright Center every afternoon.

"We don't know what else to do with ourselves," said senior Scott McCormack, who's been so itchy for hockey he trekked across the river to see Boston College play Merrimack Monday night. "Our biological clocks say we still have one more month of hockey left."

On the first day without hockey, Kevin Sneddon and Pete Ciavaglia managed to keep themselves occupied without heading to Bright Center.

No, they didn't study. They played video games. Lots of video games. Lots of video games. Enough video games to kill the full two hours they usually spend at practice.

But hockey avoidance didn't last long. Monday afternoon, Sneddon found his feet carrying him across the river. And when he got there, he wasn't alone.

Out on the Bright ice were C.J. Young, John Weisbrod, Allain Roy, Mike Francis, Tod Hartje and McCormack, to name a few.

"It's kind of routine, heading down to the rink at 2 or 2:30," said Sneddon, who claims he did stay home and study yesterday. "It's hard to get used to not having practice."

The exodus continues today, as the Molson Cup (use your imagination) is on the line when the team gets together for a full-contact, intra-squad contest. Young and Brian Popiel will be drafting teams, and rumor has it that coaches Bill Cleary and Ronn Tomassoni are among those available in the first round.

Painful As It May Be: This weekend the ECAC Tournament will take place in Boston Garden, and for the first time since 1984, Harvard (13-14-1) won't be there. Saturday night, Colgate will face Clarkson and RPI will battle Cornell in the semifinal round, with the championship scheduled for Sunday night at 8 p.m.

A few of the Harvard players will be taking the green line to the Garden anyway--Roy and Sneddon have found themselves in the unenviable position of having to take a recruit to see other ECAC teams play--but Causeway Street won't exactly be the Harvard hockey hotspot this weekend.

"I know it sounds lame, but I'm not that big of a hockey-watcher," said Murphy, who just happened to be watching part of the Bruins-Flyers game on television. "I'm not that interested in seeing who wins."

Ditto for Weisbrod. He's so anxious to avoid finding out about the tournament, he's leaving the state.

"I'm going home," said Weisbrod, who hails from Long Island. "I don't want to see it, to hear about it, to read about it. I don't even want to be in the same town."

Things You Don't Want To Know: Harvard finished the season with a sub-.500 record for the first time since 1984...This year marks only the third time in the last decade that the Crimson hasn't had a 20-win season...Even after playing only half the season, Keven Melrose still finished second in the league in penalty minutes, five minutes behind RPI's Bruce Coles...Harvard spent the second-most time in the sin bin of any team in the league.

Goal of the Week: Weisbrod's first-period goal Friday night. Popiel sent a not-so-strong slap in from the point and Weisbrod got enough stick on it to send it high into the net. The shot caught Cornell netminder Jim Crozier by surprise--he stood with his mouth gaping open for a full five seconds after puck went by.

Players of the Week: Offense: Weisbrod. After scoring only one goal in his previous nine outings, Weisbrod kicked off the Crimson's scoring in both weekend games--bouncing a slapshot off Crozier's skate Saturday. The two tallies brought Weisbrod's season goal total to 11.

Defense: Hartje. He may have the least experience behind the blueline--he's only played there since February--but Hartje still anchored Harvard's shorthanded defense corps this weekend. With Brain McCormack out with a shoulder injury, the five-man crew had extra work to do on defense--but that didn't stop Hartje from being aggressive on the offensive end as well.

The statisiticians gave Hartje one point for the weekend--he teamed up with Murphy on a two-on-one Friday night to score Harvard's second goal. Actually, Hartje also joined with Murphy in setting up Vukonich's late-game tally on Saturday. But the scorers gave the assist to Young...

Thanks, Tod: ...who needed the extra point to nab sole possession of firth place on Harvard's all-time scoring list. With that point, his only one of the weekend, Young finished his Harvard career with 84 goals and 78 assists for 162 career points, one ahead of George Hughes '79.

Goodbye, Guys: Young is the headliner in a group of five seniors who have been instrumental in Harvard's success over the last four seasons. Also graduating this June are Hartje, Popiel, Murphy and Scott McCormack.

"The seniors on this team have been nothing short of terrific," said Clearly, who will take over as athletic director on April 1. "They have contributed so much to this program. Those kids are not just great hockey players, they're great people. I'm proud to have had them on my team."

Last But Not Least: A big thanks to Assistant Sports Information Director Julie Rice for providing so much help and information this season...as well as the best cookies in the ECAC.

HARVARD MEN'S HOCKEY (13-14-1 Overall, 12-9-1 ECAC) Player  GMS  G  A  PTS  P/PM Mike Vukonich  27  21  29  50  8/18 C.J. Young  28  21  28  49  13/32 John Murphy  28  9  27  36  9/18 Peter Ciavaglia  28  17  18  35  11/22 John Weisbrod  27  11  21  32  19/62 Ted Drury  17  9  13  22  5/10 Tod Hartje  28  6  10  16  13/29 Tim Burke  28  6  7  13  12/24 Jim Coady  28  3  10  13  3/6 Ted Donato  16  5  6  11  9/34 Steve Flomenhoft  28  5  5  10  22/44 Brain Popiel  28  3  6  9  14/28 Scott Barringer  25  0  9  9  15/30 Kevin Sneddon  26  0  8  8  9/18 Kevan Melrose  16  1  6  7  36/124 Matt Mallgrave  26  3  3  6  11/33 Brain McCormack  27  2  3  5  18/36 Scott McCormack  24  1  4  5  18/36 Craig Miskovich  14  1  1  2  6/12 Chuckie Hughes   11  0  2  2  3/6 Aron Allen  3  0  1  1  3/14 Rich DeFreitas  28  0  1  1  9/18 Greg Hess  1  0  1  1  0/0 TOTALS  28  125  218  343  277/6 45 Opponents  1  0  1  1  0/0 Player  GMS  MP  W  L  T  SV< Tab>GA  GAA  SV% Allain Roy  15  8677  8  0  426  543.74  .891 Mike Francis  3  143  1  1  0  759  3.78  .893 Chuckie Hughes  11  669  5  5  1  31743  3.86  .881 TOTALS  28  1679  13  14  1   818  108  3.86  .883 Opponents  28  1682  14  131  73 0  125  4.46  .854