Icemen Jump to 12th in Nation

The Harvard men's hockey team's victories this weekend over nationally ranked St. Lawrence and Clarkson finally got the Crimson national recognition.

Harvard (8-3-3 overall, 8-1-2 ECAC) zoomed out of obscurity this week to claim the number 12 spot in the Albany Times-Union College Hockey Top 10.

The Crimson's slick dismantling of then-sixth-ranked St. Lawrence and tie with then-seventh-ranked Clarkson should have probably boosted the Crimson even higher in the polls.

But Harvard, which rests firmly atop the ECAC, is still trying to gain national respect after dropping 3-1 decisions to Michigan and Michigan State over Winter Break.

If the Crimson builds upon its brilliant performances from last weekend, that should be no problem.

After the Clarkson contest, the talk was all about the Crimson's "team-play"--its balanced scoring and consistency on all levels.

"This team has really matured into a pretty good hockey team," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "It's been a real team effort."

And, freshman forward Steve Martins chimed in, "We really got together as a team. Our passing was great."

Martins should know.

His five-point weekend (three assists against St. Lawrence) garnered him ECAC Player of the Week honors and placed him atop the Crimson's scoring charts with seven goals, 10 assists, 17 points.

Harvard's next major chance to make a national showing--outside of winning its pivotal ECAC games--is the annual Beanpot Tournament.

The Crimson opens up the tournament on February 3 against Boston College and, if victorious, will most likely face tournament favorite (and, currently, sixth-ranked) Boston University in the championship round.

Don't Be Upset

After the 4-4 tie against Clarkson, no one was more upset than Harvard goalie Chuckie Hughes.

"I am not very happy about my performance tonight," Hughes said. "I didn't play poorly, but I made only the easy saves."

Of course, Hughes had a reason to be frustrated with the flow of the game. Two of the goals clearly were not his fault.

On the first, Hughes was accidently knocked over by senior forward Tim Burke and couldn't get back into position. The other was a Ben Coughlin tip-in.

But Hughes still put in a solid performance between the twines. He currently posts a .873 save percentage and a 3.05 goals-against-average. Not shabby numbers at all.

Bitter Saints

St. Lawrence was visibly frustrated Friday night by its inability to score against Harvard.

In fact, anger, exasperation and outright bitterness could be seen on the faces of more than a few of the less-than-holy Saints.

Case #1. After picking up a ten-minute misconduct penalty at 10:17 of the third period, sophomore forward Spencer Meany lived up to his name by hanging his stick over the edge of the penalty box and taunting the referee.

Meany was ejected from the game at 10:45, and--noticeably content--raced off the ice and into the lockers.

Case #2. St. Lawrence Coach Joe Marsh has collected four 20-plus win seasons in a row, so he's certainly not used to losing. But Friday night, Marsh was more than a little upset over his team's performance.

Marsh brusquely answered a few questions about the game, and, storming into the locker room, denied a reporter's request to interview senior forward Mike Lappin.

"Not tonight. I don't think that will be much of an interview," Marsh growled.

'This team has really matured into a pretty good hockey team. It's been a real team effort.' --Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni