Icemen Will Search Once Again for the Answer to Curse of `The Whale' at Yale

It's only fitting, Harvard being Harvard, that the men's hockey team's nemesis would be a great white whale.

The `Yale Whale' (officially Ingalls Rink) has been the Crimson's hell away from home for much of the past decade. Harvard's win total at Yale since 1982 is equal to the number of AFC Super Bowl champions since 1982--one.

Harvard has won national championships, Beanpots, ECAC titles and All-America trophies, but it hasn't beaten Yale on the road. The Crimson is 1-8-3 in its last 12 games at The Whale and hasn't won there in five years--although the last two meetings have produced 5-5 draws.

It's becoming an allegorical search for the team's inner soul.

"I don't know what it is," senior forward Chris Baird says. "We are hoping to change things this year."

So even though the Crimson (5-2-1 overall, 5-2-1 ECAC) is a much better team than the Bulldogs (2-5-0, 2-5-0), be on guard for a strange finish when the takes on Yale tonight at 7 p.m. in New Haven.

Still, a win is expected, and the Crimson should be able to accomplish this goal because Yale's offense makes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look like a scoring machine. The Bulldogs have scored only 15 goals in seven games (2.14 average), including just one goal each in its last two games. Last year's team had accumulated 32 goals in first seven games, more than double this year's total.

"We won't treat Yale fans to 7-2 victories [this year]," Yale interim Head Coach Dan Poliziani said before this season began. "We have a chance to win if we're in 3-2 hockey games."

The Bulldogs have proven Poliziani to be correct so far, as his squad has not scored more than four goals in any game, while its only two wins have been by 3-2 (at Princeton) and 4-2 (against Clarkson) scores.

In the first Harvard-Yale match this season, the Crimson jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead, winning by the same score. Yale mustered only 19 shots despite having seven power play opportunities.

Sophomore Aaron Israel, who is the ECAC's top goaltender so far with a 3-0-1 record and 1.71 goals against average, was in goal for that contest and will tend the nets again tonight, so Yale's anemic offense should continue to struggle.

Troubles of Its Own

However, Harvard has had its own scoring troubles of late, tallying only eight goals in its last three games.

In addition, the Crimson is 1-2-1 over the last four games.

"Our production is down from what it had been," Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni says. "But I'd be concerned if we weren't getting the opportunities."

Harvard has been creating many scoring chances, but the players have missed open nets or have been stymied by hot goaltenders such as Rensselaer's Neil Little, who stopped 45 of 48 shots last Saturday in the Crimson's 4-3 loss.

"Teams have been gunning at us, trying to knock Harvard off its high ranking [currently number 10 in the nation]," senior defender Derek Maguire says. "We have to play tight defense and rush the net."

And maybe even more importantly, the Crimson has to play a smart game and not take so many retaliation penalties, which crimp its offense.

Junior Steve Martins, who leads the team with 16 points, has also amassed a team-high 20 penalty minutes, while captain Sean McCann, who is a key defensive and power play force, is second on the team with 16 minutes of sin bin time.

"We have to show some more discipline," Tomassoni says. "It's a matter of being tougher mentally."

The Crimson certainly shouldn't lack motivation for tonight's game. A win tonight would give Harvard sole possession of first place in the ECAC going into the new year, as co-leader Brown is idle this weekend.

And the opponent is Yale.

"Anytime you play Yale in any sport it is such an emotional tilt," Tomassoni says. "We just need to play three consistent periods of hockey."