#2 Icemen Host #10 Rensselaer, Union

Are you ready for some--hockey?

Sorry about the reference to ABC's Monday Night Football, but fans have been looking forward to tonight's 7:30 men's hockey match at the Bright Hockey Center between Harvard (17-4-2 overall, 14-2-2 ECAC) and Rensselaer (16-6-4, 10-4-4) ever since the Engineers defeated the Crimson, 4-3, back in early December.

"It's a big game since we lost to them [in Troy, N.Y.]," senior Derek Maguire said. "But, for the team it's just another two points to pick up."

The Crimson would have won the first match-up between the two if it hadn't been for the heroics of Engineer goaltender Neil Little, who stopped 45 of 48 Harvard shots.

Harvard doubled RPI in shots (48-24), but the Engineers doubled the Crimson in goals until junior Cory Gustafson scored with 21 seconds remaining.

RPI jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period, capitalizing on a twoman advantage, and Harvard was never able to even the game up.

"Little stole the game up there," Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni says "He's very aggressive and likes to come out at an angle."

Going into the December meeting, RPI was only 5-4-0. However, the Engineers have gone 11-2-4 since then and have moved up to 10th place in the national rankings .The Crimson is 12-3-1 in the same timespan and is currently second in the country.

Little's brilliant tending (14-5-4, 3.22 GAA) is a major reason that the Engineers are the second-best defensive team in the ECAC. RPI has a 3.22 goals-against-average in the ECAC, second only to Harvard's 2.56 GAA. Little has stopped an amazingly-high 94 percent of all shots thrown at him in the ECAC.

Bryan Richardson (16 goals, 23 assists, 39 points) and Ron Pasco (12-26-38) have paced the Engineer offense.

Union Saturday

After the RPI game, Union (11-9-3, 7-9-2) will invade Cambridge tomorrow night. However, this game seems to be of more concern to the Crimson than tonight's match.

"There will be no problem being up for RPI," Tomassoni says. "But the Union game is one that absolutely does scare me. They are the most improved team in the league."

Harvard has had trouble playing solid games against weak opponents in the last few weeks. The Beanpot loss to Boston College may have been a fluke since Harvard was playing its third game in four nights, but Harvard needed a third-period comeback last Friday against a Dartmouth a squad that had won only three games all season.

Union used to be a joke--after all, it had compiled a woeful total of six wins in its first two years as a Division-I team.

However, good recruiting has helped build the Skating Dutchmen into a competitive squad. Three Union players have already been named the ECAC Rookie of the Week--Troy Stevens (2-19-21, ECAC), Jay Prentice and current winner Chris Ford (14-9-23, ECAC), who has won it twice.

Harvard won a 2-0 squeaker in the first meeting between these two teams, as sophomore Aaron Israel picked up the shut-out.

Mike Gallant (31 saves against Harvard) has been solid in net despite a 5-8-1 league record. He has stopped 89.7 percent of all shots thrown at him and has a 3.68 GAA.

"Harvard is everyone else's biggest game of the year," Maguire says ." We have to be mentally tough."

ECAC Bits

Harvard's magic number for winning its third-straight ECAC regular-season crown is three points, so the Crimson could wrap up the title this weekend at home.

Harvard then travels to Clarkson and St. Lawrence next weekend to finish off the regular season.

The Crimson has already clinched home ice for the ECAC tournament quarterfinals on March 11-13. The semi-finals and finals will be played the following weekend at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Around the Nation

Harvard remains second in the national rankings, despite losing to Boston College and needing overtime to defeat lowly Dartmouth. However, top-ranked Michigan dropped a 5-1 decision to Michigan State, and number-three Boston University could only manage a 0-0 draw against struggling Maine.

If the NCAA tournament started today, Harvard would be the top seed in the Eastern Regional and Michigan would be ranked first in the Midwest. (The top-two seeds in each regional receive first-round byes.) The tournament starts March 25 at Albany, N.Y. and East Lansing, Mich.

The Harvard power play is tops in the nation, clicking at 33.6 percent . Israel has the best goals-against average (2.21), while senior Brian Farrell scored his seventh game-winning goal last Saturday to remain the nation's leader.

NCAA POLL 1.  Michigan (28)  28-3-1  280 2.  HARVARD  17-4-2  237 3.  Boston U.  21-7-1  230 4.  Lake Superior St.  20-9-4  169 5.  Colorado College  20-9-3  147 6.  Michigan St.  18-9-4  141 7.  UMass-Lowell  18-6-7  93 8.  Wisconsin  20-11-1  92 9.  Minnesota  17-11-4  72 10.  RPI  15-6-9  39

Compiled by the Troy (N.Y.) Record, with first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points.