Voodoo

It's Tuesday night--a school night. Wasn't it always said that weekdays were a time for work and not for play?

Well, according to the Harvard men's hockey team, it is. In yet another heartbreaker, the team fell, this time to Beanpot foe Boston College 2-1, in, of all things, overtime.

"In a way it is almost easier when you have a horrendous game," senior Kirk Nielsen said. "It's frustrating when you look at the scoreboard and see another overtime loss."

Call me superstitious, but by looking at past performances. Harvard really shouldn't have even stepped onto the ice last night. To begin with, the Crimson has been stymied twice by the superb goaltending of BC junior Greg Taylor. You would have thought that he got rejected from Harvard by the inspired way he plays the Crimson.

In last year's semifinal Beanpot game, in front of a packed Boston Garden, Taylor first sent home 27 Crimson shots in the Eagles win. Last night was more of the same as the Harvard killer collected 36 saves.

To add to the misery, Harvard has not won a non-league overtime contest since its thrilling 4-3 win over UNH in the Crimson's 1989 national championship season. Last Tuesday night's game against UNH would have been a fitting time for the Crimson to break its horrific sudden death losing streak. However, that hope was dashed in the opening seconds of that overtime.

"We'd like to win them all," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "But that doesn't always happen."

Obviously. To pour salt on the open wound, the Crimson is 0-7-0 in its last seven weekday games.

"I feel it's easier when you get into a rhythm," Nielsen said. "Where you've got four days of practice, two games, and a day off."

Maybe the players have trouble focusing, or perhaps it is something more scientific.

"It's a jinx," captain Brad Konik said.

It isn't that the team played badly. On the contrary, Harvard dominated for most of the first period and outshot the Eagles in two out of the three periods. Maybe it's just plain had luck.

"Yeah, it's a jinx," Nielsen agreed.

Well the Crimson doesn't have to go looking for four-leaf clovers just yet. With no more regular season weekday games left, things are looking bright.

For right now however, the players will go home and studs I mean that's what a weeknight is really for, right?