M. Hockey Aiming To Sweep Weekend

It's trivia time once again.

Name the last two times the Harvard men's hockey team swept an ECAC regular-season weekend.

For starters, the most recent time the Crimson (12-9-1, 10-5-1 ECAC) won both games of a Friday-Saturday weekend was back on January 13 and 14 at Vermont and Dartmouth.

For those of you with even better memories, the previous sweep was February 18 and 19 of last year at Dartmouth and Vermont.

The point of this trivial exercise is that the Crimson has had trouble playing good consistent hockey so far this season. With only six games remaining in the regular season, Harvard can't afford any more undisciplined or inconsistent play.

"Right now it seems we're playing in spurts," junior Jason Karmanos said. "Hopefully we can start scoring some goals and winning some games by a large margin."

The Crimson is home tonight and tomorrow night for two big games that it must win in order to stay in the ECAC regular-season race.

OK, guess who's coming to town? (Hint--read above.)

However, don't let Harvard's recent history against Dartmouth and Vermont fool you. (The Crimson has won 24 of its last 25 games against the Big Green and is 4-0-1 in its last five against the Catamounts.)

Both teams are coming off weekend sweeps of RPI and Union, while the Crimson has lost three of its past five, including a lackluster 4-2 defeat to Northeastern this past Monday in the Beanpot consolation.

"They're coming in on a bit of a roll," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "We have to take it one game at a time--I know it's cliche, but it's so true."

Dartmouth (6-13-2, 4-10-2) currently resides in the ECAC cellar, but its offense has opened up of late, scoring 18 goals in its last three games. Senior Dion Del Monte leads the team with 10 goals and 16 assists, while five other players have 15 or more points.

Freshman David Whitworth racked up last week's ECAC Rookie of the Week award with a five-point performance (1 goals, 4 assists).

The Big Green's weak point is on the blue line, as they have allowed a league-worst 88 goals in 16 games. Freshman Ben Heller (3-8-1, 5.98 goals against average) and sophomore Scott Baker (3-4-2, 4.06 GAA) have seen far too many good-quality shots in net.

Vermont (14-10-2, 7-7-2) has struggled this season as well, but the Catamounts definitely have the talent to make a strong stretch run.

Super sophomores Martin St. Louis, who is the current ECAC Player of the Week with a five-goal performance, and Eric Perrin lead all ECAC players in both league scoring and overall scoring, while sophomore goalie Tim Thomas has followed up his stellar freshman season with another strong year (13-10-2, 2.85 GAA).

Harvard's defense will face a big challenge in stopping the dynamic duo, but the blue-liners have been there pretty much all season--Harvard has allowed the fewest goals in league play with 45. Junior goalie Tripp Tracy is also the ECAC's leader with a 10-4-1 league record and 2.72 GAA.

So the key for the Crimson this weekend and pretty much every game for the rest of the season is to find some offensive spark. Harvard really hasn't blown any ECAC team out this year (save a 5-1 victory over Union, in which Harvard scored four first-period goals).

"We just got to go out there and work hard and be consistent and more disciplined for 60 minutes," Tomassoni said. "If we are consistent, good things will happen--we are a pretty good hockey team."

ECAC Action

League-leading Clarkson hosts Cornell and Colgate this weekend. Clarkson, who holds a four-point lead over Brown and Harvard, is unbeaten in its last 10 games (8-0-2).

In other action, Yale and Princeton will travel to both RPI and Union, Brown will host Vermont and Dartmouth, and Colgate and Cornell will visit St. Lawrence.

ECAC STANDINGS   OVERALL  ECAC Team  W  L  T  W  L  T Clarkson  17  5  4  11  2  3 Brown  11  8  2  10  5  1 Harvard  12  9  1  10  5  1 B> Colgate  14  11  1  8  7  1 RPI  14  11  1  8  7  1 Princeton  12  8  3  7  7  2 Vermont  14  10  2  7  7  2 Cornell  7  11  3  5  8  3 Yale  7  12  3  5  8  3 St. Lawrence  11  14  1  6  10  0 Union  7  12  3  4  9  3 Dartmouth  6  13  2  4  10  2