Crimson Icemen to Face Elis

Can a hockey team that has won one of its last nine games really pull within a half-game of first place with a victory? The answer is yes, if it plays in the hapless ECAC Ivy Division.

The Harvard hockey team, which spent the month of January and more crossing the Death Valley of an eight-game winless streak, finally got back on track Wednesday night with a 9-6 victory over Brown. Thursday night, the icemen (now 6-7-1 ECAC and 6-10-1 overall) got some unexpected help from Maine, which knocked off Yale (now 8-6), the only squad in the Ivies with a winning record.

The sum total is that by beating the Elis at Bright Center tonight (7:30, radio on WHRB, 95.3, at 7:20) the Crimson can pull within shouting distance of first place--and a playoff spot--with four of its six remaining conference games at home.

But the icemen will has to play tighter hockey than they have been to knock off the best Yale team in recent memory Tim Taylor's swift, physical squad is led by machine-gunners Mark Crerar (19 goals, 20 assists for 39 points), Dan Poliziani (19-15-34) and Eli career assist record-holder Bob Brooke (8-23-31). A spark has come from sophomore goalie Paul Tortella, who has filled the gap created by the graduated Mark Rodrigues with impressive stats--a 3.70 GAA, 90 percent ECAC save average and a 9-5 overall record--and clutch play. In Thursday's loss to Maine, Ted Lowe saw his first ECAC action in the Yale nets.

If Yale is weak in any place, it is at the blueline, where Bill Thurston, who teams on the first pairing with David Tewksbury, and Bill Nichols, who plays on the second line with Matt Baab, head a shallow crew.

For Harvard, center Michael Watson (two goals against Brown) has broken out of his scoring slump, and the new first line of Watson-Greg Britz and Greg Chalmers is being counted on to produce Slumping Greg Olson. Harvards leading goal-scorer a year ago, showed signs of life with a goal Wednesday, and his recovery is also vital to a Crimson stretch run.