No Longer Runner-Up

He paced back and forth, his hands in his pockets, and nervously checked the clock for the fourth time in 10 seconds. Only two-and-a-half minutes stood between Coach Bill Cleary and the first ECAC championship of his career, but the Harvard squad held only the slimmest of margins, and the victory was far from certain.

Then with 1:29 left on the clock, Mitch Olson put the game away and for the first time in his 12 years as the Harvard head coach, Cleary knew that his team had earned the right to call itself the best in the East. As his players skated on the ice and embraced each other, he jumped onto the bench and in a now familiar pose, raised his first in triumph.

From that moment on, he was ali smiles and hugs, shaking his player's hands over and over again; no more wiping off the brow and nervous clapping. When the last few seconds had finally ticked away, he ran onto the ice, once again lifted his fist to the exuberant crowd, and then joined his players in-a huge team embrace on the ice.

The ECAC championship trophy had eluded Cleary every since he took the helm of the Harvard hockey team in 1972. In his first five years as head coach, his squads made it to the semifinals four times and to the finals twice, in '74 and '75, losing to Boston University on both occasions. Then came the playoff drought when the Crimson did not even qualify for the ECAC tournament, let alone come close to winning the Ivy Division.

Harvard hockey came into its own again just last year, when the '82 squad's magical late surge earned the Crimson the Ivy title and the ensuing ECAC playoff berth. After a 2-0 quarterfinal triumph over Boston College, and a 7-1 victory over powerful Clarkson at the Garden, Harvard found itself in the final for the first time in seven years. But Northeastern made sure that was as far as the icemen would get, as the Huskies won the final, 5-2, and took home the trophy. It was Cleary's third trip to the ECAC finals and his third time as runner up.

The first time the Crimson captured the championship was in 1963, the second year of the ECAC tournament. The team defeated Clarkson, 6-4, to advance to the finals and then downed the Eagles, 4-3, in overtime to claim the title. Harvard added a second ECAC trophy to its collection eight years later in 1971. Cooney Weiland's last year as head coach and Cleary's last year as an assistant.

Cleary's turn to add to the collection finally came Saturday night when he and Captain Greg Olson jogged up arm in arm and were presented the shiny silver first place trophy.

"It's not for myself," Cleary explained. "It's for the kids. I get my satisfaction from seeing the smiles on their faces."

After receiving the coveted bowl, Olson held it aloft while his teammates hoisted their captain onto their shoulders. The mass of hockey players skated towards the fans and raised their fingers while the crowd chanted, "We're number one, we're number one!"

Cleary just stood by the Harvard bench and smiled.