We Try Harder

The Harvard men's hockey team can perform an ECAC magic trick tonight and turn a 10-9-2 2 record into a home ice advantage in the quarterfinal of this weekend's conference tournament.

It the icemen beat or the Brown tonight at Bright Center (game time 7:30 p.m.), then they advance to the playoffs.

Fortunately for Harvard and unfortunately for your sense of abstract justice the winner of each of the three ECAC divisions gains the home ice advantage in the journey's opening round of eight. The divine forces that shaped the ECAC never imagined that the best team in one of the division would ever limp through the 21 game campaign with just as many losses as wins and thus reduce the playoff to an NHL style you get invited if you don't manage to lose 80 percent of your games along the way.

But the Crimson icemen are opportunists and willing to take advantage of the last year of this generous ECAC arrangement that has several Ivy division teams scrambling to finish a game act 500 and then hast a powerhouse in the friendly confines of its own arena.

And in the friendly confines of its own arena. Harvard looks to be a good bet tonight. The Brains are playing out a frustrating season (most 5-14-1 commerence capaigns are frustrating aren't they.

Brown has only two seniors, so the fact that tonight will be the last hockey game for the 1983-84 Bruin seems of little consequence although one of the soon to be former players is Bruin netminder Paul McCarthy.

"Both the seniors are from the Boston area," says Bruin Coach Herb Hammond. "Paul's from Bingham and Brain (Driscoll) is from Dorchester. You don't have to say Harvard twice to them.

You certainly don't have to say Brown twice to the Crimson.

"I want the win," says Harvard Coach Bill Clearly. "I've never played for a tie in my life well it if comes to that. I'll take a tie.

So while the Crimson is playing for a chance to extend up and down and up and down season for a little longer the Bruins are playing the role of the spoiler.

"It's the Hertz Avis deal," Hammond says. "We're Avis."

Hammond may try harder and so may his troops. Regardless there is little doubt that the Bruins will be ready to play their biggest rival.

Just ask the biggest Harvard forward senior Gary Martin, "It'll tickle them to death to be the spoiler.

Just don't try the tickling Martin Hockey players his size have a mild tendency to return such affectionate gestures by plastering would be gift givers all over the nearest corner glass.

Martin has a feeling that if his team does beat the Bruins then the Crimson might just win the quarterfinal games at Bright and advance to the semis at the Garden.

And then there's junior Brian Busconi who can remember back to the 1981 playoff when the icemen rode an eight game win streak out of the depts of obscurity and into the conference finals.

"Freshman year nobody thought we'd do anything either," recalls the left wing who has become as big a surprise as the one that finds himself the Crimson on the brink of its third straight trip to the post season play Busconi a penalty killing specialist on the redline has taken up the Crimson goal scoring burden of late lighting the little red lamp twice in each of last weekend's contests at Bright.

That came as pleasant relief for the icemen, who have found it mighty difficult to put the biscuit in their twines this year averaging less than three tallies a contest.

It's actually an anemic rate of 2.79 goals per game a figure that forces most to the conclusion that at least some of the spectacular efforts of sophomore goalie Grant Blair have been frittered away.

But if the Busconis of the Harvard hockey team continue to provide some desperately needed spark up front then almost anything could be possible. Great goaltending a little luck and competent offense have often been the ingredients of a tough playoff team, no?.

Me thinks yes, but before you get carried away remember that the icemen have to earn victory number 63 in America's oldest hockey rivalry first.

And then the icemen will have pulled it off transforming a pumpkin of a season into a shimmering glass carriage that will bear them away to the ECAC's. HARVARD VARSITY HOCKEY STATISTICS 9-13-2 overall; 9-9-2 ECAC; 5-2-2 Ivy League PLAYER  GP  G  A  Pts  P/M  GW  GT  GA  PP  SH Brain Busconi  22  11  5  16  3/6  1  0  5  2  1 Gary Martin  24  8  8  16  10/20  1  0  0  3  0 Dave Connors  23  5  11  16  10/20  0  0  0  0  0 Rob Wheeler  24  8  7  15  4/8  1  2  2  0  0 Tony Visone  21  7  7  14  15/33  2  2  2  2  0 Shayne Kukulowicz  24  5  8  13  19/46  1  1  0  1  0 Butch Cutone  24  3  10  13  2/4  0  0  2  0  0 Tim Barakett  24  4  8  12  3/6  1  1  0  1  0 Rob Ohno  24  3  8  11  2/4  0  2  0  0  0 Phil Falcone  11  6  4  10  2/4  0  2  1  2  1 Peter Chiareth   24  4  5  9  7/14  1  1  1  0  0 Jay North  17  4  4  8  1/2  0  1  2  1  0 Ken Code  22  1  7  8  8/24  0  0  0  1  0 Brad Kwong  22  0  7  7  6/12  0  0  0  0  0 Bill Clearly  24  2  4  6  2/4  0  0  1  1  0 Peter Follows  13  2  4  6  0/0  0  1  0  0  0 Tim Smith  23  2  3  5  6/12  1  0  1  0  0 Tim McMahon  9  0  3  3  2/4  0  0  0  0  0 Randy Taylor  20  0  2  2  2/4  0  0  0  0  0 Grant Blair  20  9  1  1  4/8  0  0  0  0  0 Brad Doman  18  0  1  1  7/14  0  0  0  0  0 Dickie McEvoy  4  0  0  0  0/0  0  0  0  0  0 Ralph Hartmann  7  0  0  0  0/0  0  0  0  0  0 Rick Haney  1  0  0  0  0/0  0  0  0  0  0 HARVARD TEAM  24  77  123  200  120/259  9  13  17  15  2 OPPONENTS TEAM  24  84  143  227  137/274  13  10  25  12  2

HARVARD VARSITY HOCKEY STATISTICS GOALIE STATS PLAYER  %  GP  MIN  GA  G/G  SS/G  W  L  T Grant Blair  .907  20  1212:18  65  3.22  63531.7  9  10  1 Dickie McEvoy  .869  4  257:59  19  4.42  12631.5  0  3  1 HARVARD TEAM  .900  24  1460:17  84  3.45  76131.7  9  13  2 OPPONENTS TEAM  .896  21  1450:53  77  3.18  66427.7  13  9  2

HARVARD VARSITY HOCKEY STATISTICS GOALIE STATS PLAYER  %  GP  MIN  GA  G/G  SS/G  W  L  T Grant Blair  .907  20  1212:18  65  3.22  63531.7  9  10  1 Dickie McEvoy  .869  4  257:59  19  4.42  12631.5  0  3  1 HARVARD TEAM  .900  24  1460:17  84  3.45  76131.7  9  13  2 OPPONENTS TEAM  .896  21  1450:53  77  3.18  66427.7  13  9  2