Icemen Nab Third Straight Ivy Title

For the third time in three years, the Harvard men's hockey team has won both the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Ivy Division and Ivy League championships.

As a result of last night's title-clinching 4-1 thumping of Brown, the icemen will host an ECAC quarterfinal series against Clarkson Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Harvard ended the regular season 10-9-2 in conference play, 10-13-2 overall and 5-2-2 in the Ivy League. Just like it did last year. Cornell (7-3-0 against Ivy schools) tied Harvard for the league crown.

And the Crimson is still just a game above .500. And Brown--a 5-15-1 team in conference play--trailed by just a single goal with just over six minutes left in the game. And Harvard has played the weakest conference schedule of any playoff team. And Crimson Coach Bill Cleary could not care less.

"We don't do anything easy, but we did it," Cleary said after the game. "I don't care who we play [in the playoffs]. We've got to play someone. Bring 'em all on. [Back in November,] a lot of people told us we wouldn't be here."

With the top four scorers and half the defensemen gone from last year's ECAC champions, the Crimson faced an uphill battle. Then came the injuries--more than half a dozen--and the hill got steeper. Now, for the first time in three months, everyone's healthy again, and Harvard is ready to host an ECAC quarterfinal for the third straight year.

It was one of the ex-wounded who sealed things with an oh-so-important insurance goal with just 6:02 remaining. Senior center Phil Falcone, recently returned after two months in the stands because of a bruised thigh, backhanded the puck just inside the right post to give Harvard the breathing room it needed. The score had been 2-1 for almost half the game.

Brown had been getting the most scoring opportunities, and when Rob Wheeler (slashing) and Shayne Kukulowicz (crosschecking) left the ice together at 15:42 of the second period, the 1400 in attendance knew that Harvard was in serious trouble. "I thought we were sayonara," Cleary said later.

But penalty killing is the one department in which the Crimson owns an unimpeachable record. The icemen, who've been killing more than 97 percent of their penalties, allowed the Bruins just three shots on goal during Brown's two-man advantage. Sixteen seconds after Harvard regained full strength, Brian Busconi entered the sin bin for crosschecking. Brown didn't get a single shot on goal during its power play.

Despite his team's great defense, Cleary says cutting back on penalties is his main concern. "You've got to exercise some control, show some restraint," he said. Because the Crimson scores an average of just over three goals per game, he added, Harvard can't afford to give itself defensive handicaps.

Early in the game, it looked like the icemen had started to solve their scoring problems. The two-goal, 18-shot first-period attack was Harvard's best in nearly a month.

Senior Tony Visone's shot from the left face off circle got things started at 2:59, and Brown netminder Paul McCarthy absorbed the puck for the next 15 minutes. The senior, playing in his last college game, copped the Bruin career save record midway through the stanza.

Harvard appeared to have a power play goal at 15:31, but referee John McCarthy disallowed the goal because Kukulowicz was standing in the crease.

Three minutes later, the red light went on for real. As junior Brad Kwong described it later, "I was going in one a three-on-two with Pete [Chiarelli] and Tony [Visone] and I tried to slip it to Tony and it just rolled under him." Him was McCarthy, and Harvard led, 2-0.

Then came the second period, in which the icemen traditionally outscore their opponents. Instead, Harvard came out slow, and Brown's Greg Diffley narrowed the margin to one at 4:18. After that, it was the penalty killing, Falcone's goal, and a shorthanded effort by Busconi, who has now scored five goals in the last three games.

Why did playoff-bound Harvard have so much trouble with the 5-15-1 Bruins? "We knew we were going to beat them," senior Gary Martin said. "We weren't mentally sharp."

"With Grant [Blair, who stopped 23 shots last night] in goal, some good defense and the home rink," said senior Rob Wheeler, "we've got a lot to look forward to."

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard lost at Clarkson, 4-1, January 7, the night after a 4-3 overtime setback at St. Lawrence. Harvard trailed Clarkson by only one goal with 10 minutes left in the game.

"We played a heck of a game up there," Cleary said.... Busconi is the only Crimson skater with double digits in the goals column. He has tallied 12. Eight members of last year's team scored 10 or more goals.... Kukulowicz is this year's enforcer, with 21 penalties for a total of 50 minutes. Visone ranks second on the boo-boo list, with 16 penalties for 35 minutes. No other Crimson player has spent more than 20 minutes in the sin bin.... The ECAC Final Four, always a hot ticket, could boil over this year. With three of the four Beanpot teams hosting quarterfinals this weekend, there should be a lot of local interest in next week's tourney climax at the Boston Garden.... Bright Center was only one-third full last night. "I'm sure the weather had something to do with it," said Cleary. He added that some of his best fans graduated last year. "That senior class had a lot of spirit," he said.... Referce John is not related to goalie Paul McCarthy.

At Bright CenterBrown  0  1  0--1Harvard  2  0  2--