A Bulldog in Winter

If you've seen a Harvard Yale hockey game in the last tow years, your know that the last thing the Elis need is a new goaltender. When the eventual ECAC champion Harvard squad suffered its only shutout of the season last year. Paul Tortorella in the Bulldog nets.

But when the top two teams in the Ivy Division of the ECAC meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Bright Center. Tortorella will probably be watching from the Eli hench Yale dropped its first nine games six in the ECAC-- before freshman Michael Schwalb donned the pad and shut out Colgate, 3-0 the next game and fell 4-3 to lowly Dartmouth, the worst team in the ECAC.

The Schwalb Show

From then on, it was the Schwalb show, as the Revere, mass, native guided the Elis up the Ivy ranks. Yale enters tonight's sellout tied with Cornell for second at 5-8 in the ECAC, one game behind 6-7-1 Harvard Schwalb has earned four of the Elis' five victories against only one loss. In his last five games, the Belmont Hill graduate has yielded just 12 goals. He has a 3.01 goals-against average and a 90 percent save rate.

Most of Yale's goal production comes from its first line, the top three point scorers on the team. Sophomore wings Bob Logan (seven gaols, 11 assists, 18 points) and Sean Neely (9-9-18) have teamed with freshman center Bob Kudelski (7-6-13) for 14 goals in Yale's last five games.

This young unit is certainly coming through in the clutch. Logan was named this week's Ivy Player of the Week on the strength of his two-goal, one-assist performance in the Elis' 4-3 victory over visiting Princeton. When Cornell visited New Haven, Neely made his mark by notching the winning tally with just 45 seconds remaining in regulation.

Despite the new faces, though, Yale continues to play its old style of hockey. "They like to bump," says Crimson coach Bill Cleary, who saw Northeastern conquer Yale, 6-3. Tuesday night. "They don't leave too many bodies around," Cleary added.

If things go as Cleary plans, the Crimson won't be standing around waiting to get hit. Harvard is a small, quick-skating team, and though they're not averse to knocking a few heads, the icemen are most at home in a wide open game.

And if the fleet Cantabs can put the puck by the Elis' hot rookie netminder, then the Crimson can keep their shaky hold on first place and a playoff berth.