Do You Have a Doubt?

Harvard's women's ice hockey team will beat Boston University in its opening-round Beanpot contest at 7 p.m. on February 8. Two hours later, Northeastern will beat Boston College, setting up a Harvard-Northeastern showdown February 17.

Without question.

Mortgage the car, mortgage the house, mortgage the wife and kids, because the Sixth Annual Women's Beanpot has got Harvard and Northeastern written all over it.

Again.

For the last two years, the Crimson has felled Northeastern in a pair of the most exciting women's hockey games ever--including a five-overtime 2-1 win in 1982--to earn upset victories and bring the Pot of Beans across the Charles.

Both years, the Huskies entered the 'Pot a far better team than the Cantabs. And both years, the Harvard squad boasted a secret weapon. Cheryl Tate--Beanpot goalie extraordinary--has claimed two consecutive Beanpot MVP awards after recording big victories over N.U.

Cheryl Tate is a good goalie, an All-Ivy goalie. But throw the Fitchburg, Mass., native in the Beanpot pressure cooker and she becomes all-world.

Although Harvard has Tate, Northeastern has just about everything else. The Huskie squad is anchored by its four defensemen and sophomore goalie Patti Hunt, who has four of Northeastern's six shutouts. The two top blueliners are freshman Stephanie Kelly and sophomore Sharon Stidsen.

Up front, the Huskies are not as strong. Relatively, that is. Sophomore center Lisa Silvia leads the Northeastern attack with 21 points on 10 goals and 11 assists. Left wing Jill Toney is second on the scoring list with 20 points on eight goals and 12 assists. Toney scored three goals in 56 seconds against Colby in January.

So how does Harvard beat these presumably unstoppable prodigies in the Beanpot?

Guts.

It may be a cliche to say that one team wanted it more than the other, but Harvard has wanted it more than Northeastern the past two years. If they couldn't compete physically, they could at least win the emotional battle.

The leader of the Crimson psyche unit is Tate.

"She's the key," says Northeastern Coach Dan MacLeod. "If she's on one of her wicked highs, it is going to be tough. Our goalie is as skilled but she can't get up like Cheryl can."

But Tate is hardly the only one on the Crimson squad who seems to find her best game in the tournament. After all, over the past three seasons the squad has picked up the tag of "February's team." Fresh from exams, their skills peaking after a grueling early-season campaign, the pieces fall into place come the second month.

Leading the Crimson should be its three four-year blueliners, Megan Berthold, Sue Newell and Deb Taft. The Crimson is as shallow as the Huskies are deep, and Harvard Coach John Dooley will have to rely on the trio to carry the full defensive burden.

Harvard's first line of Diane Hurley (8-8-16), Kathy Carroll (10-12-22) and Kelly Landry (12-6-18) carries the Crimson scoring burden and must produce for Harvard to have any chance of victory. The second line is coming together but is not yet on a par with the second unit of a team like the Huskies.

One factor working in Harvard's favor, however, is the Crimson's 4-2 loss at Northeastern early in the season. Traditionally, Harvard loses the December contest, 5-1, or 7-1. The "good" loss bodes well for the Cantabs.

The consolation game between B.C. and B.U. should be exciting inasmuch as the game will be the first win of the season for the team that triumphs. B.C. is 0-7 going into the week before the Beanpot.

The Terriers, now 0-9, are having an even rougher campaign. B.U. has a rich women's hockey tradition but was thrown into the gutter overnight when it lost to graduation five of its six forwards, all four defensemen and its goalie last year. B.U. doesn't even have a coach now, although Captain Betsy Garthway has been interviewing candidates and experts to have the post filled by the tournament. Lori Daigle leads the Terriers in scoring; she has two goals.

B.C. and B.U.'s combined 0-16 record won't mean much against Northeastern, the third-best team in the country, and Harvard, two-year defending Beanpot champions.

The real issue will be decided after either B.C. or B.U. earns that elusive first win--when the Huskies face the Crimson in the tournament final.

Can a gutty Harvard squad once again play giant-killer with Northeastern?

The answer should lie with Cheryl Tate.