An All-Star Attitude

After the final horn had sounded, after the MVP trophy was awarded, the six Harvard seniors gathered around the Bright Center goal for the final time.

Backup goalie Tracy Kimmel knelt at the blue-line and snapped one last picture of the group that had been at the heart of Harvard women's ice hockey over the past several seasons. They were not clad in their familiar Crimson jerseys, but instead in scarlet mesh jerseys enscribed with "Women's Hockey All Stars."

Each of the seniors on the Harvard women's hockey team had been selected to play in what became their final collegiate contests. The Third Annual Women's Hockey All Star Game-which drew the 40 best seniors from 16 schools-became the last chance to show just how very far the tender sport has developed.

The next task for the players is graduation and the real world. Their sporting fantasies will not be extended by pro hockey or Olympic dreams.

Even the game itself, sponsored by the American Women Hockey Coaches Association, showed just how fluid the transition in the sport of women's ice hockey has become. Several coaches, amongst them Harvard's John Dooley, are pressing to change the format of the women's games from the three 18-minute periods that are standard now to a two 25-minute or two 20-minute system.

Saturday the game had only one intermission between its two 25-minute periods. Questionnaires were handed out to the coaches, players and some of the more than 140 devoted fans on hand to sample their thoughts.

"I think considering that this particular group emerged as the sport was maturing, it was particularly interesting," said Dartmouth Coach Mark Panella. "Real good preview of things to come. There are some very talented underclassmen out there."

But the most important aspect of the afternoon seemed to stem more from the attitude of the participants than their attributes as hockey players.

No one kept scoring statistics. The Blue team beat the Red team in an exciting up-and-down game. One senior star, Colby's Alicia Curtin, earned one more honor, the MVP award, but all of the 40 players on the ice had done so much for the sport at each of their respective schools that this game remained more of a celebration than a competition.

"There's not heavy pressure," Harvard center Kathy Carroll said after her team's regular season ended. "You go out and play and have fun. You feel like you did something."

"I like the enthusiasm, the lack of hitting," said University of New Hampshire Coach Russ McCrudy about the game of women's ice hockey. "There is a lot of good sportsmanship without all the mayhem and attempts to hurt each other."

No hurt this last time, either, for Carroll, Megan Berthold, Deb Taft, Diane Hurley, Cheryl Tate and Sue Newell-Harvard's participants-only one last snapshot after a successful four years.