Three Local Heroes

Last year, the Harvard men's hockey team that cruised to a 21-9-2 season and earned an NCAA tournament berth relied largely on the efforts of a deep and talented freshman class.

The latest crop of Crimson freshmen has all the talent of the Eight from '88, but none of the depth.

Only three freshmen--Chris Biotti, Ed Krayer and Josh Caplan--should see extensive playing time with the Crimson varsity in the coming year, but that trio has the ability to help an already outstanding Crimson squad become even better.

Biotti, who attended local hockey powerhouse Belmont Hill, gained recognition as a teenage phenom when he was named the 17th pick in the first round of the National Hockey League draft.

Although the Calgary Flames made the 6-ft., 3-in., 180-1b. defenseman the first high schooler and only the third American picked, Biotti stuck to his decision to accept Harvard's offer of early admission.

"Harvard's the finest institution around," Biotti says. "If I just wanted to play hockey, I would've chosen the NHL."

Biotti credited part of his choice to Harvard's hockey coach and program, but he also considered its fine academic reputation.

The decision lay solely in Biotti's hands; the NHL scouts put no pressure on him, nor did his parents, friends, or Belmont Hill Coach Ken Martin. "I tried to stay away from that," Martin says, "but I would've told him to go to college because it's better for 99 percent of the kids."

And any idea of entering the NHL right away was dismissed when Biotti dislocated his shoulder (courtesy Yale's Randy Wood) at the National Sports Festival in Baton Rouge, La. "Anyway, I was always pretty sure I was going to Harvard," the Weld resident says.

Biotti should fit well into the mold of Coach Bill Cleary's style at Harvard. Both Belmont Hill and the Crimson play a skating and passing game, and in the past, Belmont Hill graduates have done quite well on Ivy League teams.

"He's big and mobile," Harvard Captain Scott Fusco, another Belmont Hill graduate, says. "He has things to learn. There are things he could get away with a lot in high school that he can't get away with in college.

"Chris is a great shooter," Martin points out. "He's strong, tall, and a team player, and with Harvard's big rink, it'll help him."

The Newton native faces a quicker and rougher collegiate game, but he has the size, the background, and the attitude to adjust.

"He's gonna be an outstanding hockey player," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary says. "He gives us size back there. He's gonna be a force and I'll be surprised if he's not."

Now in his 13th year of playing the sport, Biotti considers his greatest strength "my love for the game. I love to skate--it's in my blood," he says.

"He's very confident," Fusco says. "And he doesn't appear to be nervous. He should be a very big contributor, especially by the end of the year."

Participating in the National Sports Festival didn't hurt, either, since Biotti was able to compete with America's top college players. The Festival could serve as a stepping stone for bigger things--namely, the United States Olympic Team.

Biotti presumably will play in the Festival next summer, too, where he'll be scouted by representatives of the U.S. team. Both Fusco and his older brother Mark '83, another Crimson star, have blazed the Belmont Hill-Harvard-Olympic trail, and the latest Belmont product is ready to follow in their footsteps.

For now, Biotti has put his Olympic and professional aspirations on hold. If he does make a decision to turn professional, he is legally bound to the Flames.

"I'll take it one year at a time," Biotti says.

The blueliner will probably be paired with sophomore Jerry Pawloski at the beginning of the season. Pawloski, too, was drafted in June, but the Northville, Mich. native went to Hartford in the 11th round and 215th overall, 198 players after his highly touted charge.

Biotti, a three-year all-league selection, led Belmont Hill to two Keller Division titles, but two years ago St. Paul's School stole the crown from Biotti's team.

In the midst of those great battles for the Keller championship, Biotti met Ed Krayer, a forward for the New Hampshire prep school.

Krayer and Biotti are alike in many ways. Like Biotti, Krayer attended a prep school that prepared him well for Harvard.

And Krayer, a second-line left wing, turned down an opportunity to play in the pros, too. Although the New Jersey Devils chose him in the eighth round of the draft (150th overall), he--like Biotti--remained true to his early decision.

"I had an Ivy League school in mind," Krayer explains. "I looked at Yale, Dartmouth and Colgate, but Harvard was my favorite." Harvard appealed to him because of its academic and social environment, as well as its strong hockey program.

He and Biotti also participated in the Spring Junior Olympics together, both playing on Team Massachusetts (Krayer's home town is Acton). It was at the Junior Olympics that some NHL scouts talked to Krayer, and suggested to him that he might be drafted.

But the Devil scout understood Krayer's preference for a college education. "The scout didn't want to pressure me from leaving Harvard," Krayer says. Plus, his family favored the idea of college over professional hockey.

More significant than the other similarities between Biotti and Krayer is that both are well-suited for Harvard hockey.

"Harvard plays a skating game with a lot of movement," Bill Matthews, boy's hockey coach at St. Paul's, says. "We played that here."

"He's also a talented skater and shooter and he's a really intelligent player," Fusco says. "He's playing with Allen Bourbeau and they both see the ice very well. That's the most important thing to be a productive offensive player."

The Crimson last year relied almost entirely on the scoring of its devastating first line, which scored 86 of the squad's 147 goals. None of the other three units ever produced with any consistency, sc Cleary is looking to Krayer--who will play with Bourbeau, a natural goal-scorer--to help spark a second scoring line.

"We're hoping that they're gonna do something for us offensively," Cleary says.

The Krayer-Bourbeau combination will also be the heart of Harvard's second power play unit.

Krayer names passing and skating as his fortes. What he needs to work on, though, is his shooting and upper-body strength.

"I was the biggest guy at St. Paul's" the 6-ft., 170-lb. left wing says, "but here, defensemen love to wail on little freshmen."

Krayer doesn't think adjusting to a new caliber of play will be easy, but Matthews feels that the St. Paul's legend has the skills and the heart to be an impact player right away. His intelligence, vision, unselfishness and experience in a big rink should help him adapt to playing on a top college team.

"For a freshman to play second line on a team picked to win the nationals says something about his ability," Matthews added.

A third freshman who will see a lot of action is Josh Caplan, a teammate of Biotti's at Belmont Hill and the captain of the team there.

Caplan played defense with Biotti in high school but might be converted into a forward for the Crimson.

While Biotti and Krayer were choosing whether to turn professional, Caplan was deciding between Dartmouth and Harvard.

"The coach at Dartmouth said, 'We could build the team around you,'" Caplan says, "but I knew I'd always be asking myself, 'What if?' if I went there."

Caplan pointed to the Beanpot Tournament, the excellent coaching and Harvard's great hockey tradition as crucial factors in the choice of Crimson over Green. The Wellesley native also preferred a school close to home.

His adjustment to Harvard shouldn't be too difficult. Like Biotti, Caplan will benefit from the emphasis on the skating game at Belmont Hill under Martin.

"He has good lateral quickness," Martin says. "He's a very knowledgeable player who sees the rink very well and makes good passes."

"He's another guy with a lot of ability," Fusco says of the 5-ft., 10-in., 175-lb. swingman. "He needs some experience. This year and definitely in the future. He doesn't play with the same confidence as Chris Biotti, yet."

Several other freshmen, notably Craig Taucher--who is now skating on Harvard's fifth line--may contribute before the year is over. But for now, the emphasis is on the three local kids.

Caplan regards Fusco and the other seniors as integral to the progress of the younger players. "Playing with better people challenges us," Caplan explains, "and helps us get better. All the seniors are helpful."

For the upperclassmen, the three freshmen are just as important. The trio could add some depth and spark to an already talent-rich squad, giving the Crimson the ingredients it needs for a trip to Providence and the Final Four.Searching for players in the freshmen crowd.