Mission Unaccomplished, Unforgotten

The 87th edition of the Harvard men's hockey team has a mission to accomplish this season.

Twice in the past four years, the Crimson has reached the national finals, and twice it has lost in its effort to become the school's first NCAA championship team of any kind since 1904.

At the beginning of the year, few experts credited Harvard with much of a chance at capturing its coveted national crown this season.

The team had lost several top seniors to graduation--most notably Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Fusco, first-line partner Tim Smith, and four-year starter and second team All-America goalie Grant Blair. It had apparently also lost the services of standout defenseman Jerry Pawloski, out for the season with a severe knee injury.

This looked to be a rebuilding year for the Crimson.

It is. But Harvard has nonetheless opened its 1986-'87 campaign with a spotless 6-0 record against some less-than-stellar opponents. The Crimson, still riding its second-place showing at last season's NCAA tournament, is currently ranked third in the country in the latest WMEB/CHSB national poll.

The 6-0 start also places Harvard first in the ECAC, four points ahead of 4-0 (ECAC) St. Lawrence. The Larries are the conference's only other undefeated team, while Yale and Colgate are the only other squads with fewer than two conference losses.

The Crimson's road to next March's NCAA Final Four in Detroit began with two home victories, over Brown and Yale, three weeks ago.

In the season opener, Harvard cruised to a 5-2 thumping of the Bruins in which five different players scored goals for the Crimson.

The icemen then avenged last season's opening-game upset loss by skating past the Bulldogs, 4-1. Tim Barakett and Lane MacDonald each tallied two goals and one assist in that contest.

The squad's early-season romp through the ECAC's weaker teams continued the following weekend, as Harvard took its show on the road to Princeton and Army.

The Crimson came away with six goals in each contest, while allowing only two to the Tigers and three to the Cadets. The weekend was marred, however, by a knee injury to goalie John Devin.

Devin and Dickie McEvoy had shared starting duties in the Crimson goal until Devin's mishap.

Although Cleary says "we're delighted with Dickie's performance" in Devin's absence (1.80 goals-against average), the pair will again alternate starts when Devin returns to action this weekend.

McEvoy recorded his first collegiate shutout in last Saturday's 5-0 victory over Dartmouth at Bright Center. That showing was the second in a pair of weekend destructions of the Big Green. Two goals each by MacDonald and Allen Bourbeau had sparked the Crimson to a 8-3 victory at Dartmouth the previous night.

"I think we're doing all right--not too bad so far," is how Cleary assesses his team's performance at this juncture.

There are several reasons for the team's early-season success.

The always-stellar Harvard defense, led by second-team All-America Mark Benning and partner Randy Taylor, has shut down opponents' scoring drives and made life considerably easier for the Crimson netminders. "We've got the best defense in the country," marvelled McEvoy.

The Crimson power play has been especially effective so far this year, converting a remarkable 40 percent of its opportunities, while Harvard's man-down unit has also played well.

The Crimson sports the ECAC's deadliest scoring trio in MacDonald, Tim Barakett and Bourbeau. MacDonald leads the conference's scoring race, while Barakett is tied for second place. Bourbeau, after a slow start, is not far behind in fifth place.

Finally, Cleary has successfully integrated his freshmen skaters into the line-up. Right-wing C.J. Young starts on the first line with MacDonald and Bourbeau, while Tod Hartje has picked up six points as the center of Captain Peter Chiarelli's third line.

The outlook is bright for the Crimson. With the heart of its regular-season schedule coming up in the next two months, Harvard has the opportunity to establish itself as a truly great collegiate hockey team.

But before visions of national championships can dance in Crimson heads, Cleary sounds a precautionary warning to his team: "Never be smug."