Bring on the Broncos

This weekend, the Harvard men's hockey team gets its third chance to win a tournament this year.

The runner-up in the Beanpot and ECAC tournaments, the Crimson (22-7-1 overall) will have the opportunity to prove its high preseason ranking was no fluke when Western Michigan (32-10) comes to Cambridge for the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament.

The two-game, total-goal series begins with a 7:30 p.m. contest at Bright Center Friday.

A second game is scheduled for the same time Saturday.

Plenty of tickets remain for both contests. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased in the basement of Harvard Hall.

Neither game is expected to sell-out, and Harvard ticket officials estimate that between 1700 and 1800 spectators will be on hand for each contest.

"Western Michigan, being from Kalamazoo, doesn't look like they'll bring many people," ticket official Keith Kozlowski says. "If we played Michigan State or Michigan, there are lots of alumni in the area."

Harvard is not the only local team that will host an opening round match.

Boston University, the top seed in the East in the eight team tournament, will face-off against Minnesota this weekend in its own Walter Brown Arena.

B.U. ticket officials expect sell-outs for both Friday and Saturday games, but over 500 tickets remain for both contests.

Three years ago, Harvard hosted Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and both of the weekend games were sell-outs.

This year, Western Michigan brings a cast of characters to Cambridge every bit as colorful as the MSU crew that visited in 1983.

The Broncos have the nation's leading scorer in Dan Dorian (40 goals, 61 assists) and the country's top power play (35.2 percent efficiency rate).

Western Michigan is riding a 12 game winning streak and has won 17 of its last 18 contests.

The Broncos knocked off Michigan State, then the number one team in the country, 3-1, in the championship game of the CCHA Tournament two weeks ago.

In that contest, freshman goalkeeper Bill Horn (3.68 goals-against average, .880 save percentage) stopped 37 MSU shots.

Horn also recorded 41 saves in the Broncos semifinal victory over Bowling Green and was named the tournament's most valuable player.

Dorian's center, Troy Thrun, has pumped in 32 goals and recorded 49 assists. Second-line right wing Stu Bernie is third on the team in scoring with 43 goals and 36 assists.

Harvard and Western Michigan have faced each other only two previous times. Both were in 1981, and the Broncos came out on top in each contest, 3-1 and 4-2.

The Crimson almost didn't make it to this year's tournament, but an impressive 6-3 win over Yale in the ECAC consolation game and maybe a little luck convinced the NCAA officials that Harvard belonged.

Meanwhile, Clarkson--the runner up in the ECAC tournament and the owner of a 2-1 season record against the Crimson--was denied a spot.

"Based on the season we've had, I think we deserve it," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary says. "We've won 22 games. I think we have a pretty healthy record."

Despite its solid ledger, the Crimson has not performed like one of the nation's top teams recently.

Over its last five games, the Crimson is 3-2. Both losses were to Clarkson.

But Harvard's triumph over Yale may have signaled the squad's return to the form that lifted it to eight straight victories earlier in the year.

"I think we played well enough," Cleary said after the Yale contest. "It was important for us to play a solid game. We're back."

THE NOTEBOOK'S NOTEBOOK: The Crimson owns a 4-17-1 record in NCAA tournament play. Last year, Harvard dropped twin 4-2 contests to the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the quarterfinal round...Harvard Captain Scott Fusco and fourth-line center Greg Chalmers have played in three NCAA tournaments...Forward Tim Smith and goalie Grant Blair have played in two. Smith scored a goal in each game of last year's opening round match against UMD...In 1983, the Crimson advanced all the way to the final game of the tournament, dropping a 6-2 contest to Wisconsin...Fusco leads the team in NCAA tournament scoring, with three goals and five assists. Chalmers is second, with three goals and one assist...Harvard Coach Bill Cleary is 2-9-1 in NCAA tournament play...Forward Lane MacDonald has the longest current team scoring streak. He has scored a goal or recorded an assist in five straight games...Fusco and right wing Tim Barakett are tied for the Crimson's longest scoring streak of the year--nine games...Second-line center Allen Bourbeau scored a goal against Yale, after going more than a month-and-a-half without tallying.