The Power to Play

"We have something to live up to," said Crimson hockey blueliner Jerry Pawloski, reflecting on last season's power play point men, Mark Benning and Randy Taylor.

With the departure of Benning and Taylor--who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, on the Harvard scoring chart and were named All-ECAC--Pawloski and partner Don Sweeney have a tough act to follow as they assume command of the point on the Crimson's first power play unit.

"The worst thing we can do is to go back and look at last year's power play," said Sweeney. "We can't try to compare our power play to last year's."

This year's power play is different from last year's, which was more disciplined and less mobile, and emphasized passing more than skating.

This season's power play has been designed to capitalize on the fast skating ability of its five-man regiment--C.J. Young, Ted Donato, Peter Ciavaglia, Pawloski and Sweeney. The Crimson plans to use openings in the opposing defense and create more options in the man-up situation.

"We're using Donny's and Jerry's talents to skate around well," said Captain Steve Armstrong. "Their power play is more mobile."

As the only seniors on the power play--along with freshmen Ciavaglia and Donato, and sophmore Young--Sweeney and Pawloski will have to lead a more mobile power-play corps than last year's unit. In the more traditional power play set-up, Benning and Taylor hung back on the blueline and looked to make passes to open forwards.

"This year's power play is designed for Jerry and me to have more skating and more mobility on the blueline," said Sweeney, who like the other four members of the extra man unit did not make up last year's corps. "We have a lot of options on this power play that can free people up."

Ideally, Pawloski and Sweeney will be able to use the open ice and move in on the opponent when they see an opportunity to score. "The biggest difference from last year is that we used a more disciplined power play. This year we're giving them the freedom to skate more," said Associate Coach Ronn Tomassoni.

Tomassoni has been encouraging movement on the power play, training his skaters to move to other players' positions. "They [the five players] have to be able to play other people's positions on the power play," Tomassoni said. "In practice we do a lot of interchange, so that when it happens in a game, the position won't feel foreign to them."

This year's power play has been designed to fit the playing styles and strong points of its newly appointed line-up.

"This year we're taking advantage of the personnel we have," said Tomassoni. "You put your power play personnel into your power play and develop it that way."

Tomassoni credits the two freshmen on the flanks, Donato and Ciavaglia, with good vision on the ice, while highlighting C.J. Young's strong skating ability. In particular, he says that the Crimson wants to take advantage of Sweeney's and Pawloski's quickness and experience.

As the two veteran skaters in the man-up situation, Sweeney and Pawloski understand their responsibility to regulate the pace of play. "We have to adapt and set the pace, or slow it up and regroup," said Sweeney, who scored on one of the Crimson's five power plays against the U.S. Olympic Team Sunday.

"The key is to be patient and move quickly," said Pawloski.

More power to them.