On a Young Team, Sophomore C.J. is a Veteran Threat

"He's a mucker."

In ice hockey colloquialism, the above phrase describes hard-nosed players, those willing to dig the puck out of the corner by sticking their nose in and banging some bodies.

They are the tough, solid players on the ice whose sole purpose is to throw their weight around and get possession of the puck, the antithesis of a flashy goalscorer.

But after seaching for an appropriate description of sophomore forward C.J. Young, Harvard Associate Coach Ronn Tomassoni said simply, "He's a skillful mucker."

Clearly Harvard has a rare player in Young. Muckers usually don't find themselves in the position of leading returning scorer, as Young does this year. And muckers are rarely labeled skillful.

The 5-ft., 10-in. Waban native scored 12 goals and added 17 assists in his freshman campaign for the Crimson, but no one talks about his scoring ability.

"He's a talented, hard worker, which is rare to find in a hockey player," said Crimson Captain Steve Armstrong.

"He's a really solid coaches' player who can play both offense and defense extremely well," said Harvard Coach Bill Cleary.

"No one works harder," said junior Josh Caplan, Young's high school and college teammate.

You would think they're talking about the team's hardest playing defenseman. Leading scorers usually aren't followers of the Protestant work ethic.

"Anyone can skate the puck up the ice and shoot," Cleary said, "but everyone has to learn the other parts of the game, such as digging pucks out of the corner, playing solid defense, passing, blocking shots and banging bodies in front of the net. C.J. already does it all, which is rare in any level of hockey."

Doing it all is what Young did for ECAC Champion Harvard last year. From the beginning, the coaches thought him skillful enough to put him on the same line with present-day Olympians Lane McDonald and Allen Borbeau. Young also served time on the Crimson's power play and penalty-killing units.

"I was just glad that the coaches had enough confidence in me to play me," said Young. "When things weren't going well, they said, `Don't worry, we're not going to pull you.'''

Young did struggle during the beginning of his college career, but how many freshmen step in and play well on a nationallyranked team?

"For a freshman, the game is so different from high school," said the Belmont Hill graduate. "All the players are a notch better. I just didn't have enough confidence at the beginning last year and I got intimidated, but Lane and Allen helped me out a lot."

Young scored four game-winning goals, including the go-ahead goal in the Crimson's 6-3 victory over St. Lawrence in the ECAC Tournament final at the Boston Garden. This came on the heels of his first ever hat-trick in a 4-1 semifinal win over RPI.

He led the team with nine post-season goals during the Crimson's roll to an ECAC crown and a fourth-place finish in the NCAA tournament.

"The minute I saw him as a freshman, I was sure he could play for us," Cleary said. "He has the perfect temperament for hockey--he doesn't get excited--but he's also a fierce competitor."

Young was named to the 1986 ECAC Coaches' All-Rookie Team and awarded the 1986 George Percy Award, given to the freshman who displays the most enthusiasm, sportsmanship, team spirit and loyalty.

"The Percy Award meant a lot to me," said Young. "Hockey is such a big part of the Harvard community and it's a nice award to get from the Harvard hockey family."

Freshmen Ted Donato and Peter Ciavaglia will join Young on a line tomorrow against the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.

"I enjoy playing with those guys," said Young. "They are such great stickhandlers that they can open up the whole game and they are always moving around."

"I've given them advice," added Young, who finds himself in the unusual position of leading a line as a sophomore, "but you can't really learn anything until the pressure is on. You have to experience it yourself under actual game conditions."

In the locker room, Young is reserved, but extremely popular among his teammates.

"He does all his talking right out there on the ice," said Cleary. "He's very similar to Steve Armstrong. He would go through a wall for you--he'll do anything to play successfully. He's the kind of player you'd like to have several of and he's effective in his own, solid, all-around way. You can score with fancy-Dan players, but you win with players like C.J."

"Most importantly," continued Cleary, "he enjoys all aspects of the game. He gets as much satisfaction out of blocking a shot as he does out of scoring a goal."

With Harvard's five leading scorers of last year gone, Young will be called upon to shoulder a major portion of the scoring burden this year.

"He's definitely developed a goal-scoring ability and confidence in college," said Caplan.

Harvard may never have garnered the services of Young had Beanpot rival Boston College, where his uncle played hockey in the 1970s, been able to lure him away.

"Harvard offers the best of both worlds," Young said. "Its academics is the finest in the nation and the hockey is one of the finest programs in the nation, too. The coaches are great guys as well as great hockey minds."

Despite all his heroics in New England high school and in intercollegiate play, Young claims that his greatest hockey thrill came in a pee-wee tournament, when he was 12 years old.

He was competing in the Pee Wee International Tournament in Quebec for a Boston-based team not among the tournament favorites.

"We were playing the hometown team, called the Little Nordiques, in front of 16,000 fans," Young said, "and in the second overtime [of the semifinal], I tipped in the winning goal."

Young's team went on to win the America's Cup Division, the first U.S. team ever to do so.

Caplan also noted that Young had scored a game-winning goal in the New England Prep School Championships, when they were both teammates on the Belmont Hill team.

Game-winning goals in pee wee, high school and collegiate championship games are standards on Young's resume. Certainly, it's no coincidence that Young has done it all before, and he has the experience to continue his clutch, winning ways.

Wait a minute. Muckers don't score game-winning goals.

Harvard mucker C.J. Young does.