Winning from the Stands

A championship is for everyone. From the star player to the team manager to the fanatic in the stands, everyone can share in a great victory.

The Harvard men's hockey team copped the 1987 ECAC Championship by beating St. Lawrence, 6-3, Saturday at Boston Garden. Lane MacDonald was named the Tournament MVP. Allen Bourbeau recorded two goals and an assist in the final.

Harvard Coach Bill Cleary--seldom given to expressing his ecstatic side--clapped repeatedly after the game. The fans went crazy.

When the game was over, the Harvard players received plaques commemorating their championship. Their names were called over a loud speaker and they skated up to shake the hands of ECAC officials and smile for the cameras.

Three Harvard skaters--Paul Howley, Scott McCormack and Craig Taucher--heard their names called out over the loud speaker. But they couldn't skate up to the stand and receive their awards. They weren't in uniform.

A fourth name--Gerald Green--wasn't even announced in the Garden. But Green, too, has been a part of the Harvard team for five months and 30 games. He just hasn't played in many of those games. And it's a Garden rule: only 28 players or coaches can be announced from one team. Green was number 29.

The Crimson's big success this year is a small problem for some fine players. There's not enough ice-time to go around.

Howley, McCormack, Taucher and Green have skated in every practice for the Crimson this year, and they've played in a good share of games. But only 20 players can be in uniform at one time. So some good players have been watching Harvard's last few victories from the stands.

"It can kind of bother you," Howley said. "But you have to put the team ahead of one player. If I can be a part of a team that wins the national championship, I'd much rather do that than score a lot of goals for a Division III team."

Howley joined the Crimson for five games near the end of the regular season. In those games, he netted three goals--two against Colgate in February--as the fourth line's left wing.

He doesn't mind being in the crowd. It even reminds him of being on the bench sometimes. The excitement is still there.

"Sometimes there's not much difference," Howley said. "You get carried away and you feel like you're on the bench."

Still, there's no substitute for being on the ice. For handling the puck yourself. For scoring.

"It's tough," Howley said. "There's a lot of difficult decision-making that goes into [who plays and who doesn't], whether it's the team you're playing against or the skills of the other players [on your team.] All you can do is work hard for the team."

Green saw action in three Crimson games in a row--one versus Army and two against Dartmouth, in late November. He hasn't played in a game since. He has had to bear another burden--he rooms with MacDonald, the Crimson's leading scorer and a Hobey Baker candidate.

"It's definitely hard," Green said. "Sometimes you wish you could contribute more. But you really have no control over it. It's still good to see the team do well."

"There's nobody in the world who deserves more than Lane," Green added. "He works hard for what he gets."

McCormack, a defenseman, skated in the Crimson's first game of the year against Brown. He was called into action two months later for a trip to the University of Minnesota-Duluth and two weeks after that for contests against Clarkson and Yale. But on a team rich in defensemen, McCormack--a ninth-round draft choice of the New Jersey Devils--is the odd man out.

Taucher played regularly over the first part of the Harvard season, and had two goals and an assist. His last game was against Princeton, on February 7.

"They're all a big part of the team," Harvard Assistant Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "When they work hard [in practice] they force everyone to work hard. As Coach Cleary says, when we win a game it's not the number one, two or 20 player who does it, but everyone."

No Quit

For most of the season, senior Rick Haney played the part of spectator. A regular during his sophomore year, Haney played only occasionally during his junior year and the first part of this year. He alternated with Green, Taucher and Howley in the early part of the season, but has played in the Crimson's last three games--including the ECAC Championship.

"My relationship is pretty good with the other players," Haney said. "We all get along fine."

"Watching games from the stands has got to be the toughest thing that has ever happened to me," he concluded. "I've played all my life. I want to be out there."

When his name was called at the Garden Saturday, Haney skated to the award table and picked up a plaque. For everyone.