The Harvard Hockey Alphabet

A is for atop the standings. The Harvard men's hockey team finished in first place in the ECAC regular season with a 20-2 record. Four weeks ago, the Crimson was atop the national polls, but is now fourth.

B is for Bourbeau and Barakett. Last year, these two were the "Killer B's." They played on the second-line and were deadly for league opponents. This year, they are reunited on the Crimson power play which has been lethal 37.5 percent of the time.

C is for cold. That's what the temperature is inside Harvard's Bright Center. The rink is super-cooled to keep the ice very hard and the high-flying Crimson skating very fast. The Crimson has lost at home in only one of its last 30 games.

D is for Detroit. That's the site of the NCAA Final Four.

E is for ECAC. That's the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the biggest college athletic conference in the country. In Division I men's hockey, the ECAC has 12 teams. This year, Harvard won the ECAC Tournament by beating St. Lawrence, 6-3, Saturday.

F is for fanatic. Some of the Harvard spectators have been accused of being fanatics. Their cheers have not varied much from game to game and season to season. But oldies are sometimes goodies.

G is for goalies. The Crimson has had two fine goalies this year. Dickie McEvoy has played most of the Harvard games and has posted a 2.25 goals-against average and a .908 save percetage. His back-up, John Devin, has a 9-0 record.

H is for Harvard. That's the oldest college in America. That's also a university that won its last NCAA team championship in any sport in 1904. The golf team did it--so long ago.

I is for Ithaca. That's the home of Harvard hockey hatred in the world. That's where the Crimson bumped off Cornell, 6-3. The Big Red was dead this year: the team didn't qualify for the ECAC playoffs and Cornell Coach Lou Reycroft quit. Junior Joe Nieuwendyk, the ECAC MVP and the Red's first-line center, elected to skip his senior year and jump to the Calgary Flames of the NHL.

J is for June when Barakett, McEvoy, Butch Cutone, Rick Haney, Randy Taylor and Mark Benning graduate.

K is for Krayer. Ed Krayer was the Crimson's second-line center before he elected to take this semester off. Six-ft., 2-in. Chris Biotti--a former defenseman--has filled Krayer's skates amply.

L is for lovely. Some of the Crimson plays this year have been lovely. Allen Bourbeau made a lovely pass against St. Lawrence Saturday when he eluded a pair of Saint defensemen and fed C.J. Young.

M is for Michigan State. Harvard lost to the Spartans, 6-5, in the NCAA final last year. This year, Michigan State is the number two seed in the West and will face SLU tonight. It's possible that the Crimson and Spartans will meet in this year's NCAA final.

N is for North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux are the number one team in the nation now and are the top seed in the West. If the Crimson manages to beat Bowling Green this weekend, and the Sioux knock off the Larries, Harvard will face North Dakota in the NCAA semifinals.

O is for the Other league. That's Hockey East. It was formed three years ago when Ivy athletic directors threatened to put a rein on the increasing professionalization of college hockey. Boston College won the Hockey East regular season and post-season tournament this year and is the number one seed in the East.

P is for puck. Without that little disc, all this would not be possible.

Q is for quarterfinals. That's the NCAA quarterfinals, this weekend at campus sites.

R is for Red Raiders. The Colgate Red Raiders came in second in the ECAC this year but bowed out of the league playoffs in the first round. Bowling Green--Harvard's opponent tonight--beat Colgate, 4-3, in December.

S is for sieve. That's a familiar taunt at Bright Center and at other rinks around the country. Harvard hopes Greg Kruzich--the Bowling Green goalie and 1983 NCAA Tournament MVP--proves to be a sieve tonight.

T is for tradition. That's a large part of Harvard hockey. That's a lot of championships; that's a lot of banners hanging in Bright; that's excellence year after year.

U is for underdog. The Crimson is not the underdog in tonight's game. But it will be an underdog to capture it's first NCAA title ever.

V is for Veritas. That's truth. Which rhymes with Duluth. Which would have been letter D, except the Bulldogs didn't make the NCAA Tournament this year. The Crimson beat them, 4-2 and 4-1, in Minnesota.

W is for Weiland. That's Ralph ("Cooney") Weiland, the great Harvard coach for 21 years who died two years ago.

X is for x'd out. Mark Benning hurt his shoulder Saturday and might have been out of action this weekend. But the senior is back, better than ever. According to Barakett, "He's geared-up. He's our inspiration."

Y is for the Yard. That's the home of C.J. Young, John Murphy and Tod Hartje--Harvard's freshman class.

Z is for Zamboni. That's the name of the machine that cleans the ice between periods.