Icemen, Sioux to Whoop It Up

If you're Mike Sertich, you've seen the best of the East and West. Easterly winds, westerly winds, it didn't matter--you were blown away.

Sertich coaches the University of Minnesota-Duluth, traditionally one of the powerhouses in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). This year, Sertich and his club had the privilege of playing both North Dakota and Harvard--tonight's NCAA Tournament semifinal opponents. This year, Sertich and his club had the distinction of falling to North Dakota six time and to Harvard twice.

"If I knew how to beat either of them," Sertich said, "I wouldn't be sitting on my butt right now--I'd have been in the tournament."

The WCHA champion Fighting Sioux (38-8) and ECAC champion Crimson (28-4) will battle in Joe Louis Arena in Detroit tonight at 8 p.m. for the right to advance to the NCAA final. Harvard, which features seven seniors and eight juniors, made it to the championship game last year in Providence, R.I., but fell to Michigan State, 6-5.

Minnesota and Michigan St. will face-off in the other consolation match tomorrow. The title game will be played Saturday evening. All contests can be seen live on the ESPN cable network.

Both Harvard and North Dakota were ranked first in the nation at points this year. The Fighting Sioux carry that top ranking into tonight's game, and it is obvious why.

North Dakota, a young team, sports the nation's leading scorer, Tony Hrkac, which rhymes with circus, which is the type of show he usually put on. The sophomore center set a new NCAA single-season scoring record by recording 45 goals and 66 assists for 111 points.

"He's the one who makes everything happen," Sertich said. "His presence is very obvious. He's very explosive. You've got to be an idiot not to notice him out there."

By way of comparison, only four present Harvard skaters have over 100 points--in their careers. Senior Lane MacDonald leads the current squad in career points (164) and points this season (66). MacDonald and Hrkac are finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which honors college hockey's most valuable player.

"Hrkac is obviously one of the premier skaters in college hockey," Sioux Coach John Gasparini said.

"Nobody does it better than Lane," said Harvard Coach Bill Cleary.

Hrkac and MacDonald may be superstars, but both have excellent supporting casts as well. Hrkac's linemate, Bob Joyce, is second on the team in scoring with 50 goals and 35 assists. Joyce is followed by Steve Johnson (25-42--67) and Ian Kidd (12-45--57).

MacDonald gets help from Allen Bourbeau (22-33--55) and Tim Barakett (24-28--52). Along with Mark Benning and Randy Taylor, this group makes up Harvard's tremendous power-play unit, which has clicked at an impressive 36.2 percent rate.

Equally impressive is Harvard's pair of penalty killing units--featuring those five, plus Steve Armstrong--which has stopped opponents 85 percent of the time.

"We hear Harvard has excellent special teams," Gasparini said. "We'll have to make some necessary adjustments for Harvard's quickness."

Western hockey teams are known for their hugeness, and North Dakota is as big as they come. But bigger does not mean better.

"If I were the Harvard coach," Sertich said, "I would try to utilize my speed to neutralize [North Dakota's] obvious advantage in strength and size."

Automatic Disposal

Harvard had little trouble disposing of big Bowling Green--the Crimson's NCAA quarterfinal opponent--last weekend. Bowling Green never got rolling against the high-flying Crimson and fell, 10-1.

St. Lawrence, the runner-up to ECAC champion Harvard this year, gave the Sioux a battle in its quarterfinal series, staying within two goals after the first night of action. But North Dakota pulled away during the second contest and finished with a 9-4 total-goals victory.

Harvard is not only a quick team but an experienced one too. The Crimson has played in the NCAA Tournament two years in a row, and three of the last five. Sixteen players from this year's club were on the team that made it to the title game last season.

"I definitely think experience is a factor," Harvard Assistant Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "North Dakota is a fairly young team. They have three freshmen and two sophomores playing on defense. They have a freshman in goal. When you've been there before, you know what to expect."

"I've got five or six seniors who played in [the 1984 NCAA Tournament]," Gasparini said. "The rest are pretty inexperienced. I've been to eight tournaments myself. I know what to expect, but whether they do or not, I don't know."

Joe Louis Arena has one thing the Crimson likes (big ice surface) and one thing it despises (soft ice.). Harvard proved that it could make the best of a small ice surface in tackling Boston Garden for the ECAC Championship two weeks ago.

But Harvard has yet to show it can turn the corners on a soft ice surface. The Crimson fell to Yale, 4-2, in Ingalls Rink, the much bowl of the East, in December.

When it comes to tournament time, however, all advantages and disadvantages melt away. Teams play on adrenaline, on passion, on whatever is left in them after long seasons.

"It's going to be a great match-up," Sertich said. "It will be Harvard's discipline, speed and puck movement versus a very physical North Dakota team. If the teams played each other 10 times, it would probably be five apiece."