Ready for the Real Thing

After going through the regular-season process of finishing first in the ECAC, the Harvard men's hockey team is set to begin the real season: the post-season.

Having established league superiority by mid-January with an imposing 13-0 ECAC record, the Crimson was able to bide its time for the remainder of the season. Dreams of the national crown it came so close to earning last March played in its head.

After setting a team record for consecutive victories at the start of a season with 15, the Crimson went 7-4 the rest of the way to finish the regular season atop the ECAC and ranked fourth in the country.

In the latest WMEB/CHSB poll, North Dakota (32-7) is the unanimous top choice, followed by Boston College (25-7), Minnesota (30-9-1) and Michigan State (29-9-2). Last year's national champions, the Spartans, are tied with the Crimson in that fourth slot.

Harvard's first step toward the national title probably will be its easiest. The Crimson will open play in the 26th annual ECAC post-season tournament tomorrow night at Bright Center against Brown (9-13 ECAC, 11-14-1 overall) and is heavily favored to advance to the semifinals next weekend at the Boston Garden.

When these two teams opened their seasons almost four months ago in Cambridge, the Crimson triumphed easily, 5-2. The Bruins were a bit more pesky in the squads' mid-December contest at Meehan Auditorium, but Harvard again prevailed, 3-2.

All you need is experience: Over the years, Harvard has put together a far more impressive post-season record than the Bruins. This will be the Crimson's sixth consecutive (and 19th overall) foray into the ECAC Tournament, while Brown will be making its 12th appearance and its first since 1978.

Because Cornell failed to qualify for this year's tournament, the Crimson moves into a tie with the Big Red for the second-most ECAC tournament appearances.

In 18 ECAC tournaments, the Crimson has compiled a 29-18-1 record and earned three titles. That winning percentage of 61.5 is second behind Cornell's 73.6 winning pecentage. The Big Red has also picked up a league-leading seven crowns.

The only time Harvard and Brown have met in the ECAC tournament was in 1971, when the Crimson snuck past the Bruins in a quarterfinal match-up, 4-3, on its way to winning the league championship. It was also a year the Crimson won the ECAC trophy.

This year marks the fifth time that Harvard enters the tournament as the top seed. Such a lofty rating hasn't guaranteed tournament success, however.

Last year, Harvard finished first during the regular season, but placed third in the tournament. Although the Crimson wound up second in the country, the only title it copped in 1985-'86 was Ivy League champion.

Other occasions when the Crimson was the top seed were in 1975 (when it finished second), 1973 (seventh) and 1963 (first).

Something to tell the grandchildren about: At 20-2, this year's Crimson outfit was the first to win 20 regular-season league games, and its 90.9 league winning percentage is the team's second-best of all time.

If the season were to end today, this year's Crimson squad would go down as one of the top two in history. Its overall 84.6 winning percentage ties it with the 1962-'63 squad's, which finished 21-3-2.

Meanwhile, out West... The CCHA and WCHA have already started their playoffs. In the CCHA, Bowling Green and Ohio State survived their best-of-three first-round matches, as did two of the Crimson's foes in last year's NCAA tourney, Western Michigan and Michigan State.

In the WCHA, North Dakota marches impressively along. The Fighting Stoux destroyed Minnesota-Duluth, 13-4, in a two-game, total goals series and will next face Colorado College.

Minnesota and Wisconsin, both of which played Harvard in the 1983 NCAA tourney, also advanced in the WCHA.