No Ordinary Consolation Game Ahead

Consolation games are usually nothing games. The two teams who couldn't make the finals usually have nothing to play for. The stands are usually empty. The play is usually uninspiring. The game is supposed to console the teams.

The Game means nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Tonight at Boston Garden, Harvard and Vermont won't be playing for nothing. They'll be playing for something, probably the biggest something in college hockey: a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

With the tournament extended to 12 teams for the first time, Harvard and Vermont have something to play for tonight. A bid to the tournament will offer the winner the best consolation for a Friday night it would like to forget.

"The scores aren't too important, but the wins and losses are," Vermont Coach Mike Gilligan said. "We must win [tonight]."

Besides Maine and St. Lawrence, the Crimson and the Catamounts are the only other 20-game winners in the East. No one else in Hockey East has won 20 games this season. Since the NCAA committee will select five teams from the Eastern region, tonight's ECAC consolation game has tremendous bearing on who plays whom and who plays where.

It's a very big game," Harvard defenseman Don Sweeney said. "We all have to get ready to play. We'll have our hands full [tonight]."

Tonight's game just may be the difference between home ice and a trip to the Midwest. Or even no trip to any rink.

Just consider these possible scenarios:

Harvard defeats Vermont, St. Lawrence defeats Clarkson: Harvard and SLU will probably nab the two guaranteed ECAC bids. The Catamounts will have to see if the selection committee will pick Clarkson instead of them.

Harvard defeats Vermont, Clarkson defeats St. Lawrence: Clarkson would grab an automatic bid and St. Lawrence will earn the second bid. Harvard should capture the final bid since it triumphed over Vermont and is the only team in the East that has a regular-season title in its wallet to show to the selection committee.

Vermont defeats Harvard, St. Lawrence defeats Clarkson: In this scenario, the Saints will grab a bid while the Catamounts do the same. Harvard will probably enter the tournament just for having captured the ECAC regular-season title.

Vermont defeats Harvard, Clarkson defeats St. Lawrence: This is the worst scenario for the Crimson, but probably the best one for Vermont. The Catamounts should earn a bid because they will have defeated the Crimson three times in one season.

Big and Small

These scenarios are not definite, nor do they consider the possibilities of the selection committee overlooking an ECAC team and giving a Hockey East team the final bid. Merrimack, a Division I independent, has already earned the sixth Eastern bid.

These scenarios are confusing. They really did not shed any light on the subject. No one really knows how the selection process will be handled until tonight's two games are done and over with.

"I don't know," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said after the Crimson's loss to the Knights. "The game [tonight] will probably have some bearing."

But one thing is for sure: Harvard and Vermont won't be playing in a nothing game. Consolation is not the right word to describe tonight's game. It's a playoff game.