A Beanpot Full of Memories

Life is good again.

The Harvard hockey team captured the Beanpot tournament for the first time since 1981 last Monday night at Boston Garden, defeating Boston University, 9-6, in a wild, wild West-type of game.

Most of the 14,448 sober Garden fans (no alcohol was served) will remember the 15 goals scored, the most ever in a title game. But some will not forget other moments that made this game unforgettable:

Harvard freshman goalie Allain Roy recording key saves late in the third period with Harvard clinging to a 7-6 lead.

Captain Lane MacDonald taking an elbow that sent his helmet flying while the referee swallowed his whistle.

B.U. Coach Jack Parker coaching his final Beanpot.

Harvard Coach Bill Cleary finally holding the 'Pot again in his hands.

The Harvard celebration after the game.

The B.U. silence.

That crazy word called "emotion" taking over the action on the ice.

The Terrier comeback.

The Crimson comeback.

Terrier goalie Peter Fish's "I'll-take-the-blame" attitude.

Allen Bourbeau's "I'll-never-forget-this-moment" feeling.

"It was fun out there," Harvard sophomore Mike Vukonich said.

It was a classic title game.

ECAC Fun: With two weekends remaining on the ECAC schedule, the post-season situation is just about complete. Well, almost.

What's set: Harvard (16-2), St. Lawrence (15-3), Colgate (12-5-1), Cornell (11-7), Clarkson (10-6-2) have all made the playoffs. The Crimson and Saints have earned home-ice berths.

Princeton (3-14-1) and Brown (1-17) have already formed a line to purchase tickets to the ECAC Tournament March 10-11 at the Garden. They'll be watching post-season action from the stands.

What's not set: The last three playoff spots in the eight-team tournament. The final berths should go to Vermont (10-8), RPI (8-8-2) and Yale (8-10), unless Dartmouth (6-11-1) and Army (4-13-1) start playing like the Calgary Flames. Right.

League Honors: Guess who?

Colgate's Craig Woodcroft, whose overtime goal defeated Harvard, 6-5, last Saturday in Hamilton, N.Y., earned ECAC Player of the Week honors.

The sophomore center scored five goals over the weekend, including a hat trick against Princeton.

Some league stats: St. Lawrence is the ECAC's top power-play team, clicking 29.7 percent of the time. Harvard, riding on an impressive penalty-killing streak, has killed 88.8 percent of its penalties, tops in the league.

Bourbeau (9 goals, 26 assists, 35 points) still leads the league in scoring, one point ahead of teammates C.J. Young (17-17--34) and Peter Ciavaglia (9-25--34), and Clarkson's Jarmo Kekalainen (13-21--34).

In the goaltending department, Roy has posted the best goals-against average (1.96) in the league. Teammate Chuckie Hughes (2.33) is in second place, while St. Lawrence's Paul Cohen (2.52) is third.

I Feel Ickey: It had to happen. The infamous "Ickey Shuffle" had to pop up somewhere else besides Cincinnati.

Last Saturday in Hamilton, N.Y., members of the Colgate Red Raiders, feeling in a kind of party mood after defeating Harvard, decided to dance the "Shuffle" on the ice of Starr Rink.

The Hamiltonians went bonkers.

Is nothing sacred anymore?