Icemen Travel North With ECAC Title One Win Away

Just like any good athletic conference, the ECAC had its schedule makers save the best for last.

The Harvard men's hockey team (14-4-6 overall, 13-1-6 ECAC) travels up to the North Country in this last weekend of the regular season to face Clarkson (20-7-1, 14-5-1) tonight in Potsdam, N.Y. and St. Lawrence (17-9-2,13-6-1) tomorrow night in Canton, N.Y., for two games that will determine the fate of the ECAC regular season title.

For Harvard, the path to its fifth title in seven years is relatively simple:

One win. One title.

Piece of cake, right?

Of course, no trip up to the North Country for the Crimson (or any team, for that matter) is a piece of cake.

Harvard has gone 0-4 in the last two years near the Canadian border, and these two games are undoubtedly the team's toughest challenges within the conferences this year.

But the Crimson Squad which will take the ice is a bit better on the road than it has been in the last two years.

Harvard has followed up a season when it went 3-6-2 in ECAC action on the road with an undefeated road conference mark this year, 6-0-3.

The Crimson will be aided by the return of sophomore forward Brian Farrell, who was sidelined early in the season with a knee injury.

In an effort to bolster Harvard's dwindling attack, Coach Ronn Tomassoni has returned Farrell to the second line.

Freshman forward Steve Martins may also suit up for his weekend, after a shoulder injury sidelined him earlier this month.

Golden Knights

Clarkson has been hot as of late, in a last-ditch effort to repeat as regular season champion. The Golden Knights handily dispatched Yale and Princeton last weekend (6-2 and 4-0, respectively).

The team will be led by the goal-tending of Jason Currie who stopped 71 out of 73 shots over the weekend. Currie's 2.36 goals-against average is second only to Harvard's Allain Roy within the conference.

Forward Steve Dubinsky (9-21-30) and forward Hugo Belanger (12-16-28) have led the Golden Knight's in the scoring column and will play a crucial role in tonight's contest.

Saints

St. Lawrence is trying to recover from two heartbreaking losses last weekend to Princeton, 1-5, and Yale, 5-6.

The Saints two road defeats knocked them out of contention for the conference title, but that doesn't mean they won't try to spoil Harvard's hopes.

ECAC scoring leader Mike Lappin (18-20-38) will try to lead his team to a second place conference finish.

The Scenarios

If Harvard gets a win this weekend, the title race is over, but what happens if the team falters?

Strap yourself in for some complex scenarios.

Two Harvard losses, combined with a Clarkson victory over Brown Saturday night, will give the Golden Knights the ECAC crown.

If Harvard salvages a tie out of either contest (a common occurrence this year), the Crimson will be assured of at least a share of the title, and if Clarkson loses against Brown, Harvard wins outright.