Of Israel, National Rankings And Honorable Discharges

The early returns are in, and there is a Harvard netminder leading the ECAC goaltending standings. Predictable, maybe, but which one?

Some might be surprised to find sophomore Aaron Israel on the top of that heap, but with a 2.27 goals against average and an even .900 save percentage, the Mather House resident is finding the going pretty smooth early in the year.

"I feel pretty good out there this year," he said after a workmanlike 25-save performance in last Friday's 3-3 tie with Brown. "Last year, I always felt like I was going to let in one goal that wasn't a great goal in every game. It almost seemed as though I would play for that--`I'll just let 'em have that one bad goal,' I would think.

"This year I've been working a lot harder, and I think it's helped a lot. Instead of giving up a couple of soft ones, I've been able to up my play a little bit."

Israel has posted the only shutout to-date in ECAC play, a 4-0 blanking of Yale in his first start of the season, and getting over that hurdle could be a big boon to the Crimson effort before the season is out.

"Last year I didn't have one shutout; it didn't really bother me, but I guess I never really thought I was capable of getting one. Now that I've got one, I'm thinking, 'Yeah, I can do that,' and it's showing in my play.

Slip-Slidin' Away: The Crimson's 3-3 Brown-out cost it some respect on the national scene as it fell four spots to ninth place in the latest edition of the Troy (N.Y.) Record's collegiate hockey poll.

Harvard has 84 points, 11 less than seventh-ranked RPI, the other ECAC representative in the top 10. The Engineers (5-2-0) are in high gear after a shocking 5-4 road upset of defending national champion and second-ranked Maine in the finals of the Dexter Classic in Orono, Me. on Saturday.

All-America candidate Neil Little stopped 83 shots in the two wins over nationally ranked teams (10th-ranked Bowling Green also fell 5-4 the night before), and top RPI gun Xavier Majic proved to be just that, scoring the game-winner over the Black Bears with 6:16 to play.

All of this points towards a duel this weekend between Harvard and RPI Saturday night, as the leagueleading Crimson try to knock off the consensus preseason pick of the ECAC litter on the road in Troy.

Michigan continues to lead the nation, garnering 25 of 26 first-place votes on the strength of its 10-1-1 record and first-place status in the CCHA.

Honorable Discharges: Sophomore forward Jason Karmanos and freshman defenseman Ashland Halfnight were each named yesterday to the United States Junior National Team. The select squad will be competing in the World Junior Championships, a round-robin competition for the world's top Under-20 players to be held just outside of Prague, Czech Republic from December 26 until January 4.

"I'm pretty excited," Karmanos said. "I was really surprised, especially considering how the season has gone for me--I honestly had no idea it was going to happen."

Karmanos has been out of the Crimson lineup lately with a broken collarbone, and in four previous games tallied one lone goal. But he impressed members of the Team USA selection committee in the summer camp at Lake Placid, N.Y., as well as in the National Olympic Festival in San Antonio.

"They told me that they would be checking up on me as the season progressed, but I guess the scouts liked what they saw over the summer."

Problem for Harvard: The tournament overlaps with the Crimson's crucial non-conference game with Maine on January 3, and because of its round-robin format both Karmanos and Halfnight will definitely still be overseas as Harvard trips up to Portland.

"It really is a bummer--it's such a big game on our schedule, but there's nothing we can do about it," Karmanos said. "That's just the way it goes."

Pretty Funny, Guys: Halfnight himself missed the Brown game with a touch of the flu and a bad back, but several sources spread a wild rumor that his absence was due to some sort of an irregular heart condition and Crimson officials had benched him to avoid any possible liability.

But Halfnight skated at practice yesterday, and it seems that rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. "Let's just say it was a team joke that ran a little bit out of hand," he said.

Nothing a little chicken soup and bedrest wouldn't cure, eh?

NCAA Poll 1. Michigan (25)  10-1-1  259 2. Maine  7-2-0  185 3. Lk. Sup. St. (1)  10-4-0  181 4. BU  6-3-0  144 5. Wisconsin  7-4-1  121 6. Colorado Coll.  8-2-2  106 7. RPI  5-3-0  95 8. New Hampshire  9-2-0  90 9. HARVARD  4-1-1  84 10. Bowling Green  7-2-2  46

Compiled by the Troy (N.Y.) Record, with first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points.