Icemen Host Princeton at Bright Tonight in ECAC Tourney Quarterfinals

In case you've been in Cabot Library too long and just happen to see this between Chemistry study sessions:

The Harvard men's hockey team starts its road to Lake Placid and the ECAC Championships this weekend.

Princeton invades Bright Hockey Center for a first-round ECAC playoff series tonight, tomorrow, and possibly Sunday, but the Crimson would like to think it won't go that far.

You see, this is the way it works. The first team to take three points out of the series wins. That means two wins or a win and a tie from the first two games sends you to Lake Placid next weekend.

No overtimes will be played in the first two games, but if the teams split the first two contests (or both ate tied), the finale will have unlimited sudden death to determine the winner.

Think Harvard won't have much trouble dispatching the 10th-seeded Tigers in two games? Go straight to the UHS memory loss department.

Harvard senior Matt Mallgrave's overtime goal at Princeton back in November was the only thing that kept the two teams from tying both regular season meetings this year.

The Tigers broke the Crimson's streak of 12 wins in 13 games four weeks ago, costing Harvard its first home point of the year in a 3-3 tie.

So look for Princeton to come out with that Pete Carill spoilers mentality. Meanwhile, Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni has stressed to his troops the importance of not looking past anybody.

"We can't afford to worry about who we're playing," freshman net minder Tripp Tracy said. "All year long, we've played out best hockey when we've just played out game and not been concerned with the other teams."

(For a more in-depth look at the series, see The Crimson's ECAC Supplement).

* * *

Speaking of Tracy, he has become the first freshman goalie since Allain Rov '92 in 1989 to finish the ECAC regular season with the best goals, against average in the league (2.46). His 9-1-2 ECAC record between the pipes also give him the league's best winning percentage.

Freshman Israel finished fifth on the list with a 289 average. In other statistical categories, Junior Captain led Drury lost the FCAS scoring race on the final evening to Yale's Mark Kaufmann, but his 17 goals and 27 assist still put him com fortably in second with 44 points.

Senior Matt Mallgrave's 18 goals give him fifth on the scoring ladder.

As a team, the Crimson had the ECAC top defense, giving up only 2.73 goals per game. A late-season offensive slide helped give top scoring honor to Clarkson, whose 4.61 average beat out Harvard's 4.32. The Crimson also tied for the lead in shorthanded goals with seven, matching Colgate's total.

* * *

Yes, there is hockey on the other side of the Mississippi--and in fact, it's pretty good. Five of the top ten teams in the country in the latest Albany Times-Union poll are from either the CCHA or the WCHA ($800 if you can identify the acronyms). Harvard is certain to meet some of them later this season in the NCAA tournament.

* Second-ranked Michigan (26-5-2) has one of the country's best goaltenders in Steve Shields (a Buffalo Sabres draft pick). Michigan starts the CCHA playoffs tonight against Notre Dame Not even the Rocket could stop these Wolverines.

* Fourth-ranked Miami of Ohio (24-7-5) is paced by the explosive scoring duo of Chris Bergeron and Brian Savage. The CCHA regular sea son champion (yes, even over Michigan), it gets to play Ohio State in the playoffs. The Buckeyes rival Union as the worst college team in the country.

* Fifth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth (23-9-2), the WCHA champion, has Hobey Baker candidate Derek Plante (also Sabres' property) running its high-powered offense. Its first round playoff action starts tonight against Alaska-Anchorage

* Seventh-ranked Lake Superior St. (22-7-5), third in the CCHA, has superstition on its side. Lake Superior won the national championship last year. Its final regular-season ranking a year ago? Seventh.

* Ninth-ranked Wisconsin (21-12-3) boasts Jim Carey, the only goaltender in the high-scoring WCHA with a below three goals-against-average. The Badgers face Colorado College in Madison to open up its post-season play.

Minnesota is third in the CCHA and just outside of the top ten. It will most likely be the sixth-best Mid-western team, slotting it against Harvard, the third-seeded Eastern team, in the NCAA's first round.

* * *

Those Badgers do know how to enjoy themselves in America's Dairy-land.

Six Wisconsin players (including four starters) were discoverd drinking in a local tavern around three in the morning Tuesday night.

Cited by police for disorderly conduct, they have been suspended for for the first game of the Colorado College series.

Strange substance abuse cases are going on in college hockey. First, the statistics people at Mame take hallucinogens before tallying up Paul Kariya's assist totals, now this. Who'da thunk it? ECAC FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS Team  W-L-T  P  GF  GA  Overall HARVARD  16-3-3  35  95  61  19-4-3 Rensselaer  15-6-1  31  96  61  18-8-4 Clarkson  12-6-4  28  103  64  16-9-5 Brown  13-7-2  28  102  78  14-10-2 Yale  12-7-3  27  97  86  15-11-3 St. Lawrence  12-8-2  26  89  77  17-10-3 Vermont  10-11-1  21  71  68  12-16-3 Dartmouth  9-13-0  18  82  96  11-16-0 Colgate  9-13-3  18  81  101  12-16-3 Princeton  6-13-3  15  70  98  9-15-3 Cornell  5-16-1  11  61  94  6-19-1 Union  3-19-0  6  44  107  3-22-0

FINAL STATISTICAL SCORING LEADERS Player/School  GP  G-A-P Mark Kauffman, Yale  22  19-29-48 Ted Drury, HARVARD  22  17-27-44 Martin Leroux, Yale  22  20-19-39 Marko Toumainen, Clarkston  22  19-20-39 Scott Hanley, Brown  22  17-20-27

FINAL STATISTICAL GOALTENDING LEADERS Player/School  GP  W-L-T  GA  ShO  Pct.  Avg. Tripp Tracy, HARVARD  12  9-1-2  30  2  .910  2.46 Neil Little, RPI  20  14-5-1  52  0  .917  2.71 Brady Giroux, SLU  13  9-21  33  1  .914  2.71

FINAL STATISTICAL SCORING LEADERS Player/School  GP  G-A-P Mark Kauffman, Yale  22  19-29-48 Ted Drury, HARVARD  22  17-27-44 Martin Leroux, Yale  22  20-19-39 Marko Toumainen, Clarkston  22  19-20-39 Scott Hanley, Brown  22  17-20-27

FINAL STATISTICAL GOALTENDING LEADERS Player/School  GP  W-L-T  GA  ShO  Pct.  Avg. Tripp Tracy, HARVARD  12  9-1-2  30  2  .910  2.46 Neil Little, RPI  20  14-5-1  52  0  .917  2.71 Brady Giroux, SLU  13  9-21  33  1  .914  2.71

FINAL STATISTICAL GOALTENDING LEADERS Player/School  GP  W-L-T  GA  ShO  Pct.  Avg. Tripp Tracy, HARVARD  12  9-1-2  30  2  .910  2.46 Neil Little, RPI  20  14-5-1  52  0  .917  2.71 Brady Giroux, SLU  13  9-21  33  1  .914  2.71