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McCann Elected Captain; Drury Wins MVP Award
MEN'S HOCKEY: THE FINAL NOTEBOOK
Thoughts of spring and baseball, sun and grass, golf and the outdoors may be filling most people's minds right now, but next year's hockey season isn't that far away.
All right, it is pretty far away, but that doesn't mean that nothing is happening in the world of Harvard hockey.
In fact, the past couple weeks have seen some significant developments for individual members of the Harvard men's hockey team as well as the squad in general.
The Crimson named junior defender Sean McCann as next year's captain last week, and the Kirkland resident said a solid core of returning players would help the team to new heights in 1993-94.
"It's an honor to be voted captain for anything," McCann said. "We have some experienced players coming back and it's looking really good so far."
The durable McCann has not missed a single game in his collegiate career and was named Harvard's top freshman in his rookie season.
"Sean is an outstanding choice for captain and follows in the tradition of the three fine captains that I have coached at Harvard," Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "He's a hard worker on the ice and should be leading one of the toughest defenses in the country next year."
Known for his Steve Flomenhoft-like hitting and impeccable positioning, McCann stood out as one of Harvard's two best defenders this year. With returning juniors Derek Maguire, Michel Breistroff, and Lou Body, that defense should be Harvard's anchor in 1993-94.
McCann also scored four goals and five assists, and more importantly cut down considerably on his penalty minutes (139 minutes over his first two years, 38 last year) while still providing the Crimson with its most powerful and effective physical presence.
Even if the defense is the top unit in the country, Harvard will be hurting on offense. The Crimson also loses its top three scorers in junior Ted Drury, and seniors Matt Mallgrave and Steve Flomenhoft. The Leverett trio accounted for 139 of Harvard's 373 total points last season.
Losing Drury, Mallgrave and Flomenhoft, however, means more than just losing a major chunk of scoring.
Drury had the ability to take over a game, offensively or with the type of Olympian defense that made him the penalty-killing leader. Flomenhoft led the team with his physical play and Mallgrave led the team in goal-scoring.
"You can't replace those guys," McCann said. "Next year, we just have to adjust and become a better-balanced team."
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Drury's European Tour: Drury, in the meantime, has joined one other member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, seven college hockey standouts and 14 National Hockey League mainstays on the 1993 U.S. National Hockey team.
Drury and the national squad are currently competing for the World Championship in Munich and Dortmund, Germany.
Other college hockey players on the team include forward Derek Plante from Minnesota-Duluth and Boston University's star forward David Sacco.
Yale Coach Tim Taylor '63 serves as head coach of the team for the fifth straight year. Earlier this year, Taylor was named head coach of the 1994 U.S. Olympic team.
Right now Drury is busy playing hockey in Germany, but he's also busy thinking about where he will play hockey for the next year or two.
Drury will definitely not be returning to the Crimson, and he must now choose between playing for Taylor in the Olympics or joining the Calgary Flames, the NHL team that owns the rights to him.
Another member of the Crimson who may be on the '94 Olympic team is junior Brian Farrell. The fourth leading scorer on the team with 10 goals and 23 assists, Farrell was invited to a preliminary tryout last week held by Taylor and USA Hockey Technical Director Dave Peterson.
Farrell and the group of college hockey standouts at the tryouts trained together for a week before playing both the Russian and Canadian National teams.
The collegians lost both contests 2-1, but Farrell said that everyone involved was pleased with the Americans' performance in the exhibitions.
Farrell also said he felt good about his personal performance and would take the opportunity to play in the Olympics if chosen.
Whether he makes the team or not is "basically up in the wind because it depends on how professional players are taken," according to Farrell.
The 1994 Winter Olympics will be the first in which members of the NHL will be eligible to compete for the U.S.
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Awards: Last week, Drury added one more award to his seemingly endless list of accolades. Drury won the John Tudor Memorial Cup as Harvard's most valuable player, adding this to the slew of honors that include All-America, ECAC Player of the Year, Hobey Baker Finalist, and Ivy League Co-Player of the Year.
Also winning awards were senior Matt Mallgrave, junior Chris Baird and freshman Tripp Tracy.
Mallgrave garnered the Ralph "Cooney" Weiland Award for the player whose play is most representative of former Harvard Coach Cooney Weiland, Baird won Harvard's prize for the most improved player and rookie net-minder Tripp Tracy earned the Crimson's rookie of the year honors.
Tracy's average of 2.46 goals-allowed per game was the best in the ECAC, while his overall average of 2.27 is fourth best in Harvard history.
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