Icemen Head to Dartmouth, Vermont

How do you spell relief for the Harvard men's hockey team (15-4-2 overall, 12-2-2 ECAC)?

D-A-R-T-M-O-U-T-H.

The Crimson faces the Big Green (3-17-1, 2-13-1) at 7:30 tonight in Hanover, N. H. in its first game since Monday night's traumatic 2-1 overtime loss to Boston College in the Beanpot final. The Crimson then travels to Vermont (11-8-5, 7-4-5) for a Saturday night contest.

ECAC cellar-dweller Dartmouth should provide the Crimson with what it needs--a win. The Big Green is 0-9-1 in its last ten games, although it gave the Crimson a Big scare back in January.

Harvard came out on top, 2-1, in a very ugly game. Then again, Harvard played without leading-scorer Steve Martins, who sat out the game for taking a bad penalty the previous night.

Aaron Israel made 18 saves for the Crimson (nine in the third period), while the Big Green's Mike Bracco stopped 27 of 29 Harvard shots.

Bracco was also the main reason that Dartmouth broke its 23-game losing streak to Harvard at Hanover last February. However, he is 2-14-1 this season with a 4.90 goals-against-average.

"Dartmouth has had a disappointing season," Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "They're a tough team to play, however. [Winning tonight] is a way of salvaging their season."

While Dartmouth has been slipping, Vermont stands among the top five ECAC teams for the last few weeks. The Catamounts are coming off two ties last weekend at Union and Rensselaer.

The outstanding play of three freshmen has given the young Vermont team a tremendous boost. Martin St. Louis (8-14-22 ECAC) and Eric Perrin (8-13-21 ECAC) have to contributed to a offense that was weak last year, while netminder Tim Thomas (7-3-5, 3.30 GAA) has continued to keep the Catamounts in many games.

When Harvard and Vermont met in mid-January, the Crimson played a sloppy defensive game and committed several dumb penalties, Harvard had to come back from one-goal deficits three times before settling for a 4-4 tie. Thomas made 37 saves.

"[Thomas] has stabilized them, especially after the loss of All-American [Christian Soucy], "Tomassoni said. "Vermont is playing really well."

Around the Nation

Harvard is currently the number two team in the nation. The rankings were made prior to Monday's loss to Boston College. Harvard's 4-2 victory over Boston University in the first round of the Beanpot moved the Crimson one spot ahead of the Terriers. However, BU massacred Northeastern, 8-0, this Monday, so these rankings might change once again.

Idle Michigan continues to be the country's top-rated team, sporting a 27-2-1 record.

Number-10 Rensselaer (15-6-3 9-4-3) made its way back into the rankings for the first time in several weeks.

Brown (12-6-3, 11-3-2) is continually overlooked when the national rankings come out. The Bears are only one game behind the Crimson in ECAC play and have won seven of their last eight.

Specialty Teams

Harvard's power-play and penalty-killing units have been very sharp over the entire season, but they have been the biggest reason for the team's success over its last 11 games (9-1-1). The Harvard specialty teams outscored its past three opponents' specialty units, 7-0...Not everyone on BC was thrilled during the post Beanpot celebration. With the win came a lot of exposure--too much exposure for one Eagle whose behind was caught by a television camera. "Great, I got my ass on television," he moaned... Two funny mistakes were made by the Boston Garden scoreboard operator during Monday's game. First, they made sophomore Tom Holmes into a metric unit, calling him Ton Holmes. Second, when freshman Stuart Swenson was sent to the penalty box after being pummeled by a BC thug, the scoreboard read "Harvard penalty: #12 Steve Flomenhoft." Flomenhoft graduated last year...Valentine's Day at the Beanpot has not been too much fun for the Crimson: Harvard is 1-4 on February 14 at the Garden... Harvard has lost its last three tournament overtime games. In 1992 RPI took a 4-3 OT decision in the ECAC quarterfinals, while Northern Michigan eliminated the Crimson in the first round of last year's NCAA tournament...Both of BC's Beanpot wins this year came in overtime. They nipped Northeastern, 5-4 in double overtime, last week...Martins is averaging 1.95 points a game...Israel leads the nation with a 2.14 GAA, while Brian Farrell is tops in the country with six game-winning goals...Harvard is 8-0-1 against Ivy League schools and has clinched the Ivy League title...Harvard's magic number for winning the ECAC is five wins or 10 points. Any combination of Brown miscues and Harvard triumphs lowers the magic number...Ted Drury picked up one assist and Peter Ciavaglia `91 had one goal and one assist through Team USA's first two games. Drury and Ciavaglia head the team's first powerplay line, along with Brian Rolston.

ECAC STANDINGS Team  W  L  T  Pts. Harvard  12  2  2  26 Brown  11  3  2  24 Rensselaer  9  4  3  21 Clarkson  9  4  3  21 Vermont  7  4  5  19 Colgate  8  6  2  18 Princeton  5  8  3  13 Cornell  4  7  5  13 St. Lawrence  6  10  0  12 Union  5  9  2  12 Yale  4  12  0  8 Dartmout  2  13  1  5

NCAA POLL 1. Michigan (28)  27-2-1  280 2. HARVARD  15-3-2  242 3. BU  19-7-0  215 4. Minnesota  17-9-4  195 5. Lake Superior St.  19-9-3  161 6. Colorado  19-9-2  100 6. Michigan St.  17-9-4  100 8. North. Michigan  18-11-1  79 9. UMass-Lowell  16-6-7  68 10. RPI  14-6-3  27

Compiled by the (N.Y.) Record, with first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points (through 2/13/94).