A Learning Experience?

So maybe this wasn't Lake Placid.

I guess this wasn't for the Olympic gold medal.

And glancing around the Bright Hockey Center at the fans' attire, it certainly wasn't 1980.

"Do you believe in miracles?"

Maybe not Monday night.

Jim Craig, Herb Brooks and Mike Eruzione (he's an assistant at B.U.--just in case you care) were nowhere to be found.

But Harvard hockey took on Torpedo Yaroslavl anyway, one of the best teams in Russia's premier hockey league.

This team was like no other--just watch them warm up! Their uniforms look like a Blue-Gray football helmet, patched with red, white and blue in interlocking patterns.

Names on the back? In Russian script, looking more like a bowl of alphabet soup.

Their size? Torpedo has one player over 190 pounds--its goalie! Without any size, Torpedo Yaroslavl had to be precise with passing, exquisite with its breakouts, and more than perfect in its shot selection.

You know what? It's the Russians! Of course they would be just that!

You want diversity--Torpedo's got it. At any given time you could see a 17-year-old paired with a 34-year old on the ice. And who knows, maybe even some playing time for a teenage goalie, a mite at 5'8", 155 pounds.

But still, does this game mean anything for Harvard?

A chance to play against a team with a completely different style?

An opportunity to show good will in the continuing spirit of East/West relations?

Or a mere exhibition?

Ah, but to get at the root of anything, you must pry deeper than appearances.

Just look around at the Harvard roster and pick a name. Did the loss mean anything to the players? Maybe, maybe not, but just consider the possibilities...

For Kirk Nielsen, an opportunity to play against a team his older brother Jeff had played against just one week earlier, as a forward on the Binghamton Rangers. Do you think Kirk won't think sibling rivalry when he tells his brother how he lit the lamp twice against the Russians?

For Steve Martins, a chance to face a team whose number one priority is not to shut him down. Martins was given a chance to actually set up plays without being shadowed and focused on, as is the case in collegiate action.

For freshman defensemen Brian Famigletti and Jeremiah McCarthy, a time to face forwards faster than any they might see in their collegiate career. An experience like this could only help them along the long and winding road.

For Keith McLean and Brian Adams, a chance to play varsity hockey in front of the Bright faithful, a chance that comes knocking not too often. But only an exhibition, you say? Do you think they might be up for this game?

For goaltender Steve Hermsdorf, a game to rise to the occasion once again against a swarming Russian offense, proving that Harvard's depth will help it down the road.

And for goaltender Tripp Tracy, a rejection of one of Russia's emerging superstars on a breakaway opportunity. If you saw Tracy's actions on the ice, this game meant much more than a tune up for St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

To each his own.