The "V" Spot: Hey, Itsa the Popa

Mired in the depths of a five-game losing streak, the only place left for the Harvard men's hockey team to turn was God.

While asking for the Lord's help against an opponent named the Saints may seem a futile undertaking, the Crimson was blessed with an audience from none other than the Pope.

A fan donned a white robe and mitre and walked around sprinkling "holy water" onto the soldout Bright Hockey Center crowd Saturday night. His antics riled up the rowdy fans, and while he was performing his holy shtick in the stands, Harvard's play on the ice was simply divine.

The Crimson reverted back to its first-half form with one of its grittiest efforts of the season. St. Lawrence entered the contest winners of eight of its last nine games. Even with its superstar center, Erik Anderson, out of the lineup with an ankle sprain, the Saints had firepower to spare--especially considering the Punch & Judy show that had been the Crimson's defense as of late.

But Harvard dug deep and went back to basics. The defense clogged passes through the neutral zone, marked up men in the zone and was sure to clear rebounds. St. Lawrence had its chances to score, but few second chances.

Senior defenseman Tim Stay played his best game of the season, taking the body and making smart decisions with the puck.

Goalie Oli Jonas still had to make quite a few saves--35 of them, in fact--but the defensive effort gave Harvard a chance to win this game, a win that it simply had to have.

"That was a gutsy effort by our kids," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "Before the game, we challenged them saying this was a must-win game. We don't want to go to the well too often with that, but if we wanted home ice, we had to win this game."

Mazzoleni was absolutely correct on the game's overall significance. A few weeks ago, Harvard was contending for first place--a possibility explored in this column. The February schedule offered a make-or-break run of Cornell, the Beanpot, Dartmouth and Clarkson-St. Lawrence.

Before Saturday night, Harvard had decidely collapsed over that stretch. It lost all of those games, in worse fashion each time. After dropping a close game to a depleted Big Red squad, the Crimson was obliterated by No. 2 Boston College in the Beanpot, embarassed, 7-0, up at Dartmouth, blew four different leads against Northeastern and three more against Clarkson on Friday.

Harvard had fallen from first to fourth place in the ECAC, a mere point from falling out of home ice for the first round of the playoffs

It looked like Harvard's Mazzoleni Renassiance had taken a sharp turn back into the Dark Ages of the Ronn Tomassoni era.

Call it divine enlightenment, but the Crimson was born again on Saturday. After a scoreless first period, the Crimson bombarded SLU's Jeremy Symington with 17 shots in the second and was rewarded with a pair of goals. When junior Jeff Stonehouse deflected junior assistant captain Pete Capouch's rocket from the point at 10:56, Harvard was in firm control of the game.

But the Crimson seemed set to collapse again.

The Saints had a 43-second, two-man advantage to open the third period. With a 25.7-percent power play success rate, a goal appeared certain.

But nothing panned out for the Saints. Harvard hung tough and Jonas, despite having a few precarious moments diving across the crease, did not have to make any spectacular saves because St. Lawrence's home run passes never connected.

Through the night, the SLU power play laid a big, fat, 0-for-8 egg.

And when ECAC Rookie of the Year candidate Tim Pettit outworked two Saint defenders for an empty-netter at 19:10, the Crimson erupted in euphoria and relief. Even Mazzoleni gave a violent wave and fist pump.

To make sure the rest of the league noticed the significance of Harvard's accomplishment, Pettit scored again 11 seconds later. The early season swagger was back.

"There is no better way to end a five game losing streak than to beat the best team in the conference," Pettit said. "Who our opponent was was not lost on us."

"You better believe tonight was a relief," Mazzoleni added.

The road to Lake Placid now is clear and straight for the Crimson. It has by far the easiest schedule of its ECAC rivals.

Harvard will travel to RPI and Union this weekend. The Engineers also have fallen apart as of late, and the Skating Dutchmen, regardless of their recent run, will forever be eminently beatable. The season finale is a duece at home against pushover Princeton and an inferior Yale team who only beat Harvard earlier this year because of the Crimson's injuries.

You can bet the Crimson will want revenge, especially with seeding on the line. If Harvard can win regularly, then it will be all but assured a top-three finish and maybe better. That will guarantee a soft first round opponent and no Thursday night game at Lake Placid.

Of course, Harvard still needs to go out and get the job done. One game does not a turnaround make, and the Crimson's defensive woes can resurface at any time.

To prevent this, Mazzoleni should consider stopping by St. Paul's for a crucifix and some bread and wine before leaving for Tr0oy, N.Y. While he's at it, swing by Hillel and be sure to know at all times which way is East. Someone's god has to be hot this weekend.

I know I'll be praying.