Parity Did Not Bring Great Success

Last year, the Harvard hockey team entered the season with only one genuine superstar--defenseman Don Sweeney. It finished the season with 13 players who tallied more than 10 points, including 10 who recorded more than 20 points.

Parity did not produce great things, however. The highlight of the Crimson's season came in the final game on the regular-season slate. Harvard defeated St. Lawrence, 6-5, in Canton, N.Y. to capture the regular-season crown.

Disappointments

For the Crimson, the ECAC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament proved disappointments. Harvard was the top seed going into the ECAC Tournament but fell to seventh-seeded Clarkson, 6-4, in the semifinals.

Harvard got home ice for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but fell to arch foe Michigan State, 13-8, in the total-goals series.

The year did not pass without exciting moments.

The season opened in November against the fiercest foe the Crimson had faced in four year--the U.S. Olympic Team. With Harvard alumnus Scott Fusco '86 and undergraduates Lane MacDonald and Allen Bourbeau, Team USA had a touch of Crimson. The Olympians proved as fierce as their high-scoring reputation, scorching Harvard, 15-3.

Harvard put up Olympian numbers against its ancient rival, Yale, in January. The Crimson bulldozed the Bulldogs, 8-1, baffling All-ECAC netminder Mike O'Neill. The blowout marked the beginning of the end for the Elis, who sputtered out of league contention.

When the Crimson wasn't good, it was at least funny. In late February, Crimson forward Andy Janfaza broke in alone on an empty Clarkson net. As his teammates later teased him, Janfaza could have picked the puck up, put it into his mouth and spit it into the net. Instead, he slapped a shot from 20 feet that soared left of the net. Harvard won the game, 3-2, but Janfaza's missed goal stood out more than his team's triumph.

Harvard managed to show some resourcefulness in its season-ending game against St. Lawrence. The Crimson jumped to a 6-2 lead. But Harvard watched that lead dwindle in the final two minutes of the game. By the time the game was over, the Crimson was hanging on to a 6-5 victory. Its gutsy grip on victory was inspiring. But the game was a portent of the rest of the season--the Crimson fizzled in the ECAC playoffs.

Harvard, traditionally a skating team, proved it could play rough-and-tumble hockey with its bigger foes. Defenseman Kevan Melrose and the team's fourth line, composed of Craig Taucher, Paul Howley and Ed Presz, were aggressive skaters, unafraid of taking the body.

A.J.

Janfaza, not a big goal-scorer before, led the team in goals with 17. The team's captain, Steve Armstrong, finished second behind freshman Peter Ciavaglia in points with 32.

Both Armstrong and Janfaza played on the penalty-killing unit, and their hustle will be missed.

Don Sweeney and Jerry Pawloski, the Crimson's first defensive pair, have graduated. Sweeney is now playing for the Boston Bruin organization.

Goalie John Devin, too, is gone, leaving the netminding chores to a trio of youngsters.