Icemen Stop RPI in ECAC Quarters, 6-4

He didn't plan it that way. In fact, he hadn't planned the season that way.

But he'll take them. Oh yes, he'll take the goal that broke RPI's back, and he'll take the season that has turned him from an unheralded forward--just another jersey, helmet and stick--into a hockey gem, a composite of diamond and ice.

Andy Janfaza meant his shot late in the third period of Saturday's Harvard-RPI ECAC quarterfinal game to be a pass. It was supposed to be for his roommate and linemate, Captain Steve Armstrong.

But a pass, sizzling across the ice from right to left, turned into a shot when it bounced off RPI defenseman Rob Schena's leg and past goalie Steve Duncan into the net for a 5-4 Harvard edge with 5:42 left.

RPI was so puzzled over Janfaza's goal that it neglected to watch Peter Ciavalglia, who scored five seconds later to put Harvard on its way to an ECAC semifinal date with Clarkson this Friday in Boston Garden. The Crimson's 6-4 victory in front of 2911 fans at Bright Center capped a two-night dose of delirious hockey.

Harvard (20-8) had held off the Engineers, 5-4, the night before.

"When things are going in, they're going in," said Janfaza, a senior who scored his 15th goal of the year Saturday. "Call it lucky. That's the way things have been going for me. I'll take it, and I look forward to next weekend."

Before this year, Janfaza had scored only 11 goals in three seasons. But this year, he discarded senior slump in place of a new malady--netitis.

Most everything Janfaza throws on net goes in. Even when he's not throwing it on net.

"I think it was the first two-on-one I tried to pass to Steve all year," Janfaza said.

Saturday, Harvard (the ECAC's number-one seed) and RPI (which held the number-eight spot) proved parity is not a delicacy reserved for the NFL. How close can two teams get withoutswallowing up each other's oxygen supply?

This year, Harvard and RPI (now 15-17) playedfour games. Only one--a 4-0 Engineer triumph inCambridge three weeks ago--failed to come down tothe wire.

In early January, Harvard scored a late goal tobeat RPI, 5-4, in Troy, N.Y. Friday's game wasdecided by a goal. And Saturday, the teams wentinto the final period tied, 4-4.

How close? One team could tell what the otherwas chewing.

"We haven't had an easy game with them allyear," Armstrong said. "To play as well as they dosometimes and be in eighth place in the leaguesurprises me."

To the Semis

How close? If hockey were a dance, Saturday'sgame would have been a tango, one team whisperingin the other's ear.

Of course, those whispered words would havebeen none too sweet. These teams play differentbrands of hockey. Harvard is the skating squadron,RPI the goon platoon.

"They should be wearing us down--they're sobig," Crimson Coach Bill Cleary said. "But let metell you, everyone says we're midgets, but you'vegot to catch us to hit us."

In the first two periods, Harvard and RPIbatted goals back and forth like ping-pong balls.Bruce Coles scored for RPI with two minutes gonein the game. Ted Donato came back on the powerplay and put it into the RPI net eight minuteslater.

Donato scored again on a power play with twominutes left in the opening period. Joe Juneautied it up with a shot from in close a minutelater.

Back and forth.

"Harvard's a team that can put a couple ofthorough-breds out there at a level that wecan't," RPI Coach Mike Addesa said.

But in the end, hard work, not God-giventalent, may have been the difference in Saturday'sgame.

"It comes down to who works harder, and I thinkwe outworked them in the last period," Armstrongsaid.

Oh, and don't forget a little luck. Right,Andy