Icemen Hope to End Slide Tonight

The Harvard men's hockey team entertains Princeton tonight at 7:30 in Bright Center as the Crimson looks for its first win of the young season.

Army shocked Harvard (0-2-1 overall, 0-2-1 ECAC) last night, skating to a 4-3 victory sparked by senior Rich Sheridan, who scored two goals--including the game-winner--in the final period. It was the Crimson's first loss in its home opener in 10 years. Princeton (1-1-1 ECAC) stunned Cornell last week, and tied Dartmouth, 1-1, last night in Hanover, N.H.

In its loss to Yale (6-2) and tie with Brown (3-3) last weekend, Harvard did not generate many chances. Last night, the Crimson created some effective plays, but was unable to finish several times.

Harvard had little trouble in setting up or finishing last season when it captured the NCAA title. Last night's crowd saluted that accomplishment in a ceremony in which the official NCAA championship banner was raised.

Neither Army Coach Rob Riley nor Cleary are advocating that Harvard raise its white flag of surrender, however.

"[Harvard is] going to be great team," Riley said. "The puck rolled our way. I can't even believe it."

The Crimson was skating without the services of junior Mike Vukonich, a second-shift left wing who led the team in scoring heading into the weekend. According to Vukonich, he was benched for missing a team function. The situation has been resolved and Vukonich will play tonight.

Senior Tod Hartje moved up from third-line center to left wing on the second line with juniors Pete Ciavaglia and John Weisbrod. According to Vukonich, he will move to third line center tonight, and Hartje will continue to play at wing.

"The way it was explained to me by the coaches, I'm a better player at center and will help the team more there," said Vukonich, who has played wing sparingly.

Vukonich's absence also shook up Harvard's five-forward power play last night, as senior defenseman Kevan Melrose took over his spot at point. According to Vukonich, Melrose will continue to play on the power play.

"I'm not still playing on the power play because both coaches thought it was a defensive liability having two forwards back there [at point]," Vukonich said.

Harvard went 1-for-5 with its new power play lineup last night and looks to improve against the Tigers, who are still trying to figure out how to replace 1988-'89 scoring leader John Messuri. Last year's ECAC Rookie of the Year, Andre Faust, will try to fill the void left by Messuri, who tied Lane MacDonald for fifth in ECAC scoring last season.

Blueliner Mike McKee, who joined Faust on last season's All-ECAC rookie squad, will head up a defense anchored by junior netminders Ron High and Mark Salisbury.

NOTEBOOK: Crazy things continued to shake up the ECAC yesterday. Brown stunned Vermont, 3-0, to register its first win in more than a year. In other games, RPI outmuscled Yale, 8-6, Colgate disposed of St. Lawrence, 6-3, and Clarkson battled Cornell to a 5-5 tie.

Jennifer M. Frey contributed to the reporting of this story.