The Curse of Causeway St.

Any way you look at it, it would seem that Harvard is clearly the "home team" for tonight's ECAC tournament semifinals at Boston Garden.

Harvard's opponent for the 8 p.m. matchup is Clarkson, which had to make the seven-hour trip from New York's North Country to reach Causeway Street. On the other hand, Crimson skaters merely had to hop on the M.B.T.A.'s Green Line.

But for Harvard, which has traditionally had trouble in the narrow confines of Beantown's sports asylum, the Garden is far from wide-open Bright Center--where the Crimson owns a 11-2-1 record. Therefore, to prepare for tonight's ice surface--which is 25 feet shorter and seven feet narrower than Bright (not to mention the snail's pace of the Garden ice)--Tomassoni has been shuttling his squad to smaller rinks all over Boston.

Northeastern's Matthews Arena and the West Roxbury M.D.C. rink have hosted Harvard during the past week, as the Crimson adjusts its skating style to the more physical game a tiny rink demands.

"We call the Garden a postage stamp," former Harvard Coach Bill Cleary '56 said. "You really can tell the difference when you practice there. As a coach at Eight Center, you never have to worry about getting hit by pucks or getting run into by players. There it's just terrible."

Harvard's fortunes have been very poor at the Causeway Street rink recently. The Crimson fell twice this season, 8-2 to Boston University and 5-0 to Northeastern, at the Garden during the Beanpot.

Even Harvard's national championship squad--despite a Beanpot title--could not escape the Garden jinx completely in 1989. Vermont defeated the Crimson, 3-2, in the ECAC tournament semis that year, making a NCAA at-large bid necessary for Harvard to advance to the national tournament.

A Short Walk

For their final practices, Clarkson skaters just walked across campus to Walker Arena. The Clarkson home rink which will be replaced next season, "has almost the same dimensions as the Garden," Crimson Captain Ted Donato said.

Hopefully, the Golden Knights will not be the force in The Garden that it is at its home rink. Clarkson was a stellar 13-0-1 at Walker this season.