Pros and Cons of a First-Round Bye

ALBANY, N.Y.--Before the Harvard men's hockey team took to the ice against New Hampshire, it had already done better than it did last year.

In 1993, Northern Michigan eliminated Harvard in double overtime, 3-2, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. By virtue of begin the second seed in the East, the Crimson didn't have to play a first-round game.

However, getting a first-round bye had its own problem for Harvard, in addition to the benefit of playing one less game--the wait.

"Anyone in their right mind would take on game instead of two to go to the Final Four," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "[But] everyone was getting anxious to get out there, and sometimes you get a little nervous energy built up ,too."

That nervous energy was evident during that first few shifts when UNH outshot Harvard, 5-1, keeping the Crimson back on its heels.

But Harvard righted itself and pretty much controlled the rest of the game.

"We were a little tense to begin with," senior Chris Baird said. "We came out knowing we had 60 minutes to play to get to St. Paul, and everybody was emotionally high."

"We kind of sat back," captain Sean McCann said. "[Assistant Coach Jerry Pawlowski '88] told us to force their forwards to dump the puck in, and that mad it much easier for us to handle the puck."

Netminder Roulette: Tomassoni and goalies Aaron Israel and Trip Tracy had no idea who would start in net 24 hours prior to Harvard's second-round game.

That choice was to be decided with the victor of the UNH/RPI match--Tracy had readied himself to play UNH if it won, while Israel studies the RPI squad.

"Aaron shut out RPI, and maybe it would have been a little bit of a letdown for them to see the guy who just shut them out in the goal," Tomassoni said.

"We're blessed--we got two outstanding goaltenders. And I think we have confidence in either one, no matter which one plays."

Fast Facts: Harvard first-liners Brian Farrell, Chris Baird and Perry Cohagan each scored a goal against UNH. That was the first time that all three had scored a goal in the same game this season...With RPI's 2-0 loss to UNH in the first round, the Engineers finished their season on the short end of two consecutive shut-outs and with no goals in its last 150 minutes of play. Harvard had shut out RPI, 3-0 , in the ECAC tournament final on March 19. RPI had led the nation in goals per game before its slump...Jason Karmanos's third-period goal was the first of his five this year that wasn't the game-winning tally...Harvard had allowed two goals in three games against Brown, RPI and UNH.