Harvard, RPI Geared to Battle Tonight at Bright

An ECAC men's hockey tournament without a Harvard/Rensselaer match-up is like an NFC championship game that isn't Dallas/San Francisco.

For the fifth straight season, the Crimson and Engineers will be squaring off against each other in the ECAC tournament, which starts tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Bright Hockey Center.

"It's only fitting--we always play them," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said.

Tomorrow's second game of the best-of-three quarterfinals will start at 7 p.m., and Sunday's third game (if necessary) will also begin at 7 p.m.

The first team to accumulate three points (two wins or a win and a tie) will head out to Lake Placid, N.Y. for the semifinals next Friday. There is no overtime tonight or tomorrow, but sudden-death overtime will be played Sunday if the score is tied after regulation.

When people talk about Harvard in the ECAC tournament, it's hard not to mention some of the games against RPI. Two of them especially stand out in the minds of this year's team.

There was last year's ECAC tournament final, which the Crimson won, 3-0, at Lake Placid. That game was perhaps the top highlight in Harvard's 24-5 season.

Then there was the big disappointment three years ago. RPI--a big underdog--came into Bright Hockey Center and shocked ECAC regular-season champion Harvard in a 4-3 overtime quarterfinal thriller. Because of that game, the ECAC changed to its current best-of-three format.

"That was my freshman year, and we don't want to see a repeat of that," captain Ben Coughlin said. "At least it's two out of three; no more onegame series."

Consistently Inconsistent

Both Harvard and RPI have had inconsistent season. Neither team has won more than three games in a row all year, but neither team has lost more than three in a row.

Harvard struggled early, got hot in December and January, went ice cold (no pun intended) in February and looked to be back in top form last weekend against St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

RPI, on the other hand, started 7-3 but has gone 2-5-3 over its last 10 games.

One of those five losses occurred two weeks ago at Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y. Harvard delivered the home team a 5-3 loss in one of its best performances of the season.

The Crimson played disciplined hockey and got the overly-aggressive Engineers to wear out a path to the penalty box. Harvard's power play clicked three times in the opening 20 minutes--the first two goal by senior sparkplug Steve Martins--and Harvard would never look back.

The other match-up between Harvard and RPI this season went the other way. RPI took control of the game on November 27, builing a 3-1 lead in the third at Bright. However, Harvard tied the game on goals by freshman Doug Sproule and sophomore Stuart Swenson.

But tragedy struck in the final minute. Engineer Eric Healey's shot from the point went through traffic and beat Harvard junior netminder Tripp Tracy with 23 seconds left to give the visitors the 4-3 win.

"We've had two great games with them," Tomassoni said. "Those are two games that have had flow--they haven't been penalty-marred, penalty-filled."

Playoff Keys

For Harvard to defeat RPI in the quarterfinal series, it must do two things: stay out of the penalty box and forecheck well so that it can take advantage of its speed.

Too many times this season the Crimson has had to play shorthanded seven, eight, nine times a game. While the penalty killing units are operating at an impressive 85.7 percent rate, Harvard has tired out and been victimized at later points in the game following all those penalty kills.

Martins especially has to stay out of the sin bin. He is the victim of the most vicious assault of anyone in the league, and he unfortuanetely is sent to the penalty box far too often for retaliation (and phantom retaliation) penalties, depriving the Crimson of its best offensive weapon.

"Martins is the premier player in the league," Tomassoni said. "The abuse he takes out there no one should have to take. It's wrong."

Harvard's biggest strength is its speed. In Martins and juniors Brad Konik and Tom Holmes, Harvard has three of the quickest skaters in the league.

If the Crimson can get the forecheck going and send these players out on breaks, Harvard's offense should be fine. Harvard was back in peak form last weekend even though it lost to league-champion Clarkson due to some sensational Clarkson goaltending.

"We need to use our speed and beat their defensemen, because we can do that if we concentrate," Coughlin said.

So the playoffs are here.

If Harvard wins this weekend, it's off to Lake Placid. If it loses, then the season's over.

Let the games begin!

HARVARD

Head Coach: Ronn Tomassoni, 5th season

Captain (s): Ben Cbughlin

1994-95 Record: 14-31-1 Overall, 12-9-1 ECAC (3rd Place)

Series History: Harvard, 29-17-1

ECAC Tournament Titles: 5

RPI

Head Coach: Dan Fridgen, 1st season

Captain (s): Adam Bartell

1994-95 record: 16-13-3 Overall, 10-9-3 ECAC (6th Place)

1994-95 vs. Harvard: 1-1-0

EACA Tournament Titles: 2

1994-95 RPI STATS Player  GP  G  A  Pt  PP  PM< /B> Bryan Richardson  31  23  20  43  13   30 Craig Hamelin  29  14  27  41  7  32 Tim Regan  30  8  19  27  3  86 Wayne Clarke  28  14  12  26  4  28 Jeff O'Connor  27  10  13  23  1  46 Eric Healey  32  11  11  22  3  31 Patrick Rochon  32  4  18  22  1  54 Kelly Askew  27  6  15  21  2  60 Adam Bartell  30  3  14  17  1  28 Eric Perardi  30  6  11  17  0  46 Jeff Matthews  29  8  7  15  0  14 Jon Pirrong  31  3  9  12  0  56 Jeff Brick  28  4  5  9  4  44 Pat Brownlee  31  1  6  7  0  18 Chris Maye  30  1  6  7  1  10 Bryan Tapper  27  3  3  6  0  72 Doug Battaglia  31  1  4  5  0  57 Chris Kiley  26  0  4  5  0  6 Ken Kwasniewski  13  2  1  3  0  0 Mike Tamburro  22  0  1  1  0  4 Chris Aldous  30  0  1  1  0  4 Mike Rolanti  3  0  0  0  0  0 Bryan Masotta  13  0  0  0  0  10 Tim Spadafore  4  0  0  0  0  0 Rensselaer  32  122  207  329  4 0  744 Opponents  32  117  206  323  42   666 Goalie  GP  W  L  T  GAA  Sv% Tamburro  22  10  7  3  3.26  .9 03 Masotta  13  5  6  0  4.26  .870 Spadafore  4  1  0  0  2.57  .93 3 Rensselaer  32  16  13  3  3.57< Tab>.893 Opponents  32  13  16  3  NA.880

1994-95 HARVARD STATS Player  GP  G  A  Pt  PP  PM< /B> Steve Martins  26  14  21  35  7  85 Cory Gustafson  28  10  16  26  2  24 Ben Coughlin  28  5  20  25  3  34 Brad Konik  27  10  13  23  3  28 Kirk Nielsen  28  13  7  20  3  22 Perry Cohagan  27  8  12  20  1  34 Ashlin Halfnight  22  5  14  19  1  40 Bryan Lonsinger  26  8  9  17  5  12 Jason Karmanos  28  6  10  16  1  32 Tom Holmes  28  2  13  15  0  43 Doug Sproule  28  7  2  9  4  26 Jeremiah McCarthy  23  3  6  9  2  4 Henry Higdon  28  3  5  8  0  20 Joe Craigen  26  3  5  8  1  6 Geordie Hyland  19  1  7  8  0  20 Peter McLaughlin  28  1  6  7  0  44 Michel Breistroff  23  1  5  6  1  30 Geb Marett  14  0  0  0  0  18 Marco Ferrari  12  0  0  0  0  8 Brian Famigletti  5  0  0  0  0  0 Keith McLean  4  0  0  0  0  0 Tripp Tracy  25  0  0  0  0  2 Steve Hermsdorf  5  0  0  0  0  0 Harvard  28  104  174  278  34552 Opponents  28  94  155  249  25< Tab>566 Goalle  GP  W  L  T  GAA  Sv% Tripp Tracy  25  13  11  1  3.38  .875 Steve Hermsdorf  5  1  2  0  2.71  .88 5 Harvard  28  14  13  1  3.34.874 Opponents  28  13  14  1  3.69.879