Icemen Overcome Midseason Problems, Shine in Playoffs

On a warm October afternoon, Harvard hockey captain Brad Konik sat at a small table outside Au Bon Pain. His team had not yet played a game that season, but Konik's confidence was obvious.

"I feel better about this team than I have ever felt about any team," Konik said.

That was a particularly brazen comment considering that the Crimson was not only coming off a disappointing 14-14-2 season, but was also facing the loss of its top scorer, Steve Martins '95.

With eight freshmen leading the charge, most Crimson followers were ready to accept the 1995-96 campaign as a rebuilding year--but not Konik and definitely not the team.

From the Start

In the beginning, things started off in great fashion for Harvard as it exploded offensively in the first regular season game against Brown in a 7-2 rout. Konik led the way with a goal and three assists, while freshman Craig Adams chipped in with two goals.

In just the next weekend, however, the bitter winds of New York weren't so kind to the Crimson.

Although it battled to a respectable 2-2 tie with Colgate, Harvard appeared intimidated and sluggish the next day when it dropped its first game of the year, 5-3, to Cornell.

For the next month, Harvard alternated wins and losses in numerous close contests. Not only were 10 of its next 19 games decided by one or two goals, but Harvard also was involved in three overtime setbacks. Except for an embarrassing 7-3 defeat at the hands of St. Lawrence in early December, Harvard was holding its own in the hot ECAC race.

The key to the Crimson attack was the superb senior trio of Konik, Tommy Holmes and Kirk Nielsen. Konik proved worthy of the "C" on his jersey as he was leading the team in every respect. When he was not scoring himself (nine goals), Harvard's 100th captain was the key set-up man with a team-high 12 assists.

Holmes was a dominating force on the penalty-killing unit as he figured into five of the team's seven shorthanded goals.

Just when things were looking good and Bright Hockey Center was starting to attract more fans, however, the team ran directly into its first roadblock--the Mariucci Tournament in Minnesota at the end of December. It was bad enough for Harvard to drop its first game to the nationally-ranked University of Minnesota (5-2), but Harvard hit a low when it was thrashed by the University of New Hampshire in the consolation match, 8-3.

Returning home was no picnic either as the team dropped another two games to ECAC foes, Vermont and Dartmouth. After the disturbing 2-1 loss to the dead-last Big Green, there wasn't much to say for the Crimson.

"The seniors--they carried us a long, long time," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "They were the majority of our offense. You got to have more than one line to be effective, however."

The Crimson bounced back with four straight wins against Rensselaer and Union, and things started to look a little brighter. But then came the carnage.

Running on Empty

Injuries and frustration told the story for the next nine games. At one point, nine players were sidelined and Tomassoni was left scraping for healthy bodies to put on the ice. At times it seemed like any Harvard opponent was as conquerable as the Death Star was for the rebel forces in "Star Wars".

Four straight home losses to the dreaded New York powers (Clarkson, Cornell, Colgate and St. Lawrence) seemed to spell certain doom for the small band of Harvard players struggling to hang onto home ice advantage in the playoffs.

Even though Harvard broke the school record for most consecutive losses in the regular season, the team was coming close--it was just getting some bad breaks.

"Our record does not in my opinion indicate what type of team we really are," Tomassoni said. "We played well in that streak, and the puck would not, did not, go in for us at the right times."

Five out of the last six games were decided by a single goal as the Crimson repeatedly outshot and outplayed its opponents. It just seemed like there was a magical shield over the other team's net.

During the nine-game drought, injuries plagued the seniors, who had been Harvard's main offensive and defensive weapons; Konik and defensive stalwart Pete McLaughlin were sidelined after the infamous car crash the night before the first Beanpot game, while Holmes and Nielsen battled nagging leg and shoulder injuries.

In their absence, however, other players stepped up and flourished.

Freshman Rob Millar, for instance, exploded onto the varsity scene as well as the scoring column midway through the season with 10 points in his first four games.

And much credit has to go to the line of senior Jason Karmanos, sophomore Henry Higdon and Adams. They not only picked up the scoring burden, but they also took care of the smaller, less obvious tasks. Whether it was heavy forechecking or double shifting, the trio raised the level of their game. As a result, Higdon and Karmanos were honored with the Most Improved Player award while Adams walked away with the Rookie of the Year prize.

It's been said that out of the bad always comes good, and that sentiment certainly rang true for the Crimson. Before the myriad of injuries and subsequent losing streak, Harvard was a one-line team. The adversity not only produced confidence and maturity in the rest of the team, but there also appeared to be a deep team unity which surfaced. Thus, when the injured players returned, there was no stopping the new and improved Crimson.

Sweetest Victory

Heading down to St. Lawrence for the quarterfinal round of the ECAC Tournament, people immediately counted Harvard out.

"It really isn't that bad having to play Harvard," St. Lawrence senior Kevin Todd said.

Even the public address announcer in Appleton Arena was urging the St. Lawrence fans to remember to wear their red colors in Lake Placid before the first game of the quarterfinals had even begun.

In a thrilling three games, however, Harvard had the final say.

Memories of the past nine games vanished as the Crimson erupted for 15 goals in the series.

Grit and determination epitomized the Crimson's play. For example, in the first game--after an extra long shift--Adams finally headed towards the bench completely exhausted from skating down a puck in the St. Lawrence zone. Right before he jumped onto the bench, Adams turned his head as if fighting an urge to stay on the ice for a few more seconds. Luck finally went Harvard's way as the puck bounced right onto his stick.

With one last ounce of energy, Adams managed a pass to a streaking Nielsen, who passed off to freshman Craig MacDonald. MacDonald then knocked in Harvard's first goal of the playoffs.

That's how it began and with plays like that, before one could even blink, Harvard was Lake Placid-bound.

The Final Countdown

Despite its convincing victories over St. Lawrence, Harvard was still the underdog in Lake Placid when it faced top-seeded Vermont.

"There was an awful lot of talk about Vermont, Clarkson and Cornell and deservingly so," Tomassoni said. "They left us off to the side, and I think that kind of inspired us."

Spurred on by the previous series, the Crimson pulled out a thrilling 4-3 victory to move into the ECAC final. The thousands of Catamount fans who had been bused in from Burlington were left speechless as they watched their team get ousted by the Crimson's stellar defensive play and the rock-solid goaltending of senior Tripp Tracy, who this season became only the third Harvard goalie ever to record over 2,000 career saves.

Cornell proved to be too much for Harvard in the final game, however, as the Crimson fell, 2-1. It didn't matter much because the statement had been made and the Crimson had proven how good a team it really was.

Following the team's final loss to Cornell, Konik stood alone, barefoot in the hallway waiting to give his last interview as a Harvard hockey player.

Despite being consumed by physical and emotional exhaustion, the Harvard captain was able to manage a smile. His team had surpassed everyone's expectations.

Harvard Sports Stats 1995-96

Men's Hockey

Record: 13-20-1, 9-12-1 ECAC

ECAC Finish: Sixth

Head Coach: Ronn Tomassoni

Captain: Brad Konik '96

Other Key Players: Kirk Nielsen '96, Tripp Tracy '96, Henry Higdon '98, Jason Karmanos '96, Ashlin Halfnight '97, Ethan Philpott '98