Icemen Gear Up For Clarkson

Over the last two months, the Harvard men's hockey team has lost only once.

To Clarkson.

And now the Golden Knights are the only roadblock the Crimson faces on its way to a second-straight ECAC tournament final appearance.

The two teams square off in the 9 p.m. semifinal game tonight at Boston Garden.

Meet roadblock number one--forward Charlie Meitner.

He's the guy who scored two goals the last time Harvard faced Clarkson.

His first goal knotted the score at 4-4 late in the third period of that game in Potsdam, N.Y., two weeks ago.

His second goal--on a shot that flew past reserve goalie Dickie McEvoy with three minutes gone in overtime--gave the Golden Knights a stunning 5-4 upset of the nationally-ranked Crimson and ended Harvard's seven-game winning streak.

Meitner finished 12th in the ECAC with 13 goals and 19 assists. He recorded 18 goals and 25 assists on the year.

But to Harvard fans, he is best remembered as the guy who delivered the hit that separated Crimson Captain Scott Fusco's shoulder the last time the two clubs met.

"Meitner's their big scorer," Harvard defenseman Jerry Pawloski says. "You really look out for a guy like that. But you can't look out for him all the time. It's the guys you don't look out for that tend to score."

Like roadblock number two--Luciano Borsato.

He scored a power play goal against the Crimson two weeks ago. Not many players have done that this year--Harvard's penalty-killing unit has a 77.4 percent efficiency rate.

Borsato also scored two goals in Clarkson's 6-4 triumph over defending ECAC champion RPI Saturday, to help his team to a first-round playoff sweep of the Engineers.

He has 16 goals and 18 assists on the year.

Roadblock number three needs no introduction.

He's goaltender Jamie Falle, and he almost single-handedly stopped the Crimson from reaching the ECAC final last year.

Falle held Harvard to only one goal for 59 minutes of that contest, only to see Fusco knock in a shot with 52 seconds remaining to give the Crimson a 2-1 victory.

Falle is the fourth-rated goalie in the ECAC with a 3.23 goals-against average. He stopped 31 shots and allowed only a single goal in Clarkson's 3-1 victory over RPI Friday.

And then there's roadblock number four--Andy Otto.

He's a scrappy defeseman.

He chases the Harvard offense out of the Clarkson end.

He's annoying.

"They have a good defenseman in Otto," Crimson wing Tim Barakett says. "He likes to carry the puck of their end. The game will be won in their end."

Otto has scored four goals and recorded 26 assists on the year.

Roadblock number five isn't a player. It's Boston Garden, where the Cantabs are 1-1 this year.

The Garden is small and Bright Center--the Crimson's home rink--is big.

Harvard goalie Grant Blair, who likes big rinks, had trouble with his angles in the Crimson's 4-2 Beanpot loss to Boston College in the Garden.

He gave up three goals on B.C.'s first three shots.

"You can't worry about these things," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary says. "We just have to play our game and really go."

"The Garden is suited to their style," Pawloski says. "It's small and that's good for their close-checking type of game."

But if Clarkson has roadblocks, the Crimson has bulldozers.

Like Fusco--who will return to action tonight after missing the Crimson's 2-0 and 6-4 victories over Colgate last weekend.

Fusco leads the ECAC with 18 goals and 31 assists.

And like Tim Smith--third in the ECAC with 18 goals and 20 assists.

"I think Smith is a big threat," says Cornell Coach Lou Reycroft, whose team will battle Yale in the 6 p.m. contest. "He's got a great shot on the off wing."

"Teams tend to concentrate on me," Fusco says. "So if I get the puck to Smitty, he's going to score."

And don't forget Allen Bourbeau.

The center will be back on the second line after taking Fusco's place on the first line last weekend. He will rejoin left wing Ed Krayer and right wing Tim Barakett, who combined for three goals and three assists in Saturday's win over Colgate.

"He's a great playmaker," Barakett says. "A great passer. The 'Killer B's' are back."

Bourbeau knocked in 18 goals this year, despite sitting out the seven games prior to last week's Colgate series with a stomach muscle pull.

If the Knights don't have enough trouble already with Harvard's potent offense, they won't find the Crimson defense any softer.

Not with Blair, the ECAC's and the nation's leading goalie, in net.

The senior owns a 20-4-1 record, a 2.64 goals-against-average and stops nine out of every 10 shots that come his way.

In 12 of his last 14 starts, he has allowed three goals or less.

"Everyone says he's done so well because he's had a good team in front of him," Pawloski says. "Well, we have a great goaltender behind us."

"People don't realize how effective he is," Barakett says. "He takes so much pressure off the forwards. We don't have to worry about a bad shot going in. We don't even have to worry about a good shot going in."

If the last three meetings between Clarkson and Harvard are any indication, the winner will leave the Garden (and return to it 9 p.m. Saturday for the final) with a one goal victory.

Harvard beat Clarkson in last year's ECAC semifinal, 2-1, and slipped by the Knights, 3-2, at Bright earlier in the year.

And Clarkson pounded the Crimson, 5-4, in the season finale for both teams this year.

Tonight, the Crimson will look to avenge that loss on its way to league--and national (because an NCAA tournament bid awaits Harvard if it is victorious)--glory.

Meanwhile, Clarkson is only looking for another golden night.