Icemen Thwack Princeton, 3-1

One is the loneliest number, but one is all the Princeton men's hockey team had Saturday.

The Tigers sported one great player and one great line. Saturday, that player managed only one assist and that line only one goal, as the Tigers fell to the Crimson once again, 3-1, before 3023 spectators at Bright Center.

In the last 35 meetings between the two teams in Cambridge, Harvard has won 34 times. The Crimson also had knocked off the Tigers once before this year--6-2 in Princeton, N.J.

"Without a doubt, Harvard is the class of our league," Princeton Coach Jim Higgins said. "They're a well-drilled team and they skate well."

Despite being on the ice for most of the third period, Princeton's first-line of John Messuri, Bart Blaeser and Greg Polaski--who are all from the Boston area and call themselves the "Suburban Snipers"--could manage only a lone power-play goal with seven minutes left in the game.

"If you look at our lines, You'll see we only have one that scores." Higgins said. "We had to go with those guys when it counted."

The Crimson, on the other hand, got even-strength goals from Andy Janfaza and Allen Bourbeau--both on nice passes from Josh Caplan--and an empty net tally from C.J. Young with 36 seconds left in the contest. The victory was Harvard's second in a row, and lifted its record to 17-2 overall, 15-1 ECAC.

Princeton, which lives and dies on he fortunes of its first line--and Messuri in particular--fell to 7-12-1 overall, 6-9-1 ECAC. However, Messuri's assist gave him 33 points in the ECAC which propelled him into first in the league scoring race. Harvard's Tim Barakett is second with 32.

Harvard, which had lost games to Yale and Northeastern before this weekend's sweep of Army and Princeton, faces Boston College Today at 5 p.m. in the Consolation game of the Beanpot Tournament. Both teams are nationally-ranked.

"It's a big games for us." Harvard Captain Peter Chiarelli said. "The best two teams [in the tournament] are playing in it. It's a big rivalry--a lot of kids from the Boston schools know each other. It's a good way to start the drive to the playoffs."

Eagle Coach Len Ceglarski will be looking for his 556th career win, which would make him the win ningest coach in the history of college hockey. Meanwhile, Harvard will be looking to avenge a 4-2 loss to B.C. in the opening round of last year's Beanpot.

"Lenny's a good friend of mine," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "But I want the cake cut some other time."

The Crimson has not quite regained the polished form that lead it to a 15-1 record by the middle of January before its three-week break for exams. But even if some of its passes weren't on target and its shots a bit awry Saturday. Harvard still managed to emerge victorious.

After two sputtering periods, the Crimson was on top of Princeton, 2-0. Credit the lead to Caplan's fine passing--which lead to Janfaza's goal with 10 minutes gone in the game and Bourbeau's goal three minutes into the second period--and the quick glove of Crimson goalie Dickie McEvoy, who finished with 28 saves.

"I felt more comfortable than I had in the past," McEvoy said. "I felt more in control of my game--steering the rebounds where they should be steered, not giving them a second shot."

Princeton closed the gap with seven minutes left in the game, when Messuri fed a pretty pass to Polaski on the left. Polaski shoved a shot past McEvoy and the crowd--lulled by the slow action for most of the game--grew attentive.

With just over a minute left, Higgins removed goalie Dave Shea (31 saves) in favor of a sixth skater. At that Juncture, Young took a feed from Lane MacDonald on the left, skated the length of the ice and tossed a shot into the empty Princeton net to finish the scoring and seal the win for Harvard.

"We were too lax out there," Chiarelli said. "Everyone was on cruise control. We've been on break for a long time and it's hard to get the crispness back."

"We showed moments but we're still not back to where I want to see us," Cleary said. "What we're striving for is to peak later on. In any season, you're not going to be at a peak all the time--you're going to hit somevalleys."

One team's valley is another's mountain,however. Princeton, in seventh place in the ECAC,will be scrambling over the next month for a spotin the league's eight-team playoffs.

There's a chance that Harvard, which is a surebet to be the top seed in the ECAC Tournament, andPrinceton, a possible number eight seed, will meetagain. What would Higgins do to beat Harvard then?

"Don't ask me," he said. "We haven't beatenthem so I just don't know.