ECAC Tournament Opens Tomorrow

# 1 Harvard

Nickname:Crimson

Coach:Bill Cleary

Captain:Steve Armstrong

Overall Record:18-8

ECAC Record:18-4

Leading Scorers:Armstrong (13-13--26), Peter Ciavaglia (7-19--26)

Goalie:John Devin (2.67 g.a.a., .900 save percentage, 12-6 record)

Outlook:When the Crimson had to win, it did. Now it enters the playoffs as the top seed for the third year in a row. Harvard has one of the better groups of seniors in the league. The Crimson has also given up the fewest goals (52) in the ECAC.

Tradition will also play a big part for the Crimson, as it is looks for its third ECAC championship in the 1980s. Add a coach who has always been a winner along with home ice, and this year's Crimson might equal the feats of past teams.

# 2 St. Lawrence

Nickname:Saints

Coach:Joe Marsh

Captains:Hank Lammens, Pete McGeough, Pete Lappin

Overall Record:23-7-1

ECAC Record:18-4

Leading Scorer:Lappin (13-19--32)

Goalie:Paul Cohen (3.19 g.a.a., .891 save percentage, 15-5 record)

Outlook:If UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian ever decided to coach college hockey, he would probably book a flight to Canton, N.Y., where the Saints have been runnin' and gunnin' all season long.

St. Lawrence knows how to score, as its 124 league goals attest. The defense, however, has played more like the Los Angeles Clippers, the NBA's stand-and-stare defensive giant.

Princeton, the Saints' opponent, will have to bring in jet engines to keep up with the SLU attack.

#3 Cornell

Nickname:Big Red

Coach:Brian McCutcheon

Captain: Chris Norton

Overall Record:18-7

ECAC Record:15-7

Leading Scorers:Trent Andison (17-18--35), Chris Grenier (12-23--35)

Goalie:Corrie D'Alessio (2.71 g.a.a., .911 save percentage, 16-6 record)

Outlook:Advantage number one--the Big Red is playing at Lynah Rink and those crazy Cornellians will have their playoff vocal chords tastlessly tuned.

Advantage number two--Cornell has captured more league titles (seven) than any other team. It has tradition in its corner.

Advantage number three-Coach Brian Mccheon, who played on the 1970 Red NCAA Championship squad, has turned this Cornell squad around. The team may be young, but it knows how to score.

# 4 Vermont

Nickname:Catamounts

Coach:Mike Gilligan

Captain:Paul Seguin

Overall Record:20-7-1

ECAC Record:14-7-1

Leading Scorers:Ian Boyce (14-20--34), Toby Ducolan (12-18--30), John LeClaire (10-21--31)

Goalie:Mike Millham (2.50 g.g.a., .896 save percentage, 10-3 record)

Outlook:There's a new kid on the block and he shows no signs of moving away. Vermont has proven this year that it can defeat the league's elite, such as Harvard, which it beat twice.

Mike Gilligan's club has shown tremendous resiliency. It may not have scored that many goals (81, the second lowest mark of any playoff team), but it has found ways to win.

Vermont split its season series with Colgate, but through the magic of Burlington (where it beat the Red Raiders, 2-1), the Catamounts captured the final home ice slot.

# 8 RPI

Nickname:Engineers

Coach:Mike Addesa

Captains:Steve Moore, Graeme Townshend, Denis Poissant

Overall Record:15-15-0

ECAC Record:9-13-0

Leading Scorer:Joe Juneau (9-22--31)

Goalie:Jamie Bellanca (3.54 g.a.a., .867 save percentage, 7-5 record)

Outlook:The little Engine could last time against Harvard. Two weeks ago, the boys from Troy (minus Helen) stormed past the Crimson, 4-0, in Bright Center of all places.

That night--one of the least memorable in Harvard history--RPI goalie Steve Duncan went as far as the Charles River and back to stop shots. Also, the Engineers used their bulk to tie down the high-flying Crimson offense.

Mike Addesa has an NCAA Tournament trophy in his office, so the big fella knows how to

# 7 Princeton

Nickname:Tigers

Coach:Jim Higgins

Captains:John Allen, John Messuri

Overall Record:12-13-1

ECAC Record:11-10-1

Leading Scorers:John Messuri (16-31--47)

Goalie:Mark Salisbury (2.91 g.a.a., .893 save percentage, 7-3-1 record)

Outlook:John Messuri is one of the top players in the league. Greg Polaski is a solid forward. But who else performs magic in Tiger Town?

Princeton does not have the speed of, say, Harvard. Nor does it have the size of, say, St Lawrence or RPI. The Tigers will have to rely on sharpshooters Messuri and Polaski to keep them on the scoreboard and freshman Mark Salisbury to stake out his net well.

The Tigers will be hard-pressed to bottle-up the extraordinary offense of the Saints.

# 6 Clarkson

Nickname:Golden Knights

Coach:Cap Raeder

Captain:Chris Mills

Overall Record:14-3-4

ECAC Record:10-9-3

Leading Scorers:Luciano Borsato (14-27--41), Steve Williams (14-19--33), Mike Morrison (19-11--30)

Goalie:John Fletcher (3.16 g.a.a, .909 save percentage, 13-9-3 record)

Outlook:Clarkson has an excellent player in Luciano Borsato, the league's third leading scorer And goalie John Fletcher, the former ECAC Rookie of the Year, tends the nets well.

But the Golden Knights are often a step slow and a penny short. A quicker Cornell squad is likely to outrun the not-ready-for-prime-time Knights.

Cap Reader's teams have bucked expectations before, however. The Knights beat dominant Harvard in the 1986 ECAC semis.

# 5 Colgate

Nickname:Red Raiders

Coach:Terry Slater

Captain:Rejean Boivin

Overall Record:18-10-2

ECAC Record:13-8-1

Leading Scorers:Rejean Boivin (31-21--52), Joe Gardner (12-32--44)

Goalie:Wayne Cowley (2.72 g.a.a., .915 save percentage, 11-6 record)

Outlook:At home, Colgate is a hard-hitting, high-scoring squad. The team dunked Harvard, 4-1, in Hamilton, N.Y., in December.

On the road, the Red Raiders are a tamer bunch. Look for Vermont to try to outskate the Big Bad Red.

However, if goalie Wild Wayne Cowley comes up big--and he's certainly capable of it--the Raiders could wind up in the Final Four, where they'd be tough in small Boston Garden.