Adieu, Superline

Union College will suit up for the ECAC hockey league for the 1991-92 season, Union President Roger Hull announced Monday.

The Skating Dutchmen, who are currently playing Division III hockey, will fill the void left by Army. The eleventh-place Cadets (6-12-3 overall, 1-11-2 ECAC) announced earlier this season that they would leave the ECAC to skate as an Independent school.

Union, located in Schenectady, N.Y., takes a two division leap by entering the league, but ECAC Executive Director Joe Bertagna has high hopes for the Skating Dutchmen program.

"Our expectation is that the trip to play Rensselaer and Union will soon be a very taxing weekend for other ECAC programs," Bertagna said in a press release.

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Superline R.I.P.: So long, and thanks for all the fun, guys. The superline is history.

Frustrated with Harvard's lack of scoring depth, Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni decided to break up the line of senior Hobey Baker candidates Peter Ciavaglia, Ted Donato and Mike Vukonich which had carried the Crimson attack for its last ten games.

When Harvard takes the ice Friday against Army at Bright Center, Tomassoni will disperse his Fabulous Baker Boys across the top two lines. Donato will center the top line, flanked by sophomore Ted Drury and freshman Brian Farrell. Vukonich and Ciavaglia will skate on the second line with sophomore Matt Mallgrave.

The checking line of Tim Burke, Steve Flomenhoft and Scott Barringer remains intact. On the fourth line, former defender Jim Coady will be flanked by freshmen Gus Gardner and Michel Briestroff.

Junior Rich DeFrietas will fill in for Coady back at the blue-line, skating with freshman Lou Body. The other two defensive lines are Kevin Sneddon--Sean McCann, and Derek Maguire--Brian McCormack.

"Obviously we need a little more balanced scoring attack. We can't expect them to get five to six goals a night every night," Tomassoni said. "We need a change of scenery."

After posting an incredible 70 points in its first six games together, the trio's scoring total tapered off to 24 points during Harvard's 0-4 January road stand.

The trio still sits 1-2-3 atop the ECAC scoring leaders, 1-2-3 atop the national points-per-game chart and has paced Harvard to a ECAC-leading 6.29 goals-per-game.

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Support the Troops: Starting Friday, the Crimson's helmets will bear American flags in support of the U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf.

Harvard equipment manager Chet Stone passed out the flags this week in response to the war in the Gulf. Several Crimson skaters had worn smaller flags prior to this week.

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Movin' Down: The two week layoff enabled other ECAC teams to catch up to Harvard in number of league games played, and the Crimson subsequently dropped to a tie for fifth place in the league standings.

Cornell (10-2-2)--led by ECAC Player of the Week Doug Derraugh's two hat tricks--swept two road games against lowly Colgate and Dartmouth last week to maintain a one-point lead over Clarkson (10-3-1) in the ECAC. St. Lawrence (9-4-1) dropped to third after losing to Vermont, 5-4, Saturday in Canton, N.Y.

Yale (8-5-1) sits in the fourth position with a one-point lead over both Harvard (8-6-0) and RPI (8-6-0).

The Crimson's fifth-place standing in the ECAC threatens to put the squad on the road for the ECAC playoffs, as only the top four teams in the league play first-round action at home.

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Just One To Go: Exam period may have hurt some, but it seems to have healed most of the Harvard hockey team. When the Crimson lost four consecutive Reading Period games to St. Lawrence/Clarkson and Brown/Yale, it didn't just knock Harvard out of the national rankings.

The Crimson ended its January schedule with injuries to John Weisbrod (bulging disk), Kevin Sneddon (shoulder), Derek Maguire (hyperextended knee) and Ted Drury (concussion).

But, except for Weisbrod, all are "close to one-hundred percent" and expected to skate in this weekend's matchups, according to Crimson Coach Ronn Tomassoni.

Weisbrod, who returned to action Jan. 4 with four assists against St. Lawrence, suffered a second bulging disk against Clarkson and is sidelined indefinitely