M.Hockey to Face RPI, Union

Riding a two-game league winning streak, the Harvard men's ice hockey team enters this weekend facing two big games against conference opponents.

The Crimson will host both Rensselaer and Union in games that represent excellent opportunities for Harvard victories.

These games will be Harvard's final tune-up before Monday night's annual Beanpot tournament opening round in which the Crimson (8-9-1, 7-5-1 ECAC) will face the Northeastern Huskies. But, Harvard is making sure that it is not looking past these important league contests.

"Personally, I am very excited for the Beanpot, but it is important that we just take it one game at a time right now," freshman Craig Adams said. "The coaches are making sure that we stay focused for RPI and then after that, we will turn our attention to Union. Then, we will be able to think about Monday."

These two games represent an excellent chance for the Crimson to assert itself as a competitive squad in the congested ECAC field and gain solid position for the post-season tournament.

Harvard, barring a major collapse by both St. Lawrence and Vermont, will not win the ECAC regular season crown this year. The best chance for the team to make the national tournament, then, will be winning the post-season tournament title.

"We are not really thinking about the post-season. We just need to concentrate on winning games. That's all we can do," Adams added.

The Crimson enters tonight's action perhaps a bit rusty. It has not played a game since the weekend of January 12-13, when Harvard defeated these same two teams on the road.

Tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Bright Arena, Harvard will look to extend its recent league success, facing off against RPI (7-13-2, 5-6-1). The rivalry led to a 6-4 Crimson triumph three weeks ago.

RPI possesses a potent offense which is led by senior Bryan Richardson.

Richardson has posted an amazing 15 goals and 26 assists in just 22 games. Eric Healy (32 points), Tim Regan (26 points) and Patrick Rochon (21 points), are all also near the top of the league's scoring leaders.

Tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. in Bright, Harvard will host Union. In early January, Harvard shut out the Skating Dutchmen 2-0. Since that game, Union (5-12-3, 2-8-2) has lost 4 of 5 with their lone victory a 10-0 trouncing of a lowly Air Force squad.

The Union team is highlighted by the spectacular goal-tending of Trevor Koenig who has saved an incredible 92 percent of the shots fired at him.

"This is an excellent league, so you can't take any of the games lightly," Adams added. "But, we will be extremely disappointed with ourselves if we don't come away with two wins."