It's that time of year again. ECAC playoff time, when all the marbles are up for grabs. Even for a team like Harvard, which made mincemeat of its Eastern opponents en route to the number one ECAC ranking, all that really counts is how well it does in the post season playoffs.

The Crimson's sterling 19-1 ECAC and 12-0 Ivy League records will all go for nought, and be reduced to an, "At least we were number one for the season" memory, if Harvard loses tonight's quarterfinal match against Clarkson.

The game shapes up as potentially one of those wide open, high-scoring, free-wheeling affairs. Clarkson has displayed strong offensive firepower the whole season, averaging 4.95 goals per game. The Crimson will have to be especially wary of the line of center Dan Driscoll and wings Dave Taylor and Marco Cardoni. The trio has accounted for 58 goals this year, with Driscoll the leading scorer for the Golden Knights with 53 points. The three aren't all Harvard has to contend with however, as they have a fine supporting cast, with 16 Clarkson players with point totals in double figures.

The Harvard offense, of course, is the most potent and well balanced in the East, averaging 6.50 goals per game, with 10 players having scored 20 points or better, led by Randy Roth's 44 points.

Trump Card

But as has been the case with all the other teams Harvard has run into this year, defense should be the Crimson's trump card. While the Golden Knights have been scoring just under five goals a game, they've been letting in just over five goals per contest. The Crimson defense, on the other hand, has been consistently the best in the East, allowing just 2.56 goals per game.

On paper then, Harvard rates a clear advantage over a Clarkson team that has been mediocre all season. Clarkson's overall record is 14-16-1, and its 9-9-1 ECAC mark earned it the eighth spot in the ECAC playoffs. The Golden Knights just barely edged out Northeastern for the final playoff berth by virtue of a narrow 6-4 victory over Vermont Saturday night.

But how things appear on paper and how they turn out can usually be two different things in an ECAC playoff game. So lest anyone get overconfident, Harvard fans and players need only think back to 1973. In that quarterfinal game two years ago, a 17-4-1 Harvard squad, ranked second in the East, ran into a similarly mediocre Golden Knight team that was seventh in the East.

Shock

Clarkson shocked the Crimson by a 7-4 margin that night, thus ending national championship aspirations that Harvard harbored that year. With luck, things won't turn out like that this year. PUCKING AROUND--Captain Randy Roth continues his climb up the all-time Harvard scoring ladder. Roth's two points against Yale brought his career total to 136, tying him for fifth place with Steve Owen. Randy is now just four points back of Dave Hyne's 140 point total, and if the Crimson makes it to the NCAA finals in St. Louis, he has a chance to pass Bob McManama's 151-point career tally...Defense-man Eddie Rossi is now tied with Jim Thomas for second place in team scoring with 36 points. Rosse, already in the record books with most assists and points for a defenseman in a season, has a good shot at passing Chris Garry for most career assists by a defenseman. Rossi has 45 assists, while Gurry's mark is 50...Tonight's contest will mark the seventh time that Harvard has met Clarkson in the ECAC playoffs since 1963. The Crimson has won four of the games.