"Alex and Vicki suffered through the growing pains. Now they're racing the rewards of success."

--Harvard women's ice hockey Coach John Dooley

* * *

The first time Vicki Palmer met Alex Lightfoot four years ago, the subject of women's hockey slipped into the Freshman Union conversation. And by the time that initial encounter was over each had grown a little wary of the other.

"All I wanted know was whether or not she was a right wing," Palmer recalls When I found out she wasn't everything was fine." And for Lightfoot a left wing the knowledge that Palmer would-be vying for a different position was all she needed

The two who later that year, would be come the freshman sensations of the Harvard squad of recall those early days with a burst of laughter. Those were disparaging days for the Harvard women's ice hockey team and its members. At the time, it seemed everyone was laughing

"We were pretty bad back then," Palmer says "But that really didn't matter We just loved to play the game of hockey."

And as the pair's love for the game grew, so did the stature of the Crimson team. The squad that had been one of the nation's lowliest teams became of the mightiest.

Now in its fifth year, the Harvard team has completed its rise from those early depths. And Palmer and Lightfoot have experienced it all.

"They are certainly a part of the heritage of Harvard women's hockey," Crimson Coach John Dooley says. "They've really been a part of the hockey program since the beginning."

The only four-year starters on this year's team. Co-Captains Palmer and Lightfoot are nearing the end of their Harvard careers. The two will play their final home game--and possibly their last ever--at 2 p.m. today in Bright Center against Princeton. If the Squad does not receive an invitation to next week's playoffs, today will be the last time the two share the ice.

"It's really depressing," Lightfoot says, "But I'm trying not to think about it because I'm not very good at endings."

"Alex is just really peppy, energetic and always happy. She's always smiling and talking and just never crabby. She's really the greatest."   Vicki Palmer

AT the Crimson recent Beanpot match with Northeastern some 500 Crimson faithfuls gathered to support their beloved icewomen. They witnessed a dramatic 2 1 upset championship victory which kept the Beanpot on campus for a second consecutive year.

"The next day," says Jennifer White, "Alex personally thanked every one who came to the game. I don't know how she does it, but she always knows everyone who's at the games. She insists she doesn't know any one, but really she knows everyone."

Alex Lightfoot is, you see, the supreme bubbling, cheerful "happy-jack," and as White says, "the perfect social butterfly" Even more to her credit, she's the true star of this year's Harvard squad

After an off year last year the Lyme, Conn native has become one of the Crimson's top scorers and one of the team's most respected players

"Alex just really provides the inspiration for everyone, Dooley says. "The difference between her play this seat and last year is just amazing"

The Winthrop House resident who had taken the Harvard team by fire her freshman and sophomore years with her aggressive style of play managed just one measly goal all last year And that scoring drought really bothered Lightfoot

"I just never played well all last year," she recalls "I thought I was probably skating harder than I was."

But all that changed this year Her teammate and roommate White says, "The thing is she just wasn't into it last year. But this year, she's really been psyched for every game and she's been skating much harder."

And with her newly found confidence. Lightfoot has quietly crept up among the team's scoring leaders and has provided many key goals, including the tying goal in this year's Beanpot final.

"Winning the two Beanpots was such a great thrill," Lightfoot says. "I've never been so excited about anything."

But that's a strange statement from someone who always seems excited. "She's always happy." White says. "I can't think of a time she's ever been depressed but I can say that she's calmed down a bit now in her old age."

As the season winds down, Lightfoot is finding it difficult to accept that her Harvard career is just about over, Before yesterday's practice, White recalls, "Lightfoot was so crazy she was running around saying that this might just be our last organized practice. She was having a little accepting that."

But Lightfoot revels in the role as one of the remaining few from the original Crimson squads. "It's a lot of fun to be able to look back at all that's happened," she says. "When I came here I was kind of scared I wasn't going to make it on the team."

Four years later, Dooley points out, "Alex is just about the key to the team."

"She's really the team character, Vicki really does her own thing: she does whatever she want to. And that's what's so great: she's so remarkable at getting people to laugh and respond to her"   --Alex Lightfoot

* * *

What second-year coach Dooley remembers most about Vicki Palmer occurred in last year's Ivy championship game against Princeton

"We were down by one goal going into the third," Dooley recalls "I had been outside the locker room thinking that I should tell them that no matter what happened, it had been a great season. After all, I expected to walk in the room and find a really upset group."

Dooley was correct on most counts, except he wasn't counting on Palmer. "I walked in there and there was Vicki doing a handstand I couldn't believe it. If I didn't know it before. I knew it then women's athletics was different from men's If that had been a men's team, everyone would've been banging down the walls and had fire coming out of their nostrils."

"And there's Vicki, doing a handstand in the middle of the locker room I lost it when I saw that. I had to walk out side and regain my composure," Dooley concludes.

To Palmer, that "embarrassing moment" was her way of "doing her own thing."

Six days after that now infamous handstand, Palmer joined Lightfoot as the squad's Co-Captain. That, she says, is one of her greatest memories of Harvard women's hockey.

"I was so lucky to get it," she explains. "I was so thrilled, I could hardly believe it."

A four-year star on the Crimson team, the Wellesley native says she has really cherished her present role and the memories she will take from her senior year.

"Winning has made everyone feel a lot better" she says. "It's certainly made us feel better about ourselves and made us believe in ourselves, it's really made all those years worth it."

And as a second liner on those early Crimson squads, Palmer clearly remembers those early days. "We had just moved into the new rink, had gotten all kinds of new equipment and really looked like a team. The only problem was that we still weren't very good. We were last in the Ivies, last in the Beanpot, last in everything."

In her junior year she emerged as the team's top skater and led the team in assists And then came this year.

"Vicki has improved so tremendously this year." Dooley says. "She has been such a key performer, especially in our big wins The key to those wins has been out relentless forechecking And for forechecking, you need great skating Vicki really offers us that."

Palmer, who during her freshman year scored the squad's first goal ever in Bright Center, attributes her improvement to her aggressive style. "I just try to be as aggressive as I can," she says. "If I skater as fast as I can, hopefully I'll get the puck first"

And when Palmer lines up across from Princeton today, she'll get her last chance for that elusive first win over the Tigers. "I wish I could say it was just another game I keep telling myself it is, but then I realize it's really not."

Funny thing is, that's what Alex Lightfoot said, too.