This year, though, he's more than ready to take on Michigan St. in the NCAA quarterfinal, which certainly pleases Cleary: "Greg's injury last year really took away someone who could score," he says, adding, "he's a strong fellow and he's very effective in taking the man out of the play with his body. He's just a great asset to the team.
Britz feels he's come a long way from when he first tried playing under Cleary Coming from the junior leagues, it took a while to adjust to the Crimson mentor's standards. "A lot of coaches will work with the variation (in their players)," he notes "Cleary likes to mold everyone into a fast skating team. I was more of a roaming center and Cleary plays a very tight system--the center stays in the middle."
Glad He's Here
He's definitely glad now he came to Harvard and took the trouble to learn the Cleary system. He feels he made the right choice when he turned down recruiters from New Hampshire, Michigan and Notre Dame--especially the latter, which dropped its varsity hockey program this year.
"When I got hurt it really struck me," Britz says. "I'm glad I wasn't hurt at Notre Dame or Michigan and got my scholarship taken away. I got into my courses a lot more then."
Those courses are a bit unusual among hockey players Along with roommate Greg Olson. Britz majors in bioanthropology on a team filled with economics majors "A lot of guys major in Ec because they want jobs in the business world I'm not so sure they'll really have better chances of doing that when someone is studying in something else, or that I want a job in the business world, anyway."
A more likely follow-up to Britz's graduation might be master's program work in oceanography or environmental studies. But, not surprisingly, he hasn't ruled out a little more hockey. "I've put in about 15 years of work, without getting anything in terms of money out of it; I don't think it's unreasonable to try." If he can't make it in the pros here, he might try the European leagues, where a veteran of the more fast-skating, less hard-hitting (relative to the usual North American style) ECAC would have a better chance.
Ending up in new surroundings wouldn't be a new experience for Britz, who has already lived in Rhode Island, Ontario (twice). California and Marblehead, Mass, (his father, a former Brooklyn Dodger, works for an airline). But he has nothing on his mind now more than his finale with the Crimson this (or, he hopes next) weekend.