Crimson should be the dominant color of the 25th year of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).

With the return of its top seven scorers from last year, as well as one of the nation's best goalies, Coach Bill Cleary's Harvard squad is a good bet to cop its first ECAC title since 1983.

The Crimson finished second in the conference last season, outplayed on three occasions by the tenacious and talented Engineers of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the eventual NCAA champs. The Engineers were decimated by graduation and by defections of underclassmen to the pro ranks. In all, RPI lost 12 players, including its top scorer, its leading defensman, and its outstanding goalie.

Harvard's time has come--or so say the coaches.

The Crimson was the unanimous first-choice selection in the league's pre-season poll of its 12 coaches. If they are right, then Harvard should skate away with the ECAC title, followed by Cornell, RPI, Yale, Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

Harvard

This, quite simply, may be the greatest Harvard hockey team ever assembled. After finishing second in the ECAC last year and making it to the quarterfinals of the national championships, the Crimson lost only three players to graduation. With several stellar recruits, Cleary may have found better players to fill their skates.

Senior center Fusco (34-47-81), the ECAC Player of the Year, will lead the squad, after a season in which he won just about every award, except the Hobey Baker, college hockey's Heisman Trophy. Expect him to add that to his trophy case this year. The ex-Olympian spearheads the potent first line that boasts sure-shot wing. Tim Smith (31-22-53) and sophomore Lane McDonald (21-31-52). This unit converted on over 33 percent of its power play opportunities and knocked in 86 of the squad's 147 goals.

Three-year starter Grant Blair may be the nation's best goalie--or he may not. But there is no finer backstop in the East. With his kick saves and sprawling stops, Blair is as acrobatic in the net as any gymnast doing the floor excercises. Expect him to collect enough gold medal-winning performances this campaign to give Fusco chase for ECAC Player of the Year honors.

Aside from its relentless first line, Harvard's greatest strength--aside from goaltending, of course--is the defense, arguably the finest in the East. The defense is bolstered by returning starters Randy Taylor, Jerry Pawloski and Mark Benning, all of whom quietly established themselves last season as three of the league's steadiest performers. The Crimson blue line corps will be even stingier with the addition of 6-ft., 3-in., freshman Chris Biotti, a Belmont Hill 'standout who was the 17th player chosen in the NHL Draft.

And for those who need more reason to believe that Harvard has the tools to cop the ECAC title, add a second scoring line anchored by Alan Bourbeau and freshman Ed Krayer. If those two can add the extra scoring spark to the Crimson offense and, if the defense and Blair can continue to perform, Harvard will clearly be the team to beat in '85-'86.

RPI

Maybe RIP would be more fitting. After the Engineers steamrolled over all comers last season, posting a lofty 36-2-1 mark, six skated off to the pros and two others were lost to graduation. Coach Mike Addesa will look to junior Mark Jooris (19-16-35 in the ECAC) and left wing John Carter (26-13-39), the league's number four scorer last year.

After two seasons as backup goalie, junior Brian Jopling will get the starting nod. A 13-1 career mark shows he can do the job when given a chance. Jopling will have to replace two-year starter Daren Puppa, who jumped to the Buffalo Sabres after compiling a career mark of 56-7.

RPI's fortunes will rest on the performance of several beefy recuits: 6-ft., 3-in., 212-lb. wing Graeme Townsend, 6-ft., 2-in., 175-lb. Steve Moore, and 6-ft., 5-in., 210-lb. defenseman Red Brescia. Unless these newcomers can fill the immense gaps left by the NHL exodus, then hockey fans of other ECAC teams won't have to worry about seeing too much of RPI's annoying mascot.