Yale

If Harvard is the smoothest skating team in the ECAC, then Yale is the biggest, strongest and most lumbering. The huge Elis will be back to their favorite clutch-and-grab tactics on the warm ice of Ingalls Rink.

Randy Wood, the first 50-point man in Bulldog history, returns to lead a dangerous Yale squad that had a 13-7-1 ECAC record last year. The offense benefits from the return of several players, including Tom Walsh and Sean Neely. Along with other returning starters, Wood, Walsh, and Neely accounted for two-thirds of Yale's goals last year.

Captain Scott Webster is the bright spot on the blue line. In goal expect to see Crimson-killer Mike Schwalb or Mickey Kappollo.

Colgate

First, the good news. The Red Raiders boast an offense that is virtually intact after last year's mediocre 9-12 ECAC campaign. Top scorer Gerard Waslen (14-5-19) is joined by Lowell MacDonald and Harold Duvall to form what should be a lively, if thin scoring corps. In addition, the return of Paul Jenkins and the arrival of four highly touted freshman ensures the Red Raiders will have a strong defense.

Now the bad news. Standout goalie Jeff Cooper graduated and the Raiders are searching to find a competent replacement. Cooper was the ECAC First Team netminder and finding a new goalie of his caliber may prove to be impossible.

The quality of Colgate's starting goaltender will go a long way towards predicting how successful this season will be. Actually, it may not make a whole lot of difference--even with Cooper, Harvard overwhelmed Colgate by a combined score of 14-4 in the ECAC Tournament a year ago.

Vermont

There are some bright spots for Vermont this year. Goalie Tom Draper is one Behind a young defense last year, he had a 4.50 goals-against average through 19 games.

On offense, Vermont lost several starters from last season's 4-17 squad. Rich Laplante and Jeff Capello will account for most of the scoring threat this year. The defense will be keyed by Tom Maher.

Even with a stellar season from Draper, the Catamounts have a long, icy way ahead of them.

Princeton

The Tigers copped the last ECAC playoff spot last year--this season, they should do even better. Top scorer Cliff Abrecht (5-17-22) returns, along with most of the heart of last year's offense.

The defense may be the team's weakest area, but the sizzling goaltending of Dave Marotta--he had a 2.94 goals-against average--should do more than an adequate job at picking up the slack.