All but four players are back from the team that last year sailed to a 21-9-2 mark, finished second in the ECAC with a 15-5-1 league slate and a second place showing in the March tournament, earned its fourth striaght Ivy title with a 7-2-1 mark, and advanced to the national playoffs, where it fell to Minnesota-Duluth in a pair of tight 4-2 contests.

And the four players who aren't returning--Brian Busconi, Greg Chalmers, Bill Cleary, Jr. and Brad Kwong--contributed just 12 of the 147 goals Harvard tallied in '84-'85. The team they left behind is still a force to be reckoned with.

Up front, Fusco is mounting a final assault on the Crimson record book. With 172 career points (73 goals, 99 assists), the senior is new ranked third on the all-time Harvard career scoring list.

He needs just 24 points to pass Joe Cavanaugh '71 (187 points) and Bobby Cleary '58 (195 points) to become the lifetime Harvard scoring leader. Shortly thereafter, he'll become the first Crimson skater to break the 200-point barrier.

Fusco, the ECAC Player of the Year in '84-'85, does more than just key the Crimson first line and power play. His consistency (he had 29 straight games with at least a point last year) and his willingness to take command at crucial junctures set him apart from the rest of the skaters on the Harvard team and perhaps the rest of the players in college hockey.

"Some guys take charge," Fuso says. "Some guys never do. I see myself in that role. My whole career I've been like that.

"That's my job and that's why I've been out there in crucial situations. My line is there when we need a goal in a tough game. We have confidence we're gonna score and I think everybody else does too."

Fusco gave the Crimson crucial goals all year long last season. His biggest may have been against Clarkson in the ECAC semifinals in the Boston Garden.

A bad back had plagued the Burlington native all night and prevented him from playing his usual game. But with less than a minute left in regulation, Fusco took the puck and beat Golden Knight goalie Jamie Falle to send Harvard into the finals the following night and secure the Crimson's berth in the NCAA Tournament.

It was the kind of play that makes him the favorite to capture the Hobey Baker Award--hockey's Heisman Trophy--this year, after being a finalist for the honor a year ago.

Fusco's linemates Tim Smith and Lane MacDonald each tallied over 50 points last year and Smith set a new ECAC record, scoring goals in 13 consecutive games. They round out a potent first line.

"We've got some good freshmen," goalie Grant Blair says, "but the biggest thing is we've got to get a little more scoring punch up front."

A freshman and a sophomore back after a year off the ice will be the center of the effort to revive the offensive spark in the Crimson's second line.

Center Allen Bourbeau was the Crimson's most highly touted recruit ever when he chose to come to Harvard three years ago. The Teaticket native broke the single-season and career Massachusetts high school scoring records at Acton-Boxborough.

Bourbeau played in only a single game his freshman year and was ineligible last year.