"He's very confident," Fusco says. "And he doesn't appear to be nervous. He should be a very big contributor, especially by the end of the year."

Participating in the National Sports Festival didn't hurt, either, since Biotti was able to compete with America's top college players. The Festival could serve as a stepping stone for bigger things--namely, the United States Olympic Team.

Biotti presumably will play in the Festival next summer, too, where he'll be scouted by representatives of the U.S. team. Both Fusco and his older brother Mark '83, another Crimson star, have blazed the Belmont Hill-Harvard-Olympic trail, and the latest Belmont product is ready to follow in their footsteps.

For now, Biotti has put his Olympic and professional aspirations on hold. If he does make a decision to turn professional, he is legally bound to the Flames.

"I'll take it one year at a time," Biotti says.

The blueliner will probably be paired with sophomore Jerry Pawloski at the beginning of the season. Pawloski, too, was drafted in June, but the Northville, Mich. native went to Hartford in the 11th round and 215th overall, 198 players after his highly touted charge.

Biotti, a three-year all-league selection, led Belmont Hill to two Keller Division titles, but two years ago St. Paul's School stole the crown from Biotti's team.

In the midst of those great battles for the Keller championship, Biotti met Ed Krayer, a forward for the New Hampshire prep school.

Krayer and Biotti are alike in many ways. Like Biotti, Krayer attended a prep school that prepared him well for Harvard.

And Krayer, a second-line left wing, turned down an opportunity to play in the pros, too. Although the New Jersey Devils chose him in the eighth round of the draft (150th overall), he--like Biotti--remained true to his early decision.

"I had an Ivy League school in mind," Krayer explains. "I looked at Yale, Dartmouth and Colgate, but Harvard was my favorite." Harvard appealed to him because of its academic and social environment, as well as its strong hockey program.

He and Biotti also participated in the Spring Junior Olympics together, both playing on Team Massachusetts (Krayer's home town is Acton). It was at the Junior Olympics that some NHL scouts talked to Krayer, and suggested to him that he might be drafted.

But the Devil scout understood Krayer's preference for a college education. "The scout didn't want to pressure me from leaving Harvard," Krayer says. Plus, his family favored the idea of college over professional hockey.

More significant than the other similarities between Biotti and Krayer is that both are well-suited for Harvard hockey.

"Harvard plays a skating game with a lot of movement," Bill Matthews, boy's hockey coach at St. Paul's, says. "We played that here."