When it was all over, the Crimson stormed goalie Grant Blair, Coach Bill Cleary jumped for joy and the Bright Center crowd exploded last Saturday after the Harvard men's hockey team swept Western Michigan in a two-game, total-goals series, 11-4.

"We're number one."

"Fusco. Fusco."

After the team finished celebrating in front of 2259 of the most faithful fans of the year, two of Harvard's senior heroes found someone special to thank.

As their teammates skated off the ice, Blair and wing Tim Smith gave Bright Center rink manager Jack Kirrane a big hug.

Kirrane is best known to Bright fans as the man at the wheel of the Zamboni which cleans the ice between periods, but he is also the man responsible for maintaining the quality of the ice at Bright.

And quality ice means quality skating means a quality home record of 15-0-1, including four playoff victories.

"Jackie does a great job," Smith said. "And the fans are a big advantage when we start to get on a roll."

When the high-scoring Broncos of Western Michigan rolled into Cambridge they were riding a 12 game winning streak, had won 17 of their last 18, and had beaten Michigan State in the finals of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament in front of 14,000 hostile State fans.

But little ole Bright Center proved to be a bigger obstacle for the Big Broncs Bombers.

Flying hard and fast around the big westerners, the Crimson sailed to a 4-2 victory Friday night.

The key goal in that contest came just 39 seconds after the opening face-off when sophomore Lane MacDonald (three goals, four assists, seven points on the weekend) scored on a shot from the left corner boards. MacDonald's shot came in at an impossible angle then hit Western goalie Bill Horn's skates in the crease and caromed back into the net.

The freshman netminder never recovered from the shot.

Horn was shelled in the second contest as Harvard flew to a 4-0 lead and a 6-2 advantage after two periods.

And all the Western guns could do was watch as Blair put on a show in the Harvard net, stopping 27 shots the first night and 43 the second.