The Red Raiders of Colgate--Harvard's opening round ECAC Tournament foe for the second consecutive season--come to town this weekend looking for their first victory over the Crimson in over two years.

And although tickets for the two-game series went on sale last Wednesday, it is unlikely that Bright Hockey Center will be filled to capacity Friday and Saturday nights.

"We don't usually sell out for the quarterfinals, as a rule," Ticket Manager Gordon Page said.

"We've had pretty good sales here," he added. "We haven't heard from a few season ticket holders yet, but Monday we had over 700 students buying tickets."

Despite the Harvard turnout, however, there will likely be empty seats at Bright for the weekend contests thanks to the Crimson's opponent, Page explained.

According to ECAC regulations, the home team must reserve at least 20 percent of its rink's seats for the visitors. At Bright, this amounts to about 550 tickets.

"We're doing pretty well, but with the fact that we're playing Colgate, it kind of cuts our sales," Page said. "If we were playing St. Lawrence, for instance, they would fill the place up. They bring a lot of people."

Those reserved tickets which go unclaimed may be bought by "anyone who wants to sit on the Colgate side," Page said, adding that advance sales for Friday and Saturday are about even so far, with most purchasers buying tickets for both contests.

Calm Before the Storm

Last year, the 2250 fans who attended the Friday night quarterfinal match at Bright were treated to a relatively calm, 2-1 Harvard victory.

Relatively calm, that is, compared to the bloodbath that ensued the following evening, as 2650 viewers were privy to a Red Raider clinic on dirty play that Crimson Coach Bill Cleary termed a "bizarre scene."

With the icemen up, 5-1, Colgate's Gerard Waslen kicked a prone and pinned Grant Blair in the helmet.

The attack on his netminder prompted Harvard Captain Brad Kwong to charge Waslen, which in turn prompted a three-minute, bench-clearing free-for-all.

After 15 minutes of deliberation, the officials socked the brawlers with a slew of major penalties, and game disqualifications for Kwong and three Raiders.

And although the Crimson subsequently skated to a 10-2 trouncing of Colgate, Kwong's disqualification kept him out of the ECAC semifinal--a game the icemen eventually won, 2-1, over Clarkson.