Harvard men's hockey center Allen Bourbeau will return to the Crimson line-up this weekend against Colgate in the ECAC quarterfinals.
Bourbeau will start on the first-line in place of Harvard Captain Scott Fusco, who separated his shoulder in last Saturday's 5-4 loss to Clarkson.
Bourbeau, Harvard's fourth-leading and the nation's eighth-leading scorer, missed a month of action with a torn stomach muscle. Meanwhile, Fusco's status remains uncertain.
"It's working out well," forward Tim Smith said of Bourbeau's addition to the first-line, which also includes wing Lane MacDonald. "Al and I always joke around in practice. We get along well on and off the ice."
How does Bourbeau's playing style compare with Fusco's?
"I find them very similar," Smith said. "If there's a hole in the defense, they'll be there."
For four weeks and seven games, from early February to the beginning of March, the Crimson icemen were invincible.
Northeastern, the third-place team in the powerful Hockey East, could not stop the Crimson. The Huskies fell 7-1 even though Harvard started backup goalie Dickie McEvoy.
Neither could Vermont, which had defeated Harvard, 3-2, in early Janurary. Despite having the ECAC's and the nation's second-rated goaltender, Tom Draper, the Catamounts were pummeled with 51 shots and seven goals in a 7-3 Harvard triumph.
Nor could RPI, then the ECAC's second-place team and the defending NCAA champion. The Engineers didn't even come close, trudging away from Bright Center with a humiliating 11-0 defeat.
In those seven straight wins, Fusco recorded eight goals and 12 assists. With 49 league points on the season, he would soon wrap up his second straight ECAC scoring title and was looking for three assists to break the all-time Harvard assist record set by Joe Cavanagh from 1968-'71.
The Crimson (19-6-1 overall, 18-3 ECAC) seemed destined to ride into the ECAC playoffs--which begin for Harvard with two games tomorrow and Saturday against Colgate at Bright--with an eight game winning streak and an unbeatable lineup.
But along came Clarkson and its 6-ft., 2-in., 205-lb., forward, Charlie Meitner.
And with three shots in the season finale for both teams last Saturday in Potsdam, N.Y., Meitner single-handedly stripped the aura of invincibility away from the Crimson.
For his first and most devastating shot, Meitner did not use his stick. Instead, he slammed his body against Fusco behind the Harvard net, separating the senior Captain's left shoulder.
Harvard's all-time leading scorer skated off the ice and never returned.
Meitner's second shot, this one using his stick, knotted the score at 4-4 late in the third period.
And his final blast burst under McEvoy's legs to send the Knights home with a 5-4 overtime triumph.
End of game. End of regular season. End of Harvard's winning streak and its long journey through the valley of invinciblity.
And the end, for the time being at least, of Fusco's Firing Line, which also includes Smith and MacDonald.
And while Meitner's effort earned him this week's ECAC Player of the Week award and his team the fifth seed in the league tournament, Fusco is now recovering with his left arm in a sling.
If fifth-place Clarkson can beat Harvard, why can't eighth-place Colgate?
For several reasons.
The Crimson has the ECAC's and the nation's leading goaltender in Grant Blair. The senior owns a 2.70 national goals-against average and an even more impressive 2.47 league average. He stops nine out of every ten shots that come his way and has held opponents to three or fewer goals in 12 of his last 13 starts.
Blair, who recorded 30 saves in his final start of the season in the Crimson's 7-3 victory over St. Lawrence last Friday, is a prime candidate for All-American Honors. Draper, his chief rival for that tribute, is second among the nation's goalies with a 2.95 goals-against average.
"Grant came up big," Cleary said after the St. Lawrence game. "And that's the key. He's been doing that all year. I wouldn't trade him for anyone."
Blair also has a strong defensive corps in front of him, led by Mark Benning and Randy Taylor.
And Harvard's offense is not impotent without Fusco. Harvard has three other players on the ECAC's list of the top-10 scorers. They are Smith (18 goals, 20 assists), Tim Barakett (15, 20) and Bourbeau (17, 16).
Greg Chalmers, Bourbeau's replacement, has come on strong in the sophomore's absence. In 10 games since returning to the club after taking the first semester off, Chalmers has chalked up seven goals and four assists. He had three goals last weekend, two in the Crimson's victory over the Larries.
Colgate, on the other hand, boasts merely the league's eighth-rated goalie, Dan Delianedis (owner of a 4.82 goals-against average), and its sixth highest scorer, Gerald Waslen (14 goals, 21 assists).
Waslen is right behind Fusco on the list of the nation's top scoring leaders with a fifth-best 2.18 points-per-game average. Fusco, fourth in the nation, owns a 2.29 points-per-game average.
The Red Raiders (15-13-2 overall, 9-11-1 ECAC) have also lost four of their last five ECAC games, including a pair to Vermont and RPI last weekend, and have not beaten the Crimson in six games.
So even without Fusco, Harvard is likely to storm past Colgate.
If Harvard beats the Red Raiders, it will play the lowest seeded quarterfinal winner in the second semifinal game March 14 at 9 p.m. at Boston Garden.
What does this mean?
If seventh-seeded St. Lawrence (16-13 overall, 10-11 ECAC) knocks off number two Yale (19-8 overall, 15-6 ECAC), the Crimson will face the Larries.
If sixth-place Vermont (17-12 overall, 11-10 ECAC) beats third-seeded Cornell (16-6-3 overall, 13-6-2 ECAC), Harvard will battle the Catamounts.
And if fifth-seeded Clarkson (15-10-3 overall, 12-6-3 ECAC) knocks off fourth-place RPI (20-9-1 overall, 13-7-1 ECAC), the Crimson will get a chance to avenge its loss to the Golden Knights.
And if all the favorites win, Harvard will face defending tournament champion RPI.
Instead of starting Blair in net against Clarkson, Cleary went with McEvoy.
The junior netminder, owner of a 2.35 goals-against average in 153 minutes of action this year, had not started since the Northeastern game four weeks earlier.
McEvoy made 29 saves against the Knights--seven more than he did against the Huskies--but allowed four more shots to slip by him.
"We thought about Dickie playing for a long time," Cleary said. "It's a long season and we wanted Grant to go out on a postive note [after the St. Lawrence game.] We're not giving away the house if we start Dickie."
THE NOTEBOOK'S NOTEBOOK: Bourbeau is eighth in the nation with a 2.00 points-per-game average. Boston College's Scott Harlow, one of Fusco's rivals for college hockey's prestigious Hobey Baker Award, is a notch behind Bourbeau with a 1.97 point-per-game average. The nation's top scorer is Western Michigan's Dan Dorian, owner of a 2.68 points-per-game average...Fusco made the ECAC Honor Roll for his two-goal effort against St. Lawrence...McEvoy and fellow backup goalie John Devin finished in a tie for first place in Ivy League goals-against average. McEvoy didn't allow a goal in his 16 minutes of Ivy action against Brown in early February and Devin blanked Dartmouth in his 10 minute Ancient Eight cameo in late November.
FINAL ECAC STANDINGS Team W L T GF GA Overall Harvard 18 3 0 129 53
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