Voice: "You know I love the stars and stripes, even more than I love Harvard. I'm looking forward to beating those damn Commies, and Bourbeau and MacDonald can help me do it. So I'm taking them for the good ol' U.S.A."

Cleary: "I see. Okay, okay. That's tough. That'll make it a little hard. Well, at least we got Chris Biotti. He's a big guy. And he's really improving as a defenseman. He should be a real team leader this year."

Voice: "About Chris..."

Cleary: "Huh?"

Voice: "I...ugh...had to send him to the pros."

Cleary: "What?"

Voice: "He was just too big for the college ranks. A guy like that should be playing in the NHL. So, I put him on the first bus to Calgary."

Cleary: "You did what?"

Voice: "He's gone, Billy, gone."

Cleary: "Gone?"

Voice: "Gone."

Cleary: "Ugh. That makes it twice as tough. Oh, boy, it does terrible things to the hair line. Which reminds me of a joke. What do you call a bunch of rabbits walking backward? A receding hare line. Ha, ha, ha.

Okay, Okay, let me think. We lost seven seniors from last year. Some good players, too, like Tim Barakett and Dickie McEvoy. Real experience there. Real hard to lose those guys. But we've got a bunch of good kids coming in as freshmen. Heck, we've got a great player in Scott Barringer, a kid from Belmont Hill, my alma matter. He should pick up some of the scoring slack."

Voice: "Geez, Bill, I hate to disappoint you again..."

Cleary: "Let me guess. Let me just imagine. He's not coming to Harvard. Okay, he didn't really want to give Harvard a shot. So where is he going? Where is the worst possible place for him? Where would he do the most harm? Let me think...I know, I know, you sent him to Boston College. The hated Eagles have him. The bunch of bruisers who beat us in the Beanpot consolation game last year--by scoring a goal after the gun had gone off. You gave him to B.C., didn't you?"