Both Hockey East victories were claimed at the expense of Yale in a Thanksgiving-week debacle. B.U. won the first game in an 8-6 shootout, and the next night, the Elis went to Orono to play the then-top-ranked Maine Black Bears. Yale was promptly dumped, 10-4.

Independents: The race for the independent at-large playoff spot in the NCAA tournament has begun, and three early favorites have jumped out of the 17-member pack. Merrimack is atop the ECAC Division II race, and Alaska-Fairbanks and Alaska-Anchorage are featured on the top of a new poll of independent teams taken by radio station KBYR in Anchorage.

Alaska-Anchorage, which was on top last week, narrowly missed upsetting both North Dakota (twice) and Minnesota this past month.

But Alaska-Fairbanks (now 8-1-1) beat Alaska-Anchorage twice last week. "I guess that put a damper [on the ranking]," said Karen Morris, sports information director of Alaska-Anchorage.

Both Alaskan independents are primed for the national hockey spotlight: in two weeks, they host Michigan State and Maine in a holiday tournament which should serve as a benchmark of how far the teams have come.

The Chalkboard: Char Joslin scored both goals against Brown two nights ago to lift Harvard to victory.

The diagram shows the first of her two power-play goals. Note the positions of Joslin (5), Julie Sasner (15), and Brita Lind (11). They formed a triangle around a Bruin defender whose assignment was to overplay Sasner. Joslin released her point position (H) and went down the slot to score.

The Women Are Awesome: Unbelievably, the Harvard women's hockey team has actually played a more dominating game against B.U. than it did last week.

One year ago, Harvard beat the Terriers, 9-0, while outshooting the Commonwealth Avenue denizens, 76-1. This past week, the score was the same, but the shot differential was 72-2.

In racking up its 11th straight victory over B.U. then, the Crimson allowed twice the offensive output by the Terriers and still won the game by the same margin.