The Harvard men's hockey team has made reservations in Nassau for the Christmas break.

Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., that is.

The Crimson will ring in the new year a few days early when it travels to Nassau Coliseum, home of the New York Islanders, December 27-28 to participate in the inagural Long Island Hockey Classic.

Not only will the Crimson face non-ECAC opponents for the first time this season, but the tournament's other three opponents are all familiar with Crimson hockey in one way or another.

The University of Illinois-Chicago, fourth-place finisher in the CCHA last year, will be Harvard's opponent Sunday afternoon.

Val Belmonte, who has coached the Flames for five years, was once an assistant to Bill Cleary.

"This is the first time," Cleary said. "He's done a great job. I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure he's looking forward to it, too. Maybe we'll join forces the night before and hope everyone's in shape."

If Harvard defeats the Flames, the icemean can look forward to playing either Boston College or Minnesota-Duluth. Everyone in Boston knows what Len Ceglarski's Eagles did to the Crimson in the consolation round of last year's Beanpot. Mike Sertich's Bulldogs have turned into a national rival for the Crimson ever since they defeated Harvard in the quarterfinals of the 1985 NCAA Championships.

Pollin' Along: Harvard (7-1) is ranked sixth in KBJR-TV's USA Coaches' Poll. ECAC rivals St. Lawrence (9-2) and Colgate (9-1) fill the fifth and eight spots, respectively. The Larries even copped one first place vote.

Minnesota (15-3), Lake Superior St. (14-3-3) and Maine (11-2-2) occupy the first three slots. As for the Crimson, a good showing against national competition in Long Island just might give Harvard some further recognition in the rankings.

ECAC Update: Even though St. Lawrence is a notch ahead of the Crimson in the national rankings, Harvard is still alone atop the league standings, two points ahead of the Saints.

Colgate (5-1 ECAC) is in third, while surprising Vermont (4-1-1) is a point ahead of fifth-place RPI (4-2) and Princeton (4-4).

Brown and Yale have still yet to win a league game and find themselves dwelling in the cellar with identical 0-6 records.

League action picks again up on January 2, but mark Janaury 8 on your calender now. That's when the Larries invade Bright Center.

Goalie, Goalie!: St. Lawrence goalie Paul Cohen earned ECAC Player of the Week honors with his 31-save performance in the Larries' 2-1 victory over Clarkson. And the Crimson thought that Colgate netminder Wayne Cowley had a hot night in the Red Raiders' 4-1 victory over Harvard two weeks ago.

Clearyism: The ever-loquacious Harvard coach was at it again after the victory over Dartmouth.

When discussing the fact that the Crimson is getting goal-production from every line, Cleary emphasized how important this in light of the year-long departures of Lane MacDonald and Allan Bourbeau to the U.S. Olympic Team.

"You can't rely on two guys to come in like Bourbeau and MacDonald," Cleary said. "You just don't take guys like that off a tree."