Let the chickens loose and throw a couple of fish onto the ice. The Big Red Machine is the hottest hockey team in the ECAC.

Cornell (10-4 ECAC, 13-4 overall) has turned its season around. After splitting its first eight league games, the Big Red has been blazing through its last six. Cornell's midseason surge has put it just four points behind first-place Harvard.

And this was a team that lost last year's ECAC Player of the Year Joe Nieuwendyk to the NHL's Calgary Flames. With Nieuwendyk last year, the Big Red did not make the ECAC playoffs. This year, while Nieuwendyk has become one of the NHL's biggest offensive threats, the Big Red has paid tribute to its lost star by challenging for the ECAC title.

First-year Coach Brian McCutcheon (a Big Red member of the 1970 NCAA Championship team) is the frontrunner for ECAC Coach of the Year honors, as he has taken a team that entered the season with several holes to fill.

McCutcheon has turned to a younger group of players to help solve his problems. This group has responded and McCutcheon's early season headaches have disappered.

Freshman goalie Corrie D'Alessio filled up the Red's biggest hole--the one in front of the net. D'Alessio has guarded the goal for 717 minutes and has posted a 2.85 goals-against average, making him the league's secondbest goaltender.

Sophomore forward Casey Jones (6 goals, 16 assists, 22 points) is the league's sixth-leading scorer. Freshman Doug Derraugh enjoyed a sixpoint weekend in last week's Big Red sweep over Princeton and Army.

Cornell comes into Bright Center February 12 to take a stab at the first-place Crimson. No fish or chickens are allowed.

Timeout: Coach Bill Cleary looked like he wanted to lace up some skates and run on out to the Boston Garden ice during the closing minutes of the Harvard-B.U. Beanpot opener Monday.

With Harvard down by a goal with over a minute left to play, Cleary tried to call a timeout. Refs didn't see him. Cleary then proceeded to stand up on the edge of the boards and scream for a timeout. Refs didn't see him then either.

The officials didn't see that many things in the third period. After whistling every play that showed any signs of a penalty in the second period (12 in all), the whistles suddenly stopped in the third, as only one penalty was called. Talk about a consistent game.

Almost: Harvard almost managed to tie the Terriers in the closing seconds of the opening 'Pot game. At the 1:20 mark of the final period, Ted donato was behind the B.U. net and passed the puck out to Mike Vukonich, whose shot went just wide. The Terrier crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The play brought back memories of Harvard's 4-1 loss to Colgate in December when Peter Ciavaglia's shot in front of the net went wide against Red Raider goalie Wayne Cowley. A goal would have tied the game at two. The fans at Hamilton, N.Y., were breathing that same sigh.

Hello, ECAC: The Crimson may also breath a sigh of relief when it returns to ECAC action tomorrow night at Army.

Although St. Lawrence (11-3, 16-6) is only two points away from the Crimson, Colgate had a chance to move into a first-place tie with Harvard two weeks ago. But the Red Raiders were upset by Yale in New Haven and Princeton at home. The home loss to the Tigers was the first one for the Red Raiders.

The Elis (5-9, 5-13) have managed to win five out of their last six games and are now in the hunt for a league playoff spot. In the special teams department last weekend, Yale converted six out of 12 power plays and killed a total of 16 penalties.

This week's Player of the Week honors went to Clarkson senior Steve Williams, who scored three goals and added three assists as the Knights swept Vermont and RPI on the road. The weekend sweep put the Knights (7-6-1, 11-10-1) tied for fourth with the Catamounts.

'Pot Blues: The loss to the Terriers also marked the longest dry spell (seven years) the Crimson has ever had in capturing a Beanpot title, surpassing the six-year drought from 1963 to 1968.

To add to its Beanpot misery, Harvard has managed to take only three 'Pots since 1970. Since 1970, Boston University has won 10 titles.