While you were at Lamont during exam period, suffering through reserve materials, you missed some pretty good hockey at Bright Center.

But the scoreboard high above center ice was altered. "Eagles" took the place of "Harvard" next to the home team's score.

Boston College was the new "home" team. With a 230,000-square-foot athletic center is under construction in Chestnut Hill, B.C. has been an all-road team, playing its home games in scattered locations throughout the Boston area.

This was the second year that the Eagles have used the arctic confines of Bright for home games. B.C. was 3-0 in Harvard's home rink last year, but this year, the Bright ice wasn't quite as friendly. The Eagles compiled a 1-2 record in their three games in Cambridge, and each game was decided by a goal.

Defending NCAA champion North Dakota scored two shorthanded goals in the second period to beat the Eagles, 2-1, in Game One January 14. In Game Two nine days later, B.C. played a tight game with topranked Maine only to lose in over-time, 3-2, on a goal scored, fittingly, by plus-minus leader Christian Lalonde. In Game Three, a pesky Providence squad gave the Eagles all they could handle before bowing, 4-3, January 26.

I Loooove Modern Technology:

Only a handful of hockey teams play below the 37th parallel. For instance, the Los Angeles Kings, Northern Arizona University, of Alabama-Huntsville and U.S. International.

But a couple of weeks ago, diehard Clarkson and St. Lawrence fans scattered all over the nation had an opportunity to see the Golden Knights play the Saints courtesy of a satellite link-up, arranged by both university alumni offices.

The game, played January 16 and won by St Lawrence, 8-4, was seen in Atlanta, San Diego and Cleveland, among other places, according to an article in December's Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Chalkboard: What a difference a period makes. Washington found this out with a devastating five-touchdown second quarter in the Super Bowl, and Harvard found this out with a dominating third period against Brown January 15.

One cause for the shift in the Crimson's fortunes was the number of scoring opportunities the Bruins gave up in the third period, opportunities they did not allow in the second.

In the graphic, note that only four of the Crimson's 21 second-period shot attempts were taken from the area between the circles (30 feet out) in towards the goal line. Only one goal was scored, by John Murphy (26)

In the third period, Harvard attempted 24 shots, and 14 came from within the scoring zone, netting three goals (G) within the area. No wonder Harvard pulled away in the final period. Only a weird goal from behind the net (K) came from outside the scoring area in that period.

ECAC vs. The World: Don't think that the Harvard icemen are alone in dropping contests to CCHA representatives, like Illinois-Chicago. This year the ECAC is 2-7 against the CCHA.

In the ECAC-Hockey East race, the ECAC racked up a 3-1 record against Hockey East teams in holiday tournament action, but in regular season play, Hockey East has had a good December and January. The newer league now has a 6-4 non-tournament record against the ECAC with one regular-season game remaining. Vermont goes to UNH in a couple of weeks.