The rink on which the NCAA Final Four was played was supposed to be advantageous to fast-skating teams. But the larger ice sheet in the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., did not make much difference at all.

Not only was there not a single two-on-one or three-on-two goal in games that mattered, but the overtime goal by Lake Superior State against St. Lawrence in the title game came from a pileup resembling a rugby scrum.

The Lakers captured their first NCAA Championship with a 4-3 victory over the Saints last Saturday.

Penalties--lots of them--were called all weekend, especially in games in which Maine was involved. John Galipeau--the same referee who missed a flagrant kick by RPI's Bruce Coles in the first round of the ECAC playoffs in Cambridge--refereed the Maine-Lake Superior semifinal last Thursday and had a tough night.

No Beast From The East: You have to wonder about the Hockey East conference. In 1988, Hockey East was looking to end two years of playoff impotence. The top-ranked Maine Black Bears would be the chief catalyst.

But Lowell was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. So was Northeastern (by Division II Merrimack). Although Maine won its second-round series over Bowling Green (the first Hockey East playoff victory since 1985), it was dumped by Lake Superior State in Lake Placid.

A final note: it was good to see that no returning Olympic hockey players were on the roster of the participants in the national championship game.

It Can't Be: The 1987-88 Harvard hockey campaign began, as it has for the last four leap years, with a game with the U.S. Olympic hockey team. The past three games were, of course, blowouts. But it wasn't always that way.

In fact, the Crimson beat Team USA, 5-2, in the Boston Garden on November 24, 1975. Below are excerpts from William E. Stedman Jr.'s game story which ran in The Crimson the following day:

"If last night is any indicator, the Russian hockey team won't have to worry much about the Americans...a not-too-polished Harvard squad dumped the Olympians...

"The Olympic offense could not best Crimson goaltender Brian Petrovek more than twice, despite 34 shots during the game. Petrovek, who was cut from the Olympic team this summer, put in a very solid performance against the team that spurned his talents...

"For the Olympic squad, it was a night they would probably like to forget, especially with the Olympic Games just three months away."

Team USA went on to finish fourth in the Olympics.

The Chalkboard: Both Harvard varsity hockey teams have scored some great goals in the course of the season. John Murphy tallied while falling down against Brown in January. Char Joslin skated around three Colby players to get a goal in December. Ted Donato scored while crashing into the goalpost against RPI. And for slapshot artistry, Julie Sasner is without peer.

But which can be called Goal Of The Year? After careful thought, there can be no other than Sasner's overtime goal against Princeton.