Which member of the Harvard hockey team missed his own goaltending debut because he had to use the bathroom?

Five minutes before the first game in which he was supposed to play net at the tender age of five, freshman Chuckie Hughes turned to his parents and announced that he needed to be excused. His father, who was coaching the team, was reluctant to let him go. But at Hughes' insistence, his mother escorted him to the restroom. By the time she had helped him get all his equipment off and back on again, the game was over.

"My dad was so mad because the team had to play the whole game without a goalie," Hughes says.

Fortunately for Harvard, he has moved on from such inauspicious beginnings to become one of the top netminders in the ECAC, along with teammate Allain Roy. Hughes, a member of the ECAC All-Rookie Team, will be in net tonight when Harvard faces Cornell in the ECAC consolation game.

"At the beginning of the season a lot of people thought that our goalie position would be a big question mark, but Chuckie and Al have really come through, and, of course, Mike Francis continues to be strong for us," Captain Lane MacDonald says. "It's turned out to be a position where we have a great deal of depth."

Nowhere was this depth more apparent than at this year's Beanpot, which Harvard won for the first time since 1981. Hughes was instrumental in getting the Crimson into the finals, collecting 38 saves in a 5-4 victory over Boston College.

"He's been one of the big stars for us," senior Allen Bourbeau says.

The Beanpot win must have been especially sweet for Hughes, a native of nearby Quincy. He's used to winning at Boston Garden, having led Catholic Memorial to its thirdstraight state championship last year.

But this was the Beanpot, a tradition with which he grew up. And he was playing for Harvard, a school he had always wanted to attend.

"Everything that's happened has just been beyond my wildest dreams," Hughes says.

While some people may have found the pressure of the instant fame that followed difficult to handle, the charming and affable Hughes just "ate it up."

"I've never had so much attention in my life, and I loved it," Hughes says.

"Chuckie just loves to talk--he holds nothing back," sophomore Ted Donato says. "I'll run into people who've talked to him and they'll say that they got in like three words, but he's such a nice guy that you just have to laugh."

While the Beanpot was obviously one of the high points of his career thus far, Hughes admits that his hockey experience has had its ups and downs.

"My father pushed me really hard," Hughes says. "I'm glad that he did to a point, but it's been pretty tough. I almost quit hockey a couple of times because he pushed me so hard. But I think learning to handle it helped me to deal with pressure, so now I'm not afraid of pressure situations."