"I hear Kevan Melrose has only two more games of eligibility. Who's going to replace him?

"You mean as Harvard's new defenseman? Tod Hartje is moving back from his forward position."

"No, I mean, who's going to replace him."

"Oh, you mean as Scott McCormack's partner on the first defensive line? Coach Bill Cleary isn't sure yet."

"No, I mean, who's going to do what he does?"

"Ohhhhh. You mean as a sturdy, tight-checking crowd favorite?"

"YES, DAMMIT! WHO'S GOING TO KNOCK PEOPLE ON THEIR BUTTS? WHO'S GOING TO CHECK PEOPLE THROUGH THE PLEXIGLASS? WHO'S GOING TO SPEND MOST OF HIS WAKING HOURS IN THE PENALTY BOX? WHO'S GOING TO APPEASE MY INSATIABLE DESIRE FOR BLOOD?"

"Oh, that's easy. Why didn't you just ask?"

Kevan Melrose is, as Cleary would say, a heck of a hockey player. He can skate, shoot and ride forwards off the puck with the best of the ECAC's blue-liners.

But when Melrose completes his collegiate career next Saturday night in Bright Hockey Arena, he won't be remembered for his hockey prowess.

To the Harvard hockey faithful, Melrose will be mythologized as the bruising enforcer whose monster checks and willing fists intimidated opponents and protected teammates. To fans at road rinks, he will be remembered as a goon.

And now a new man must take his place.

"I'm handing my baton down to Steve Flomenhoft," Melrose says. "He'll get into more trouble than I ever did."

Steve who?

Flomenhoft is a 205-lb. freshman forward from Chicago who centers classmate Matt Mallgrave and sophomore Jim Coady on Harvard's fourth line. He played his senior season at Avon Old Farm in Connecticut, the prep school that produced the Rangers' Brian Leetch, last year's NHL Rookie of the Year.