A lot of people look beyond the Class of 1991, and say the end of a Harvard hockey era approaches.

With the loss of the formidable forwards of the senior class-Peter Ciavaglia, Ted Donato and Mike Vukonich--the Crimson, though returning every member of the ECAC's second-ranked defense, might seem due for a scoring slump.

But thanks to the inspired play of the three representatives of the Class of 1993--Matt Mallgrave, Ted Drury and Steve Flomenhoft--Harvard hopes for a continuation of the Harvard Sports Information-dubbed "Sophomore Surge."

Drury, Flomenhoft and Mallgrave are the only sophomores on the team, but their play of late has brought the trio to fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, on the Crimson scoring charts--trailing only the members of the Superline.

Flomenhoft and Mallgrave have already more than doubled last year's output. Drury--who finished second in last year's ECAC Rookie of the Year balloting to Cornell's Kent Manderville despite missing 11 games due to injury--has stayed healthy enough to total almost a point-and-a-half per game.

The superior play of the Leverett F-15 roommates has been especially noticeable during the last eight games.

Flomenhoft tallied the Crimson's first goal in the 2-2 tie at Cornell February 9. Each and every member of the team--including Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni--has designated that weekend as the turning point in this up-and-down season.

"We keep coming back to that Cornell/Colgate weekend," Tomassoni said. "Since then we have played better every weekend."

Drury picked last weekend's ECAC tournament quarterfinal games against Rensselaer to explode, scoring a pair on Friday and Harvard's first on Saturday. Mallgrave assisted the Trumbull, Conn. native's opening goal in the first game.

Not wanting to be outdone by the teammate with whom he shares a closet-sized bedroom, Mallgrave notched his first Crimson shorthanded goal later in Saturday's contest, enabling Harvard to tie the game and win the series.

"Last Saturday night, Matt may have been the best player on the ice," Tomassoni said.

The Step Up

Although the collegiate Drury immediately showed the skill which made him a second-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames in 1989--netting 22 points his freshman year--Mallgrave and Flomen-hoft took longer to raise their play to its high-school heights.

"Not a lot of freshman dominate this game," Tomassoni pointed out. "Even [Boston Bruin forward] Craig Janney only had an average first year at B.C."

"In high school it's easy to be strong on the puck...you're stronger than everyone else," Mallgrave said. "Now you need to combine everything."