BOSTON--There was good news and bad news about the Harvard hockey team's 4-3 loss to Boston University here at the Walter Brown Arena.

First, the good news: The Terriers are not in the ECAC, so the Crimson's loss does not effect its position on top of the conference standings.

The bad news: It was still a loss--the first of the season. And while the game wasn't as close as the final score might suggest, it was a very disheartening loss for Harvard.

The Terriers (3-3-1, 1-3-0 Hockey East) controlled the puck for most of the game, amassing a 4-1 lead by the middle of the third period. Harvard (4-1-1 overall, 4-0-1 ECAC) mounted a late, two-goal rally but the team couldn't overcome B.U.'s lead.

But readers shouldn't mistake that last rally for a dramatic hockey game, because this one was a real snoozer. Both teams were coming off a tough weekend of hockey--Harvard on the road against physical Princeton and Yale squads, and B.U. at home against top-ranked Maine for two games.

Both teams skated slowly and played lackadaisically.

"I personally thought it was a sluggish hockey game," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "It didn't seem to have a lot of flow. We didn't seem to skate very well.".

B.U. Coach Jack Parker toed the same line.

"I thought they were slow, I though we were slow," Parker said. "It certainly wasn't a typical B.U.-Harvard game."

Harvard forward Steve Flomenhoft, who scored Harvard's final goal last night, agreed that Harvard's tough weekend translated into a less-than-spectacular team performance.

"We're coming off a physical game on the road," Flomenhoft said. "B.U.'s a physical team. Most of the people, myself at the forefront of that list, didn't contribute a lot. There's a lot we need to work on."

But as is expected in a Harvard B.U. contest, the teams avoided fisticuffs and concentrated on skating.

As if. Together, the two old rivals combinedfor a whopping 22 penalties, but neither squadtook advantage. (Harvard was 1-for-8 and BU1-for-7).

Harvard's offensive star of the night wasjunior Chris Baird, who had a goal and an assist.However, Baird's performance was overshadowed byBU sophomore Jacques Joubert.

Joubert, who transferred from Princeton, scoredtwo goals for the Terriers and generally outskatedmost people on the ice.

As for Harvard's defense, freshman goalie AaronIsrael almost singlehandedly held off the Terrierattack. Israel gloved an impressive 21 saves.