Harvard freshman Ben Coughlin certainly felt like he had something to demonstrate going out onto the ice Monday night against Boston College.

"I've been hearing it for many years that BC is superior to Harvard, so now I get a chance to prove them wrong," Coughlin said before the game.

The Belmont Hill grad certainly did. Just 4:50 into the first period with Harvard on the power play, Coughlin lined up between the face-off circles and unleashed a blistering shot into the BC net.

That goal put the Crimson up, 1-0, and gave it a lead it would never relinquish. You can bet more than a few BC players (especially its three Belmont Hill alumni) took notice of Coughlin's goal.

Back in Form

Harvard Captain Kevin Sneddon sat out Saturday's game against Union at Coach Ronn Tomassoni's request.

Tomassoni said he wanted to make sure the senior defender, who is still recovering from back problems, got more than a day of rest before the Beanpot opener.

Apparently it worked.

Sneddon played masterfully at the end of the game, insuring in the closing minutes that the Eagles did not get the open shots they were generating throughout the game.

With about four minutes remaining in the game, Sneddon intercepted a potentially dangerous BC pass around the Harvard net, and quickly released it into the neutral zone to the awaiting Chris Baird.

Fifty seconds later, Sneddon sacrificed his body--as he has numerous times in the past--to block a close-range BC shot by the right side of the net.

What Happened?

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

At the beginning of the season, there was one thing hockey pundits could all agree on: Clarkson would rule the ECAC.

That assessment, based primarily on the Golden Knights' amazing performance in the NCAA tournament last year, might need to be reworked a little.

In the past few weeks, Clarkson has dropped to 9-4-1 in the ECAC, a firm four points behind league-leading Harvard. This weekend, the Knights dispatched lowly Dartmouth 7-3, but came up short against Vermont.

Observers, too, predicted a bright future for Brown, but the Bears have sunk to sixth in the ECAC, with a mediocre 6-5-3 record. It took Brown a late goal to defeat Union Friday night, while the team could only muster a tie against RPI Saturday.