Problem for Harvard: The tournament overlaps with the Crimson's crucial non-conference game with Maine on January 3, and because of its round-robin format both Karmanos and Halfnight will definitely still be overseas as Harvard trips up to Portland.

"It really is a bummer--it's such a big game on our schedule, but there's nothing we can do about it," Karmanos said. "That's just the way it goes."

Pretty Funny, Guys: Halfnight himself missed the Brown game with a touch of the flu and a bad back, but several sources spread a wild rumor that his absence was due to some sort of an irregular heart condition and Crimson officials had benched him to avoid any possible liability.

But Halfnight skated at practice yesterday, and it seems that rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. "Let's just say it was a team joke that ran a little bit out of hand," he said.

Nothing a little chicken soup and bedrest wouldn't cure, eh?

NCAA Poll 1. Michigan (25)  10-1-1  259 2. Maine  7-2-0  185 3. Lk. Sup. St. (1)  10-4-0  181 4. BU  6-3-0  144 5. Wisconsin  7-4-1  121 6. Colorado Coll.  8-2-2  106 7. RPI  5-3-0  95 8. New Hampshire  9-2-0  90 9. HARVARD  4-1-1  84 10. Bowling Green  7-2-2  46

Compiled by the Troy (N.Y.) Record, with first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points.