Senior Steve Martins sums up his 1994-1995 hockey season in an interesting way:

"It was dismal....No, I won't say dismal but it was a very frustrating year."

Pretty high standards, even for a guy who is The Crimson's 1994-95 Male Athlete of the Year.

Indeed, almost anyone else would be thrilled to lead Harvard in goals (15), assists (21) and points (36), while earning Honorable Mention All-ECAC honors.

But Steve Martins isn't just anyone. For him, 1994-1995 did not live up to expectations. The team's tough campaign and first-round ECAC playoff loss darken any individual success he might have.

"We really struggled at times this season," he says. "I expected more based on last year."

In 1993-94, Martins tore up the college hockey world, tallying 60 points (12th best in Harvard history), making the NCAA Final Four and ending the year as a first team All-American.

"Last year was definitely the high light of my career," Martins says. "It was a thrill from the team perspective, and individually everything seemed to work out well."

With all of Martins's success, many people don't realize that were it not for a last minute decision before his junior year in high school, we might never have heard of Steve Martins.

"I was very close to playing juniors that year and skipping college hockey." He says. "At the last minute, I was accepted at Choate and I decided to go. I was lucky I did."

So was Choate.

And so was Harvard, Had Martins not attended the Connecticut prep school, he would have never considered coming to Harvard.

"Believe it or not, I didn't know that Harvard had a team," Martins says. "All of the tradition meant very little to me at that point."

After a standout prep school career, Martins was recruited by most ECAC colleges, but narrowed his choices to four--Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton and Harvard.

Part of his motivation for coming to Harvard came from a representative of ECAC rival Vermont.