To the editors:

In his column about the women's hockey team's recent ECAC victories (Sports, March 22), Mike Volonnino remarked that "the H-Club brought the Crimson Crazies, making the Club's first visible hockey appearance since Midnight Madness back in October." In fact, the H-Club has appeared at various women's and men's hockey games (in addition, of course, to many other Harvard athletic events). Perhaps Volonnino is unaware that the H-Club's presence is not determined solely by the visible marker of dozens of Crimson Crazies t-shirts which, incidentally, are far less suited to the temperature of a hockey rink than they are to the heat of a gymnasium.

The women's hockey team has set attendance records this season, and while the vast majority of that student fan support can be attributed to the program's success, members of the H-Club have publicized men's and women's hockey events as heavily if not more so as the competitions of other teams. If support for a particular team occasionally falters, as Volonnino apparently suggests, it may be due to factors other that the H-Club's sincerity in promoting that team's events.

Consistent fan support for all of Harvard's teams is certainly the H-Club's goal, and Volonnino's observation that many of our teams play to empty home arenas is entirely accurate. But the H-Club should hardly be chastised for its efforts to remedy that all-too-familiar situation. The fan support for our women's hockey team may be a small step, but it is a small step in the right direction. SARAH E. MATTSON '01   MARCH 23, 1999

The writer is the president of the H-Club.