Thanks very much to all those who provided insight to the problems
Harvard Hockey stumbled into this year.
        Personally, I think one of the hurdles Harvard could not overcome
this year was showcased Saturday night against RPI. Harvard went 0 for 7
on the power play; something that would have been unheard of in 1993-94.
        I can remember being on the bench and watching our power play unit
head out there and all of us watching them would be brimming with
confidence.
        Not so this year.
        Understandably, losing 4/5ths of the power play from the year
before would hurt this squad greatly. But the talent they had to
compensate for key losses should have evened things out.
        Cory Gustafson was a Brian Farrell prototype. Ben Coughlin is a
ringer for Chris Baird in many ways. Brad Konik could camp out in the same
tent McCann used at the side of the net and pull the trigger time and time
again. Lonzinger had the gun from the point which Maguire had perfected.
And Martins, of course, was Martins.
        But it never really clicked like that. Players were moved on and
off the power play consistently; they were never allowed to develop any
sort of fluidity. This led to a lack of confidence in the power play,
and--as Geoff Howell pointed out perfectly--affected team chemistry.
        The importance of special teams should never be underestimated.
Take away Harvard's power play from 1993-94 and you have a different team.
Baird and Farrell's plus/minus hovered around the zero mark all year.
McCann, I believe, had only one even-strength goal (out of his 25 or so)
for the entire season.
        So when the Crimson of 1994-95 failed to find a cohesive power
play unit, things began to falter. And while Tamburro was putting up
bricks in the RPI net on Saturday night, the Harvard power play was firing
blanks. And so the 1994-95 season ends for the Crimson--not with a bang,
but with a puff of smoke.
 
 
        Ian Kennish
        Harvard 1994