Andrew Samwick writes (on Harvard '89):
>As for the style of play, the offense was wide open and prolific, with
>Hobey Baker winner Lane McDonald leading the way.  On defense, the
>Crimson played the whole year alternating two freshman goalies, and as
>for checking hard, I seem to recall some shattered glass during the
>NCAA tournament ...
 
This is why I would include that Harvard team - the best Crimson squad
I have seen - because they were able to beat their opponents in any
facet of the game.  Rarely did an opponent outhustle, outhit, or just
plain outplay them.  The fact that they won four straight games in the
NC$$s against the top three teams in the West, when the Western teams
had been Harvard's downfall year in and year out, was quite impressive.
I often wondered if Cleary recruited players like Melrose with the sole
intent of beating the West at its own game.
 
The offense was not necessarily any better than it has been in years
prior (Fusco, MacDonald, Bourbeau) or since (Ciavaglia, Donato,
Vukonich).  But the defense was better, there was more depth, and most
importantly, if you hit Lane, Melrose cleaned your clock.  Lane may
have seen stars, but you saw supernovas.
 
The only top team Harvard did not meet that season was Maine, seeded
1E (Harvard was 2E).  But Maine was knocked off in the semis by
Minnesota.  Against teams that made the NC$$ tourney that year,
Harvard was an incredible 9-0-0 - and all were seeded 4th or better in
their region, too.
 
I can tell you that a number of non-Harvard fans went to Bright Center
for the quarterfinal series with defending champion Lake Superior
expecting to see Harvard put in its place.  They came away very
impressed.
 
The Eastern teams Steve mentioned (Cornell '70, RPI '85, Maine '93)
all deserve to be in there, although I never saw the Cornell team.  I
would add '87 BC and '91 BU from the East.  Both were superb in very
difficult seasons - in fact, IMO, 1987 was the pinnacle of US college
hockey to this date with 6 teams that I would list among the best
ever: BC, North Dakota, Minnesota, Harvard, MSU, and BG.
 
From the West, I would also list MSU '86, NMU '91, and UMD '85...and
this isn't all-inclusive.
 
I realize this brings my list to 15, but all I can say is, don't ask
me to name who's at the top. :-)
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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