Lane MacDonald, the 1989 Hobey Baker Award winner who led Harvard to its only national championship that year, was named assistant coach to the Crimson's new head man, Ronn Tomassoni. He will be involved in both the recruiting and practice aspects of the game and is apparently Tomassoni's right-hand man. Tomassoni, of course, has taken over for long-time Harvard coach Billy Cleary who is now the school's athletic director. MacDonald, 24, is from Mequon, Wisconsin, and is Harvard's second all-time leading scorer with 111 goals and 114 assists for 225 points. He scored six goals in the 1988 Olympics in six games for Team USA, including two against the USSR. He was a two-time All-American, New England Player of the Year, ECAC Team of the Decade member, and the MVP in both the 1989 Beanpot and the ECAC tourney. He played for Harvard from 1984- 1987 and then in 1988-89, taking 1987-88 off to train with the Olympic team. After graduating from Harvard, MacDonald turned down an offer of around $700,000 from Hartford to sign with Lugano in Switzerland. This decision was mainly due to his problems with concussions, which he suffered easily and which caused him splitting headaches for days after a game. As it turned out, MacDonald suffered two more dangerous concussions in Switzerland, and doctors advised him that for his own safety, he should retire. Ever since, rumors have been that he would return to coach at his alma mater - those of you who've been on this list for a while will recall seeing that posted here. He was a classy player and I enjoyed seeing him play, and I'm not surprised at this move at all. - mike