As someone who has covered the Harvard men's hockey team for three years, I feel I should clarify the Steve Martins situation a little. Martins is an extremely talented player, who was an endangered species due to the way other teams and referees treated him. Along the lines of goaltenders not being protected in the ECAC, Martins was sabotaged game in and game out. In 1993-94, the problem wasn't as great because the Crimson had many players who were scoring all the time. Last year, Martins was the sole go-to-guy, and all a team thought it had to do to win was to get Martins off his game. (It worked, too.) They speared him, cross-checked him--flat-out mugged him--and the officials didn't seem to give a damn; that is, until Martins finally lost his cool and retaliated. Granted, Martins is a feisty player with a bad temper, and I am not condoning some of his actions. However, had the officials done their job in the first place, Martins would have been in the sin bin far less frequently. David Griffel HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.