I enjoyed reading Geoff "Drop the Puck" Howell's comments on Harvard. I felt I had to respond to some of his thoughts, so here it goes. FORWARDS: I've heard this jazz that the current talent isn't what it was in the '85-'91 era, and I don't agree. No Harvard does not have a Lane MacDonald or Albie Bourbeau or Peter Ciavaglia or the Fuscos, but I look at the overall talent and it is very strong. Under a coach like Bill Cleary, I believe the current players would be much more confident and have a far superior attacking system. As it stands they have too many other commitments on the ice, and heaven help them if they aren't in their checking pattern. I've seen enough forwards and defenders on the bench after they dared to get the offense moving. Even the student newspaper has figured out that the senior's first line of Nielson-Konik-Holmes isn't cutting it. Only the first-year line of Bent-Adams-MacDonald has impressed me. They look good together as they compliment each other on the ice. The rest of the lines don't really produce the mix you need on the ice to score goals. You don't need two playmakers on one line or two long-ball threats on another. The forwards are not doing as well as their skill would let them because the combinations are poor. DEFENSE: I agree with GH that they are a talented group of defenders. Overall they have done their job well, and it doesn't seem to make much difference who you plug in on a given night, they all have come through well. Harvard's defensive style has been to turn the puck around quickly and start the attack going. Mobility and smarts is the key, and again I think the guys are doing fine. I remember seeing Mark Fusco play defense at an alumni/varsity game a few years ago, and it was a treat seeing this small blue liner control his zone with his brain and skates - ooh-la-la!!! GOAL: I agree that Tracy has had a fair year. I would like, and it would be smart to play Zakowich more. He seems a fine tender. POWER PLAY: Pathetic. Obviously RonnT didn't opt for the PP clinic last summer?!?!?!?! Everybody else seems to like Clarkson's star formation!?!?! PENALTY KILL: If Holmes could play the whole game as he plays PK ... PK is a traditional strength that is one of the few remaining. Working too hard in practice: It appears to me that most athletes train too much these days. I see what they do in hockey and footer and it is way too much. The guys look very tired from the third period of the first night on. Cleary teams always seemed to almost wait for the third period when the other team would be tiring of chasing them. RonnT = BillyC: I think not! Cleary hockey was magic. Anyone who saw Cleary's teams will remember how all the players seemed to always turn up ice as one. When I was at the alumni game a few years ago, it was so obvious watching all the former players all on the same page. It was wonderful to see again. IMHO, RonnT hockey reminds me a lot of RPI (but Rensselaer does it much more effectively!). Cleary hockey was skate and pass at it's best. The only teams that I have seen as good would be the Badger Bob days at Wisconsin, the Herb Brooks days at Minnesota (which was really a different form of skate and pass ...) and Team Canada Women at WWC94. I will say this for RonnT: he is a heck of a recruiter. I only wish he knew what to do with C. Adams, MacDonald, Bent, Konik, Halfnight, Storey, McCarthy ... These are superb players who are not getting what they, as a team, deserve. My hope is that Konik ... can pull a Sean McCann and lift the current Crimson squad to a higher playing level. With a little confidence the Harvard players could play much better. _____________ / good shooting hungerf _____________/ HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.