After the Crimson players had finished their on-ice rejoicing and had collected their various awards, it was Fusco who described the victory from the perspective of one participated in Harvard's gradual climb to Eastern hockey supremacy.
"We had a bad team freshman year," he said, "and we've gotten better every year. My class--we have eight seniors--we've played together for a long time.... This is what I came to Harvard to do."
THE NOTEBOOK: The championship was Cleary's first in his 12 years as Harvard's head coach...The last title came in 1971, the year before he took over from Ralph "Cooney" Weiland.... Since then, his teams have gone to four ECAC finals, losing to B.U. in 1974 and 1975 and to Northeastern last year...Seedings for both Eastern and Western teams in the NCAAs will be announced tonight...The four Western teams that seem to be headed for the NCAAs are Wisconsin and Minnesota of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (known as the WCHA) and Michigan St. and Bowling Green of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (the CCHA).... Michigan St. edged Bowling Green in overtime yesterday, 4-3, to win the CCHA title and Wisconsin beat Minnesota in the first contest of its two-game total-goals WCHA championship showdown... The Crimson was seeded fourth among the ECAC squads in the Nationals last year, losing at Wisconsin, 6-1 and 4-3 in the two-game series...Providence's Velischek is headed for the pros (the Minnesota North Stars) as soon as the NCAAs finish...Harvard's overall record going into the NCAAs is 21-8-1. H. Ken Code (Mark Fusco), 7:12; P. Ranoy Veliechek (Rich Costello, Tim Army), 17:30; H, Scott Fusco (Jim Turner), 4:08; H, Mitch Olson (Turner), 18:31; H.M. Fusco (unassisted), 19:12. Saves: H, Grant Blair, 6-6-7--19; P. Mario Proulx, 4-21-11--36. Alt: 12,049.