The Crimson is in good shape to earn an NCAA bid.

Because the icemen finished second in the ECAC in the regular season, advancing to the final game of the playoffs should sew up an NCAA bert.

If the Crimson beats RPI in the final game (don't even think RPI isn't going to the finals), then the Cantabs draw an automatic bid.

And the best news of all is that the Crimson can't possibly meet RPI until the final ECAC playoff game.

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Long ago, the 12 ECAC coaches predicted the order of finish this way: 1. RPI. 2. Clarkson, 3. Harvard, 4. St. Lawrence, 5. Cornell, 6. Yale, 7. Colgate, 8. Vermont, 9. Princeton, 10. Dartmouth, 11. Brown, and 12. Army.

Not at all bad. Only three teams, St. Lawrence, Vermont and Brown finished more than one position off where they were supposed to.

Army finished only 20 games behind RPI--just think what one or two more recruits might have done.

With all due respect to Cadet Coach Jack Riley's 500-plus wins, without Canadians and with only a limited number of players available from states that have schoolboy hockey (because of the geographic distribution requirements of the Academy), Army has no more chance of success in Division I than Princeton has this weekend at RPI.

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In the final ECAC scoring standings, Harvard placed these players in the top 11.

Not surprisingly, joining Fusco are his linemates. Freshman Dane MacDonald, sixth with 37 points and junior Jim Smitth, tied for ninth with 3-4.

The top 11 scores overall came from just four teams--Harvard RPI (which also placed its entire first line on the list). Yale and Cornell.

MacDonald was the leading freshmen scorer, a single point ahead of Yale's Randy Wood.

The ECAC Rookie of the Year will be announced March 1-1 along with the Player of the Year, but MacDonald will be facing tough competition.