A quick glance at the ECAC goaltending leaders shows Vermont's Tom Draper in second with a 2.85 goals-against average.

In the first matchup between the two teams, Draper held the Crimson--then without the services of first-line wing Lane MacDonald, playing for the U.S. Junior National Team over the Christmas break--to two goals by former junior teammate Tim Barakett while stopping 43 Harvard shots.

But even if Draper--an All-American candidate--turns in a typically fine performance against the Crimson, he is likely to be outdone by the ECAC's leading netminder, Harvard's Grant Blair.

Blair leads the nation with a 2.76 goals-against average and must also be considered a potential All-American. And Blair leads the ECAC with a 2.50 g.a.a.

The league sports another fine goalie in Cornell's Doug Dadswell, who earned ECAC Player of the Week honors for his 46 saves against Harvard in the Crimson's 4-3 victory Friday and his 29-save shutout of Dartmouth the next night, boasts a 2.93 g.a.a.

USA Today's Rod Beaton wrote a story last week which listed his 10 top candidates for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey's most valuable player.

Fusco was the third player named.

Although the Crimson's all-time leading scorer doesn't have the opportunity to play nearly as many games as his rivals for the award--Minnesota-Duluth's Brett "The Little Golden Jet' Hull has already skated in 36 contests to Fusco's 22, for instance--and, therefore, cannot record as many points as his competitors, Fusco can boast of a 2.13 points-per-game average, which ranks in the top-10 in the country.

Fusco--with 14 goals and 25 assists--leads the ECAC in points. The senior took the conference scoring title last year en route to being named ECAC Player of the Year.

He also apparently wrapped up the Ivy League scoring title with his two-point effort against Cornell, finishing with 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points, two more than injured teammate Allen Bourbeau (still the ECAC's second-leading scorer with 33 points) recorded.

Cornell's Duanne Moeser and Yale's Randy Wood still have two Ivy games left to play. but with 14 points apiece each would need monstrous efforts to pass Fusco, who averaged two-and-a-half points per game in the Ivy League.

In the last six games, the Burlington native has chalked up 15 points and appears to be fully recovered from the midseason slump in which he recorded only seven points, including just one goal, in the seven games beginning with Harvard's first 5-4 loss to Wisconsin in late December and ending with the Crimson's 7-0 rout of St. Lawrence three weeks ago.

If be continues on his current pace and is able to lead his team to the ECAC tournament championship and beyond, Fusco should have a better than fair chance of snagging the Hobey Award, which his brother Mark won in 1983.

Among the other Eastern candidates mentioned by USA TODAY were Boston College's Scott Harlow, who led the Eagles past the Crimson in the first round of the Beanpot Tournament, Hull, the son of former NHL star Bobby Hull, and Providence goaltender Chris Terreri.

Fusco--a finalist a year ago--will certainly be among the 10 finalists announced on March 7.