Cambridge: the city of brotherly love?

Yale and Harvard's hockey teams share more than a rivalry-they share siblings.

By Matthew Goldenberg

For Jack and Mary Turco, it has become a ritual. Almost every Friday during the winter, the two leave their Norwich, Vt., home en route to a college hockey rink somewhere in the northeast, where they root their son Mark, DC '99, and his Yale teammates on to victory. On Saturday, they traverse the region to another rink to watch their younger son Scott, a junior forward at Har-vard, skate. "It's great that we get to see most of their games," Mary Turco said. "Every week, we travel to watch them both play. Friday night is usually New Haven. Saturday night is Cambridge."

This weekend, however, the traditional order of events will be altered. The Turcos will not drive down I-91 toward New Haven. Instead, they will take I-93 through New Hampshire and into the Boston area. That's because on Fri., Feb. 12, Yale (9-10-2, 7-5-2 ECAC) will visit Harvard's Bright Center for the second of its two annual meetings with the Crimson (8-11-2, 3-9-2). In their first battle, on Sat., Nov. 21, the Bulldogs sent Harvard limping out of Ingalls Rink, the victims of a 7-1 thrashing. But this weekend's contest should prove more competitive, as both teams attempt to stake a claim to precious ECAC points.

With just eight regular season games remaining, both Harvard and Yale face critical junctures in their respective seasons. The Crimson will be trying desperately to remain in the 10th and final playoff position in the ECAC. The Elis, coming off a huge road weekend in which they downed Cornell, 2-1, and tied Colgate, 4-4, are in fifth place, just three games back of the league lead. Wins over Harvard and Brown, on Sat., Feb. 13, would move the Blue that much closer to clinching home ice advantage in the first round of the conference playoffs.

Of course, any time Yale and Harvard meet on the ice, the ECAC points race is overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of the nation's most hallowed rivalry. The Crimson and Blue have met and, though the Cambrugians hold a decisive edge in the series, games between the two schools are traditionally close and heated. "It's such a storied rivalry," Scott Turco said. "Harvard teams want to beat Yale and Yale teams want to beat Harvard."

Bragging rights

But Scott has another reason, perhaps a more important one, for wanting to win this Friday's contest. "The fact that I'm playing against my brother makes this game that much more important," he said. "I'd like to see him do well, but when I go home, I'd like to have the bragging rights." After November's debacle, the only ones with the right to boast were the Bulldogs. "Winning the Harvard game is good for bragging rights," Mark Turco agreed. "I sometimes like to bring up the fact that we won 7-1 the last time out."

Yale forward Spencer Rodgers, CC '02, who will face off against his older brother Clayton, a senior Crimson forward, also cited a battle for intra-family superiority. "It's great to beat Harvard," he said. "I want to be able to brag to my parents like I did the last time we played."

Two other Yale players know all about the quest for sibling bragging rights. Eli forward Mark Sproule, SY '00, and his younger brother David, SY '02, also have a Cantab in the family. Their older brother Doug, who graduated from Harvard last year, was a forward for the Crimson.

"The Harvard-Yale game is always a big one for our family," David said. "I remember going down to the game at Yale last year. Doug played his best game ever, and Mark scored a nice goal," leading the Bulldogs to a 5-3 victory and a regular-season sweep of series with Harvard.

But it was Doug who ultimately got the last laugh, as he scored his final collegiate goal in Harvard's 4-1 win over Yale in the ECAC consolation game. "I think that was a great moment for him," David said. "To go out with a goal against Yale was really special."

A rooting dilemma

Luckily for the Sproules' parents, with Doug's recent graduation there is no longer a question as to where their loyalties lie. "My parents were stuck in between two sides last year," Mark said. "They used to hope for a tie. I think they're a lot more happy now that they have only one team to root for."

For the Turco and Rodgers families, however, the dilemma remains. "We end up not rooting for one team or another," Mary Turco said. "We just hope that everyone plays well and stays healthy."

Mary's husband echoed her determinedly neutral sentiments. "When they play each other, it is kind of nerve-wracking," Jack Turco admitted. "Every positive for Yale is a negative for Har-vard and vice versa. That makes it kind of tough. I want both teams to play well, but I don't pick sides."

Such neutrality is relatively new for the elder Turco. A 1970 graduate of Harvard, Jack played both baseball and hockey for the Crimson. He still holds an ECAC tournament record with five goals in a game against Boston College. "I hate the color," he said jokingly of Yale blue. "Seriously, though, any loyalties I once had have ceased. It's great to watch Mark play for Yale."

In part, Jack's recent favorable opinion of Yale is due to the presence of another Harvard man behind the Eli bench. "When I was playing for Harvard, one of the assistant coaches was [current Yale head coach] Timmy Taylor," Jack said. "I was elated that Mark chose to play for him, too."

Taylor, it turns out, had a hand in Mark's betrayal of his father's alma mater. "When I was looking at schools, I knew I wanted to play in the Ivy League," Mark said. "Harvard was my other top choice. But I liked Coach Taylor a lot and I fit in better here." While the New Haven school was right for him, he made no special effort to persuade his brother to join him. "We have a pretty good relationship, but it would be kind of weird to go to the same school," Mark said. "Since we play the same position, we would be competing for ice time."

Sibling rivalry?

Now, instead of competing for ice time on the same squad, the Turcos will be competing for a win on opposing teams. In fact, they may go head-to-head on the ice, though they'll try not to let that bother them. "We play opposite each other, and our lines have been matched up a lot," Scott said. "When I'm lined up against him, that's kind of weird. But once the puck drops, you can't really tell it's him--you've got so much else to worry about."

If the Sproule brothers are any model, one of the things Scott should worry about is rough play from his sibling. "I remember in last year's game, Doug gave Mark a little bit of an elbow--I could see it from the stands," David Sproule recalled. But Mark Turco doesn't think that will be much of a concern between him and Scott. "Neither of us are big, physical players, so I don't think we'll bang each other too much. But we will both fight hard."

Spencer Rodgers also expects a hard-fought battle with his brother. "I'm more of a scrappy player, he's more of a finesse kind of guy," he said. "We get along pretty well, but when the game is on, it's all business. Only afterwards do things return to normal."

Aside from gloating about the last game's score, these brothers do express fraternal affection--off the ice. In fact, Rodgers credits his brother with leading him to Yale. "Growing up in western Canada, we don't really think about coming out to the east to play college hockey," he said. "But when Clayton decided to come to Harvard, it really opened my eyes to the Ivy League. After that, I really expected to come out east for school. I wanted my own experience, so I chose Yale instead. But he's been a real constructive help. I'm pretty lucky he's been there to break the ice for me."

Mark and Scott Turco also maintain a positive relationship throughout the season. "I talk to him about once a week," Mark said. "Sometimes we discuss recent teams we played or teams that are coming up." This week is different, however. "I'll call him this week, but we won't talk too much about hockey."

After the game, however, you can be sure one of them will be doing a lot of talking.

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