There's nothing like an Emmy award winning performance on television to make one feel like a star, but unfortunately that's not quite enough. Last night's Crimson hockey loss to a powerful B.C. squad found the icemen playing like anything but stars, let alone understudies.
Riding high on the wings of an exciting 4-3 televised triumph over Brown on Saturday, B.C.'s 4-1 thrashing of Harvard was the team's fifth loss against five wins in this year's ferociously competitive ECAC.
Brian Burns' power play goal for the Eagles at 7:09 of the second period proved to be the eventual winner. With B.C. on top 1-0 Captain Bill Horton's rambuctious activities on the boards earned him a trip to the penalty box for elbowing.
Forty seconds later pointman Joe Mullen faked a slapshot and hit a streaking Burns in the slot, whose wrister beat Brain Petrovek to the upper left corner.
Harvard's only tally of the contest came with 2:03 left in the middle stanza. Late-period Crimson pressure resulted in a crowd scene in front of the Boston College cage, where Billy Nolen finally buzzed a backhand by sophomore netminder Paul Skidmore to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Both clubs took most of the first period to feel each other out. With five minutes remaining B.C. began to play an aggressive style of hockey that would prove most successful. At 16:37 Kerry Young gave the Eagles their first score, as he snuck in by the defense and blasted one home from the right face off circle.
Riding High
Riding high on Nolen's goal, Harvard banged out its own aggression for the first five minutes of the final period, but their momentary burst of pressure found Skidmore sharp as a veg-a-matic.
Eagle defenseman Joe Augustine ruined things virtually for good at 3:55 with a meteor that Petrovek couldn't quite keep in his glove.
Sloppy passing and weak forechecking became more apparent as the game drew to a close. Bill Kennedy notched B.C.'s final tally, set up by linemate Rob Riley and defenseman Charlie Antetomaso on the prettiest passing play of the night.
Officiating caused as many problems for the Crimson as B.C. The referees let the game get out of hand, missing many calls both ways. As a result Harvard's customary smooth skating style became totally disoriented, and B.C. felt right at home with the rough tone which they had set for the game.
Except for a few shifts by the Hughes-Clasby-Garrity line, Harvard's offense sputtered through three periods. The Crimson managed only 25 shots on Skidmore, while Petrovek turned aside 28 attempts, many of them in spectacular fashion.
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