"You practice and you keep looking at each other for so long," Billy Clearly says, "and after a while you just need to hit somebody else." The Harvard hockey team had that opportunity Saturday night at Bright Center and came away with a 5-3 exhibition victory over the University of Lowell, an undefeated (4-0) Division II squad.

The pre-season contest--the Crimson's last tune-up before opening the season at Dartmouth a week from tomorrow--gave Cleary an opportunity to play seven defensemen, three goalies, and his full contingent of healthy forwards. The results were encouraging ("Oh, sure, we could open the season tomorrow," he said after the game), especially considering that Lowell has already played a half-dozen games including a scrimmage against defending ECAC champion Providence College last week.

With former captain Tom Murray lost to graduation. Cleary inserted Greg Britz into the vacant slot at right wing on the Gre Olson-Michael Watson connection, and the move paid dividends almost immediately. Britz took a Watson pass and put it past Lowell's John MacKenzie just 11 seconds into the game.

Into the Fire

When Britz picked up a two-minute tripping penalty just 15 seconds later, the Crimson got its first opportunity to kill a penalty this season, and Cleary threw two of his three freshmen right into the fire.

"Those two [Scott Fusco and Greg Chalmers] did the job," Cleary said, but two penalties later Lowell's Rob Spath scored a power-play goal on a screened slapshot and tied the score.

Later in the first period, Shayne Kukulowicz scored the first of his two on the night, missing on a wrist shot from 20 feet, but tucking the rebound in off the far post. Kukulowicz' second goal, on a two-on-one breakaway with Phil Falcone at 17:18 of the third period, upped the margin to 5-3 and clinched the victory.

In between, Mark Fusco (slapshot) and Jim Turner (short-handed breakaway) scored for the Crimson.

Regular Shifts

The freshmen, center Fusco, winger Chalmers and defenseman Brad Kwong, all skated regular shifts and played well. Fusco and Chalmers teamed on a line with sophomore Gary Martin, while Kwong paired with either junior Scott Sangster or sophomore Bobby Starbuck, who split time.

In goal, starter Wade Lau played the first period, while returnees Mark Whiston and Steve Better played the second and third respectively. Whiston was the more spectacular, blanking the Chiefs during his stanza with his quick-flop style, but Better staved off a furious Lowell comeback after allowing two goals early in the period.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard's other freshman, Brian Busconi, is out of action for a while because of illness. He probably will not be back for the opener next week... Also out of action is Pete Evans, who has "only skated about four days so far" because of a painful groin pull and a foot injury caused by a Mark Fusco slapshot... Saturday's game was preceded by the annual Harvard hockey alumni game. Participants included Joe Bertagna, Rick Benson, Dave Hynes, Bob McManama, Kevin Hampe, Cleary and many others.