When the Harvard men's ice hockey team beat lowly Vermont Tuesday night to end its January losing streak, the squad thought it had seen bad.
Last night, at Bright Center, however, the Crimson saw worse. In fact, it saw the worst team in ECAC history.
With its 9-2 thrashing at the hands of the Crimson last night, the University of Maine, dropped to 2-14 overall (0-11 ECAC), reached a new conference low, breaking Yale's 1976 record of 13 straight losses.
The victory ups the Crimson's record to 8-3-1 in the ECAC (10-4-1 overall) and makes the two-week layoff until the big showdown with Clarkson a bit more pleasant.
Despite the eventual outcome, it was the Black Bears who drew first blood. With only 2:13 ticked off the clock, Maine center Todd Bjoorsrand converted on a pass from right wing Joe Jirele to put the Bears on the scoreboard first.
Their lead, however, was extremely short-lived--a minute and a half to be exact. With Maine defenseman Roger Grillo sitting in the penalty box for tripping, the unstoppable Crimson power play (30 goals to date) continued its scoring rampage.
With perfect precision, senior forward Mark Fusco passed the puck to defenseman Ken Code. Code rifled it in to Jim Turner, who poked the puck into the lower right hand corner of the net at 3:41.
Less than a minute later, junior Gary Martin scored his first goal since joining the varsity ranks against St. Lawrence last week, and the Crimson's leading scorer, Scott Fusco, notched the first of his three goals on another power play at 15:25.
Neither the small, timid Maine defense not sophomore netminder Pete Smith were any match for the Crimson offense, and with six minutes gone in the second stanza, Smith left the game. He had allowed six goals and stopped only five spots.
In contrast, Crimson goaltender Dickie McEvoy turned aside 29 Bear blasts and regained the confidence he seemed to have lost in his last appearance, when Harvard fell to Boston College, 10-2.
"I wanted McEvoy to start at home after the B.C. game, and I thought it paid off well." Coach Bill Cleary said. "After a shaky start, he came a long strong."
While McEvoy and the rest of the Crimson defense were keeping the Bears in check, the Harvard offense was having a field day Turner notched two tallies, Britz, Martin, Chalmers, and Falcone each scored once, and of course. Scott Fusco tallied his third hat trick of the season.
Meanwhile, Mark Fusco, after dishing out three assists, became tied with the injured Greg Olson for tenth on the Crimson all-time scoring list with 111 points.
"I knew I'd get there this year," Mark Fusco said after the game. "But, I will be heartsick if I'm the one to knock Olson off the list because he can't play."
THE NOTEBOOK The Harvard Clarkson game at Bright Hockey Center has been changed to a 1:30 p.m. starting time because of the Super Bowl. With Maine's second goal coming on a power play. Harvard's shorthanded goals now equal its man-up goals allowed. The Crimson has 12 players in double figures for point totals.
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