The Harvard men's hockey team completed its most successful January in memory, thumping Dartmouth, 7-1, Monday night at Bright Center.
The Crimson, now 12-1-2 (10-1-1 and second in the ECAC), started slowly, but hit its stride in the second period and put the Big Green out to pasture with four scores.
The icemen upped their January mark to 4-1 and avoided the first month jinx that in the past has haunted Harvard hockey.
In the first 20 minutes, however, the team showed the effects of the January curse--two weeks of exams and no organized practices.
"We could have been in trouble with someone else," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said.
Fortunately for Cleary and his crew, the visitors weren't anybody but the now 4-11 not-so-Big Green.
In December, the Crimson slammed Dartmouth, 11-1 And the talent differential between the two clubs hasn't gotten any smaller in that past six weeks.
"We just couldn't match their quickness," first-year Dartmouth Coach Ron Mason said. "At times we looked as if we were standing still. That's the second time Harvard beat us and as far as I'm concerned it's the best team we've played all year--and that includes RPI and Clarkson."
Freshman Lane MacDonald led the way for the Crimson with three goals and an assist. The left wing got considerable help from his center Scott Fusco (one goal, three assists) and his right wing Tim Smith (three assists).
All night the spotlight was on junior Greg Chalmers, who returned to action for the Crimson after a year-and-a-half absence.
The spotlight wasn't as bright as some had expected, through. Chalmers was visibly disappointed with the way he played. The center skated with senior Brian Busconi and sophomore Tim Barakett on his wings.
"It'll take a few games to get back into it," Chalmers said. "I wasn't as agggressive as I need to be. But I couldn't step into a better situation, with a better bunch of guys."
In the third period, Chalmers got an apparent goal when a cross-crease pass deflected in the net off his skate.
The referee disallowed the score, because he thought that Chalmers had illegally kicked the puck in.
"My honest opinion is that I didn't direct it," Chalmers said. "I didn't see it But I didn't play well enough to deserve a goal."
"He's gotta to get skating, but he has great hockey sense," said Cleary.
Chalmers wasn't the only Crimson skater who was denied an apparent score.
At the end of the first period freshman Don Sweeney's shot seemed to go in high. In any event, the puck bounced right back out and the referee ruled no goal.
In a less controversial decision, Fusco netted the biscuit at the end of the first period. It seemed fairly clear that the clock had expired a second before the puck crossed the goal line.
Mission Impossible
Despite the ruling, Fusco had a fantastic night. The junior set MacDonald up just 33 seconds into the game. The freshman took the pass deep in the right circle and scored off Dartmouth goalie Mark Hoppe on a shot from a seemingly impossible angle.
MacDonald paid for the score when Dartmouth's Doug Weiss reinjured his shoulder.
Just 20 seconds later, Brien Jacobson beat Harvard goalie Grant Blair from the left point on Dartmouth's first shot.
Blair would not be beaten again, recording 23 saves on the evening.
MacDonald, back in the game despite the injury, took a Randy Taylor pass all alone five feet in front of the net on the power play and beat Hoppe for the first goal of the second period, and his second score of, the game.
Senior Billy Cleary got the next score off an end-to-end rush that started behind the Harvard blue line and culiminated when the defenseman beat Hoppe for the third Harvard goal.
Cleary has now scored in two consecutive games, a considerable achievement for a player who had three career scores before this streak.
"Two-hundred fect, end-to-end, I think they're going to give it to me more," Cleary said. "The kid" (the defenseman) was playing it all wrong, so I pulled left and put it between the defensemen.
"It's latent offensive talent rising up."
Coach Cleary was less exuberant than his son about the incident. "I got to tell him, 'Remember you're not Bobby Orr.' You gotta keep him down on the farm."
Rob Ohno got Harvard's fourth goal, but the credit for the shorthanded tally should have gone to Fusco, who stole the puck and worked up the ice before dropping a perfect feed to Ohno.
"Scotty got the puck and started making all these moves," Ohno said. "It was making me dizzy. Scotty set it up--I was just next to the post and shot it."
MacDonald got his hat trick on the power play with just under four minutes to play in the middle period.
"I'm pretty happy one," MacDonald said. "They knew how good Scotty and Tim are, so they kept moving up and playing it high, which leaves me open."
Fusco netted one of his own in the third period on a second-try rebound in close.
Oh, What a Relief It Is
Sophomore Rick Haney closed out the Harvard scoring with his first goal of the year from in close after a nifty pass from Peter Follows.
"It's a great relief," Haney said. "I've had a lot better chances."
The Crimson, though, hasn't had much better Januaries.
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