BOSTON--For the Harvard hockey team, the third period of last night's opening round Beanpot game against Boston College lasted seven years.
But when the final siren sounded, the scoreboard read Harvard 5, Boston College 4. And the Crimson's seven-year absence from the championship game had ended in front of 14,448 Boston Garden spectators.
Harvard (18-1) will face Boston University, a 5-4 overtime winner over Northeastern, next Monday night at 9 p.m. for the whole pot of beans. It is the first time since 1981 that Harvard will play in the title game.
"The Garden finally treated us nicely for a change," senior defenseman Josh Caplan said.
But it took a while for the venerable arena to pass judgment on Harvard's chances of grabbing a prime-time billing next Monday. With Harvard leading 5-2, in the final period, the Eagles (17-6-3) soared, scoring two goals and outshooting the Crimson, 21-2.
"For some reason, we stopped skating and started to play defensively," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "On the bench, everyone knew what we were doing wrong. It became contagious.
Harvard watched as Richard Braccia tallied a score 1:53 into the final period, and watched again when Braccia's second goal of the night brought the Eagles to within one with 9:38 remaining in the game.
But when the Crimson really needed a watchman, it turned to senior defenseman Nick Carone at the 15:15 mark of the third period. It was Carone who cleared a shot by Greg Brown that trickled past Harvard goalie Chuckie Hughes and was slowly rolling towards the net.
Carone skated straight to the net, unwound and sent the puck out of the danger zone.
"That's the first thing you do," Carone said, "try to clear the puck out of the one. It was a reaction. I saw it roll towards the net and cleared it out."
After Carone calmed the Crimson's nerves, Harvard tried to stop the Eagle attack. But the pressure kept coming, and Harvard had to wait for Father Time, the Crimson's most effective defenseman, to sealthe victory.
"I just wanted to see that clock tick down to0:00," said Allen Bourbeau, who scored Harvard'sfifth goal of the game with 3:34 left in thesecond period.
The Eagles still had a chance with six secondsremaining in the game, but Brown's backhand shotfrom the top of the right circle went wide andwhirled around the far boards.
"In the second and third periods, I don't thinkwe could have played better than we did," B.C.Coach Len Ceglarski said. "But luck and greatgoaltending is a great part of this game. Harvardhad the goaltending."
Wearing a Crimson uniform for the first time atthe Garden, Hughes--who carried Catholic MemorialHigh School to the schoolboy championship at theGarden last year--stopped 19 Eagle shots in thefinal period to finish with 38 saves, a careerhigh.
"We were lucky that Chuckie came up big forus," said sophomore Ted Donato, who chalked up agoal and an assist.
For the first two periods, the Crimson showedno signs of slowing down, collecting three goalsin the first 12 minutes of the game and adding twomore in the middle period. At the 7:38 mark of thefirst period, Donato notched his seventh goal ofthe season when he took a pass from linemate JohnMurphy and shot the puck past Eagle goalie DaveLittman (17 saves).
The Crimson took a 2-0 lead less than a minutelater as Craig Taucher deflected a Brian McCormackslapshot from the point.
"I stuck out my foot," Taucher said. "The puckbounced off it and went in. I was glad the refdidn't see it."
The way Harvard played for the first 40 minutesof the game, the thought of a late B.C. surge wasas remote as the thought of Cleary ever standingstill on the Harvard bench.
"I've been on the other end for many, manyyears," Cleary said. "I don't feel badly at all."
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