But a late penalty to defender Michel Breistroff greased the skids of the Big Green attack--at the start of the second period, Dartmouth collected two goals in 37 seconds to snatch the lead back, 2-1.
With two seconds left on Breistroff's penalty, junior Matt Collins wristed a shot that seemed to catch Crimson netminder Aaron Israel unawares, slipping by his out-stretched leg at 1:47.
Shortly thereafter, a defensive giveaway resulted in a break for the Green's Scott Fraser; his top-shelf finish meant that for the third straight game, the Crimson faced an uphill battle against a second-tier ECAC foe.
But this team knows how to battle, often through the employment of some of the more obscure weapons in its arsenal. This time, it was defenseman Bryan Lonsinger who brought Harvard back from another brink, scoring from the right point to knot the score at two-all on what was only his second goal of the year.
Alas, on this night, heroes were too few and too far between for the Crimson.
The real killer was Clark's shortie--a harmless Dartmouth clearing attempt ricocheted off of the backboards to the crease, where Israel and defenseman Derek Maguire made enough of a mess of it to allow Clark to walk in and five-hole the gift.
That goal, coupled with Fraser's second goal of the game just over three minutes later, provided a deficit not even President Clinton could erase. Drury's goal at the 13:50 mark would be too little, too late in the face of the inspired Dartmouth forechecking.
And with Christian Soucy between the pipes for Vermont tomorrow night against the Crimson, Harvard's projected #2 seed in the East could be in some serious jeopardy.
Drury, for one, isn't ready to push the panic button yet.
"Well, we're never happy when we lose, but I don't think it will affect us in the long run," Drury said. "You're not gonna win all your games, and we've been lucky to win most of them. We've just gotta bounce back tomorrow night." First Period Har--Farrell, 17:55. Second Period Dart--Collins (Geary, DelCarmine), 1:47 (PP). Dart--Fraser, 2:24. Read more in Sports
