BOSTON--Overtime.
For all the glory and tradition of the Beanpot, the Harvard men's hockey team seems to know no better way to settle a contest.
Both games in last season's tournament entered sudden death, with the Crimson falling one goal short of winning it all against Boston University after dramatically upsetting B.C. in the opening round. HARVARD 3 NORTHEASTERN 4
On Monday night, in the opening game of the 47th annual tournament for Boston collegiate hockey bragging rights, history appeared to repeat itself against Northeastern (9-13-3, 4-10-2 Hockey East) with another very late goal by a Crimson defenseman to tie the score. Unlike last year's opening game, however, the opposition provided the ultimate hero in freshman forward Brian Cummings, who scored the game-winner in a 4-3 Northeastern victory over Harvard (8-10-1, 3-9-1 ECAC).
"It is a dream come true," Cummings said. "I used to beg my father each year to take me to this tournament. I'm in shock."
Fellow Huskies freshman forward Ryan Zoller made it all happen, deftly protecting the puck and then flipping it high past junior defenseman Matt Scor- "[Zoller] did a great job shielding the puckand he kind of flipped it up," Scorsune said."Nobody knew where it was, and suddenly Presto hadto make a great save. [Cummings], however, hit thenet hard to put it in." Scorsune set the stage for Cummings' tally witha dramatic goal with just 4.5 seconds remaining inregulation. On the third consecutive draw in theNortheastern zone, sophomore forward Steve Moorepulled it back to senior defenseman Ben Storey atthe right point. Storey slid it over to Scorsune.From almost the same spot that Storey scored hislast-second goal last season, Scorsune drilled ashot through traffic that sailed pastwell-screened freshman netminder Jason Braun tothe stick side. The shot sent the Fleet Centerinto an uproar--and temporarily gave the Crimsonvisions of grandeur. "A little deja vu did cross my mind," HarvardCoach Ronn Tomassoni said. "We all felt goodheading into overtime, it just wasn't in the cardstonight." Harvard really started to turn it on in thethird period. Ahead 3-2, Northeastern tried to sitback in a neutral zone trap, content to stop upHarvard's offense and whittle down the clock. Withjust over seven minutes remaining in the game,Harvard finally broke through thanks to pressuredown low. On the second of two great rebounds,freshman for ward Jeff Stonehouse clanged his shotoff the crossbar. It was the first in a series ofchances that finally culminated in Scorsune'sgoal. "I thought the third period was really ours,"Tomassoni said. "Our team is in really goodcondition and we had lots of opportunities toscore." The first two periods never suggested adramatic finish. Despite the close score, gameplay was sluggish and plodding, with severalend-to-end chances marked by defensive breakdowns. The game started with each squad displayinglittle offensive aptitude, but Northeasternfreshman Leon Hayward drew first blood by crashingthe net to tip in a centering pass from sophomoreKevin Welch. Both teams snapped out of their doldrums afterHayward's goal, and the Crimson capitalized at16:37. Senior Rob Millar floated a pass to the topof the goal crease that captain Craig Adams batteddown to control. Adams hesitated, squaring himselfto the goal, before roofing it past Braun to knotthe game at one. Right after the Crimson shut down the HockeyEast's best power play unit, Harvard freshmanforward Derek Nowak carried the puck over the lineand ripped a shot on net. The rebound bounced outto sophomore forward Harry Schwefel, who ripped itover Braun's glove into the top right corner with15:11 remaining in the second to give the Crimsona 2-1 lead. "I thought at that point we were going to takecontrol of the game," Scorsune said. "The bounceswent their way." Northeastern answered at 13:01 with a goal ofits own after a sharp penalty kill. Huskiescaptain Billy Newson darted down the left wing ona 3-on-2 that became a 2-on-1. Newson faked thepass and rifled the shot past Prestifilippo. The Huskies took their 3-2 lead with 2:40 leftin the middle period. Freshman Willie Levesquesnuck behind a defender in the neutral zone, wherehe got the puck and raced on goal for a breakaway.He then beat Prestifilippo to the glove side. "We were sluggish at the start of the firstperiod," Tomassoni said. "We were sluggish at thestart of the second. For some reason it took us awhile to find our legs in each period." Harvard had its chances to assert itself in thegame. Three second-period power plays resulted injust three shots on net. Sophomore forward SteveMoore saw two glorious rebounds with a wide opennet skip through his skates. His linemate,sophomore Chris Bala, was robbed on a first-periodbreakaway by Braun and also missed just wide fromthe low slot at 14:05 of the second. "We certainly had our opportunities in thisgame," Tomassoni said. "Our power play reallyhasn't clicked for us lately and we had difficultysetting up." Instead the game went into overtime. A tough,closely-fought contest came down to one goal, andthis year Harvard did not have enough magic. TheCrimson had been on a roll, winning six of itslast seven games before the break for exams.Harvard also defeated the University of NewBrunswick 3-2 last Friday in an exhibition match. Its recent winning streak, which included a 3-1upset of B.C., made Harvard a legitimate contenderto win its first Beanpot since 1993. Now, theCrimson will have to settle for the consolationgame next Monday. "Tonight hurts a lot," Tomassoni said. "Wethought we had a real good chance. NORTHEASTERN, 4-3 at FleetCenter Northeastern 1 2 0 1 -- 4Harvard 1 1 1 0 -- 3 First Period NU--Hayward (Welch, Fahey) 6:33. Har--Adams (Millar) 16:37. Second Period Har--Schwefel (Nowak) 4:49. NU--Newsom (Spillar) 13:01. NU--Levesque (Spillar) 17:20. Third Period Har--Scorsune (Storey, Schwefel) 19:55. Overtime NU--Cummings (Zoller, Fahey) 4:35. Saves: NU--Braun 8-8-11 27;Har--Prestifilippo 9-6-5 20. Power Play: NU 0/3; Har--0/1.
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