All right, I'm back in Boston after my 2nd trip to upstate New York in the
space of a week...
        ...I've definitely got too much free time on my hands.
 
As you all know by now, Harvard won its quarterfinal game against the UNH
Wildcats by exploding in the third period for 5 goals, turning what had been
a close game over two periods into something of a rout.
 
PERIOD ONE
 
From the initial offensive flurries, it was clear that both goalies,
Harvard's Tripp Tracy (I'll admit, I was concerned when I saw that he was
given the nod for this game.) and New Hampshire's Trent Cavicchi were
in sharp form tonight.  In general, Cavicchi looked like he'd make a great
shortstop, handling numerous bouncing pucks and line drives with his glove
with apparent ease.  For two periods, he kept UNH in this game.
 
Harvard opened up the scoring on the power play, which proved to be one of
the Crimson's strongest assets once again.  Brian Farrell took the pass
and wheeled around near the bottom of the left circle, and rifled one
past Cavicchi.
 
HU 1, UNH 0     PPG  6:51  Farrell (Maguire, Martins)
 
Later, Steve Martins picked up the puck in the neutral zone as UNH had some
confusion in bringing the puck out of their zone.  He broke in down the
right wing past the slow-to-adjust defensemen and fired in Harvard's second
goal.
 
HU 2, UNH 0     13:53  Martins (unassisted)
 
PERIOD TWO
 
Despite the two goal deficit, UNH continued it's aggressive offensive
play, with strong rushes into the Harvard zone.  The Globe article noted
that Harvard made a defensive adjustment during the game to pick up the
Wildcat rush farther out, rather than hang back waiting for them.  I'm not
sure when this occurred, but for the first half of the game, I was feeling
that UNH had some speedy forwards on their team that were being kept off
the scoreboard mainly because of Tracy's aggressive goaltending (which gave
me a few more ulcers! Why won't he stay in the net??? Never mind, it seems
to work for him.) and a little bit of luck:
 
Numerous loose pucks/pile-ups in front of Tracy were saved only because
a Harvard player would FINALLY get to the puck and clear it out.  (Those
few seconds when the puck is just sitting there are sheer horror.)
 
Soon enough, New Hampshire got on the board.  I didn't see it clearly, but
it was unassisted, so I suspect the Harvard defense finally was caught off guard.
 
HU 2, UNH 1     1:50    Woodman (unassisted)
 
New Hampshire's bid to tie up the game was hampered by continued penalties.
Through the second, however, Cavicchi's continued strong glove work kept
Harvard off the scoreboard.  DON'T shoot to this guy's glove side!
 
With about 2 minutes left, I noticed an interesting line-up:
Martins-Craigen-Kennish.  Perhaps Tomassoni was trying to wake up
the Harvard offense...
 
PERIOD THREE
 
...and the entire team answered this call.  Good Harvard pressure caused
a hooking call at 6:27.  Seventeen seconds later, McCann one-timed a blast
from his favorite spot near the right circle to begin the onslaught.
 
HU 3, UNH 1     PPG  6:44  McCann (Martins, Farrell)
 
Harvard's forwards, nay, the whole team, just seemed to catch fire at this
point.  They skated hard, passed well, and found the secret to getting
past Cavicchi's glove.  Seconds later, Chris Baird flew down the left wing
into the zone, drawing a UNH defenseman.  He flipped the puck back toward
Perry Cohagen, (centering the first line tonight), who had stormed down
the middle and beat the other defenseman.  A point blank shot from about 15
feet out hit nothing but net.
 
HU 4, UNH 1     7:18  Cohagen (Baird)
 
Three minutes later, more offensive pressure found McCann (a defenseman)
drawing the UNH defense to Cavicchi's left.  McCann passed the puck across the
slot to a wide open Baird, who was all by himself on Cavicchi's right.
Easy goal.  (?--where is that 'slot' thing exactly, anyway?)
 
HU 5, UNH 1     9:51  Baird (McCann, Farrell)
 
After that goal, UNH pulled their goalie and put in Mike Heinke.  From about
this point also, Tomassoni went to a two-line rotation (#'s 3 and 4), saving
his star forwards for St. Paul, I guess.
 
Heinke fared no better.  Ben Coughlin made a pretty pass from Heinke's left
to Jason Karmanos, parked right in front about ten feet out.
 
HU 6, UNH 1     11:43  Karmanos (Coughlin, Neilsen)
 
Finally, two minutes later Cory Gustafson put in a blast from the point
(left, from goalie's perspective) to complete a four-point game for the
Cabot House forwards.
 
HU 7, UNH 1     13:43  Gustafson (Body, Coughlin)
 
Even so, the Crimson kept up the pressure until the very end.  Karmanos
even drew a hooking penalty with 12 seconds left, having split the defense
and about to break in right in front of the net.
 
Has this team found the meaning of playing a full 60 minutes?  Have they
acquired that "killer instinct?"  (I sure hope so!!!)
 
With all the offense, it was difficult to pay much attention to the defense.
But they were as usual solid.  Bryan Lonsinger in particular stood out
for his strong play in the neutral zone.  He stepped at the right times
to stop the New Hampshire transitional play.        ^up
McCann showed why he was a Hobey Baker finalist by his efforts on both
ends.  Body, Maguire, etc. etc. what more can you say about these seniors?
 
By the way, John Pottow'93 made a guest appearance to conduct the Harvard
Band.  Bill Cleary was in the stands, as was the Bright Arena Zamboni driver
(shame on me, I forget his name).
 
The way this team's been playing, I gotta seriously think about going to
St. Paul...
 
Good luck to the Harvard Crimson and all the teams in the phinal phour!
(But more luck to the Crimson :-)
 
Cheers,
 
Julian Chu '93