Well, the hockey gods were smiling upon me and held off the snowstorm currently
pounding the northeast just long enough for me to drive up to Portland and
catch the Harvard-Maine game.  Summary first, comments follow.  My apologies
for any inaccuracies, as I was pretty far away from the ice, "high above
rinkside," as it were.  My comments admittedly suffer somewhat from
Crimson-vision; I'd love to hear what others at the game have to say.
 
--Julian
 
 
FIRST PERIOD:
 
Unfortunately, I missed all but 2 minutes of the first, and Maine scored
just as I was sitting down to take the lead 2-1.
 
Reportedly, the Harvard goal was scored on the power play by McCann,
and the second Maine goal was scored by Tardif.
 
The goalies for the first half of the game were Aaron Israel for Harvard,
Marsh for Maine.
 
SECOND PERIOD:
 
Harvard   2:31  Gustafson (Holmes, Nielsen)
Harvard   4:59  Gustafson (Holmes, Ferrari)
 
Goalies changed approx. halfway through the period to Tripp Tracy for
Harvard, Brain Allison for Maine.
 
Maine    14:14  Latendresse (Tardif, Allison)  Shorthanded
Maine    18:14  Weinrich (Cardinal)  PPG
Harvard  19:56  Baird (Lonsinger, Craigen)
 
THIRD PERIOD
 
Maine     0:55  Cardinal (Lovell, Tardif)  PPG
Harvard   2:38  Gustafson (unassisted)
Maine     6:51  Roenick (Tardif, Cardinal)  PPG
Harvard   8:08  Nielsen (Coughlin, Gustafson)
Harvard  10:27  Farrell (Maguire, Baird)  PPG
 
BY PERIOD:
 
Harvard Goals:  1  3  3 - 7     Harvard Shots:  6  19  7 - 32
Maine Goals:    2  2  2 - 6     Maine Shots:    8   6  9 - 23
 
* * * * * * *
 
Some observations:
 
The last time I saw Maine play in person was the Hockey East championship
game against BU last year, and the team I watched last night are a mere
shadow of their former selves.  One of the Maine old-timers in the stands
near me remarked "This is the worst Maine team in ten years!!!"
 
Harvard had the edge in speed, and in the Cumberland County Civic Center
(which seemed to have a pretty big ice surface), it showed.  Harvard's forwards
were often able to rush up through center ice and carry the puck right in on
net.
 
Maine's defensemen seemed lackluster and had serious problems moving the puck
out of their zone, even on power plays.  The Harvard forechecking was very
effective in blunting Maine's offensive flow, particularly during even-strength
play.  For long stretches of the 2nd period, the action remained in the
Maine zone.
 
The Maine power play did not look impressive, yet somehow they managed to score
a number of power play goals.  I think several of the Maine goals came off of
long shots from the point that were deflected into the net; this play at least
seemed to work for them.  But their power play set never got going.  A pass
through the middle would invariably get intercepted by a Harvard defender and
cleared up ice.  Through 2 power plays in the middle of the second, Maine
managed only 2 shots!  A 5-on-3 followed by a 5-on-4 situation for Maine during
the last minute and a half of the game produced few quality attempts for the
same reasons.
 
No question, the WHRB radio announcers leave something to be desired.
Yet the refereeing did indeed seem inconsistent, with a number of non-calls
for both sides.  (The only referee whose name I noticed was Leavitt.)  What
WHRB probably got frustrated at was Maine's apparent strategy of neutralizing
Harvard's forwards by holding them against the boards (especially Martins, who
was tied up continually by a Maine player).  I don't know if this is legal or
not, but the Harvard players were complaining all night, and unfortunately they
also retaliated, giving Maine its numerous power play chances.
 
Regarding Harvard's goaltenders, I would agree that Israel is playing more
solidly than Tracy this year.  I don't know what, if anything, is bothering
Tripp, but I expect Tomassoni will continue rotating both goalies (traditions
die hard at Harvard, eh?)
 
Even though the season is young, for my money Cory Gustafson is the most
improved player for Harvard so far this year.  I remember last year he might
make a flashy move carrying the puck into the opponent's zone, but would always
lose the puck doing so.  His hard work is paying off this year as he seems to
have found the scoring touch--and in clutch situations, no less (i.e. season
opener against Brown, last night's hat trick).  His last goal was particularly
sweet:  Shake and bake across the blue line to skate in between two Maine
defenders on Allison, a deke to get Allison down, and a flick from his left
for the goal.
 
FOR QUADLINGS ONLY:
 
Superfans Leon and Jason of North House were present, as were
Cabot residents Yellow Breen, myself, and Bonnie Docherty (not to
mention Steve, Cory, and Durand).