I caught this game on tv too, and it was not as close as the final
score. BU led 6-0 after two and shifted into cruise for the third
period. Shots ended up 43-18 BU, but it was 35-10 after two.
The key to the game was certainly Harvard's weaker and inexperienced
defensive corps. Norton talked about the loss of nearly 100 points
last season from the departed Ds, but I felt they were really hurt in
two big ways not directly related to scoring. The Crimson had too
much trouble getting the puck up ice on breakouts with the intense BU
forecheck, as the Terriers often sent two guys deep into the zone to
harass the Ds (good scouting on BU's part). That resulted in a large
amount of turnovers, many leading to goals. Teams that have been able
to move the puck quickly have given BU problems. If you can't move
it, they feed off your panic and will take advantage.
And when BU was on the offensive, Harvard's Ds just did not get the
job done in front of Tracy. He faced a lot of shots and did well, but
even the better Harvard Ds like Halfnight were getting caught out of
position as BU rotated the play from behind the net, enabling guys
like Grier to get inside the coverage for rebounds. However, the goal
by Lachance with seconds left in the first caught Tracy not holding
the short side, as Lachance's bad angle shot went off a defender and
in. Without that goal, Harvard would have gone to the locker room
still down only 1-0 despite being outplayed in the first 20 minutes.
A bright spot for Harvard was senior goalie Steve Hermsdorf making his
first appearance ever and not giving up a goal, including stopping 8 of
8 shots in the third. Hermsdorf came in after BU went up 6-0 late in
the second, as Tracy was taken out. It was nice to see Ronn Tomassoni
give Tracy a pat on the back and some words of encouragement as he
came off - he couldn't be blamed, and his coach knew it. Definitely a
class coach.
I believe Tomassoni made the change in goaltending at that point for
two reasons (other than that the game was over). One, it was time to
get Tracy some rest. Harvard had 2 games last weekend and has 2 more
ECAC matchups this coming weekend. Also, he probably hoped that with
a netminder of lesser caliber in there, the team would respond by
paying more attention to defense, and I think they did. Maybe they
can build on that this weekend.
It certainly didn't seem to me as if Harvard lacked in the physical
play department. They often stood toe to toe with BU, who is not
nearly as big or physical a team as they have been in the past. A
concern for BU has to be that they continually allowed Harvard to
crash the net, nearly resulting in an injury to Herlofsky. Past BU
teams would have taken great offense at this.
Grier continues his amazing start with two more goals for 7 in his
last 3 games. He was the most impressive forward this evening for BU,
along with the hustlers like Bates and Drury. Oddly enough, Joubert
and Prendergast, among others, were relatively quiet. It is a
strength BU has that players like Grier have stepped up their play
this season, and every line was dangerous. But big play out of the
big guns will be needed for them to go far.
Similarly, Martins was quiet for Harvard when he was most needed early
in the game. Did I hear before that he was injured? I'm wondering if
that's still affecting him. Harvard needs him to be healthy and able
to play the madman style that makes him one of the better forwards in
the country.
We may yet see these teams meet again in the second round of the
Beanpot. It will be interesting to see how far Harvard has come at
that point. Just on the basis of seeing this one game, they do not
look nearly as good as last year, but this is one of the reasons you
play a full season of games. I will be curious to see what Tomassoni
is able to do with them the rest of the way.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
|
