Wednesday night, back at Bright for a tedious match which the
University of New Hampshire won 2-5 over the Harvard Crimson.  Neither
team showed me much, but the UNH coach was really into the game.
 
In the closing minutes of the first period, Harvard scored when Perry
Cohagan (Ben Coughlin, Michel Breistroff) redirected a centering pass.
The puck had just been dumped around the boards, but Coughlin's pass
provided a good setup.  In the second, Doug Sproule (Steve Martins,
Cory Gustafson) knocked home a 4 on 3 power play goal.  The passing
had been good and quick and Sproule's efforts in front were rewarded.
Harvard was not playing that well, but seemed to decided they could
sit on a 2-0 lead for a while.  UNH came back with a shorthanded goal
when Mark Mowers (Eric Flinton, Bryan Muir) finished off some nice
passing on a long break in play.  Flinton (Nick Poole, Eric Royal)
tyed the match at two after the lazy Crimson defense had let the
Wildcats flip the puck around the zone.  I would add both teams
were still not intense at this point.  However for reasons unknown,
Harvard's Martins decided to try and mix it up with a UNH player,
and in the process got a penalty call on the Wildcat.  That shot
life into the UNH team.  In the final period, Royal (Poole, Flinton)
came out and on a simple break in play flipped the puck through the
Crimson netminder (Tracy).  Shortly afterwards, Royal (Flinton, Muir)
cruised right in on the Harvard net, held the puck until the goalie
flopped out of his way, and scored the easy goal.  Poole (Todd Hall,
Royal) finish the scoring with an empty net goal.
 
UNH played the final period with just enough intensity to win easily.
On the night it was regrettable that either team showed up, much less
the supporters.  I was impressed with the big line of Flinton, Royal
and Poole.  Flinton and Poole pulled off some very nice 1-2's.  The
overall speed of that line is very good.
 
Harvard had few players showing up for this match.  Peter McLaughlin
had been playing some good steady hockey, and Wednesday evening he was
easily the best player for the Crimson.  He is breaking up plays well
and is anchoring the defense.  Breistroff is starting to look better.
He still makes mistakes, but they are fewer, and he seems to have found
some of his old form.  Jeremiah McCarthy also made some good heads up
play on the blue line.  The attack was poor.  The only line that looked
fairly good was Sproule, Henry Higdon and Stu Swenson.  They may be the
fourth line, but at least they have a go and can string together a few
passes.  Overall, not an encouraging match for the Crimson.
 
 
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 good shooting
 rhun
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