Friday night, game one of hockey*4 weekend found the Catamounts and
the Crimson playing an intense game/practice. UVM reminds me of a
mirror site of Harvard. I am ready for an NC$$ rule to only let one
coach per conference attend a given summer coaching clinic.
Vermont came out strong and took the lead when Brian Leddy (Bill
Lincoln) was able to deke-out Harvard goalie Tripp Tracy. The
Crimson had started the game casually, and UVM deserved their lead.
Steve Martins (Brian Farrell) tied it when he took a nice pass in
front and drilled a shot high glove side. Martins had just come out
of the penalty box and trailed the play into the zone. The Vermont
coach thought the goal should have been disallowed.
In the second period, UVM took the lead on a power play goal. Eric
Perrin (Martin St. Louis, Dominique Ducharme) finished off a nice
break in play with a good high shot. Ben Coughlin tied the match
for Harvard when his quick shot went in. After UVM had taken the
lead, players on both sides were just standing around the ice wonder-
ing what would happen, and Coughlin seized the opening. The Cata-
mounts made it 2-3 on a power play goal by Jason Williams (Dale
Pattison, Pavel Navant). Again Harvard was standing around and
Williams followed up by putting a rebound in. Farrell tied the con-
test again, when on a power play his wide angle shot found net.
In the third period, the Crimson took its first lead of the game when
Farrell (Martins) finished off an excellent 1-2 out of the corner on
a power play. UVM finished the scoring when their quick break out
play resulted in a number of chances, Pattison (Ducharme, Tom Quinn)
putting in the last rebound. In overtime there was no scoring, and
not many good scoring chances.
The Vermont Catamounts played a hard skating and checking game. They
always seem ready to play Harvard, and usually get a good result. I
felt their teamwork was very strong. The thing that stopped them
from winning the match was that they tended to react to Harvard. If
the Crimson took a nap, they took a nap. If they picked it up, UVM
picked it up. The line of Pattison, Ducharme and Perrault is some-
thing special. Their touch passing and speed is extremely good. I
also liked the skating and moves of St. Louis and Lincoln. Both made
numerous individual rushes. Jason Williams is a heck of a defender.
He covered his zone well, and I felt made Vermont click. Still the
main point about the Catamounts is that the whole team plays well in
their assigned units. They could be making some noise at the end of
the season.
Harvard looked tired. The flat offense which needs the spark from
individuals just never got going. The other disturbing part is the
continued panic on defense. Last night they were much better at
getting a forward back to cover for a rushing defender. Still
when that occurs and the other team breaks out, even though they
have players in position they tend to panic. The result was a
number of rebounds, some of which UVM put away. Normally that kind
of sloppy defending doesn't occur. Brian Farrell was Harvard's out-
standing player of the match. He made a number of teammates look
good, by moving so well, getting in position to make plays, and then
finishing. Ben Coughlin show good speed and puck movement. In the
second and third periods he was moved onto the first power play unit
at the point with Maguire. That combination proved to be much more
stable. Coughlin has a better stick for passing, and does not get
rattled by breaking forwards. Steve Martins had a good skating game.
He could have done better, but got sucked into penalties by reacting
instead of just going out and scoring the goals. Brian Lonsinger was
a strong defender last night. He broke up play after play as UVM
tried to break by him. Ashlin Halfnight had his usual number of
interesting rushes and skating whirls. Right now the team is not
going with his offense bursts well. It seems to confuse them. Pity
as they are the kind of spark the flat offense needs. For the first
period Harvard stayed with its set lines. In the last two periods the
Crimson went back to mixing up the lines and this helped create
chances. Still, the team was very tired looking. Its like last
weekend wore them out? Tonight's match against Big Green should be
very telling.
Harvard scoring leaders Overall ECAC
GP G A PT G A PT
Steve Martins 15 12 17 29 10 13 23
Brian Farrell 15 15 8 23 13 8 21
Chris Baird 15 3 19 22 2 15 17
Cory Gustafson 15 15 4 19 10 3 13
Derek Maguire 12 3 16 19 2 11 13
Harvard goaltending
Aaron Israel GP MP GA SVS GAA SV% SO W L T
Overall 8 455 19 144 2.51 .883 2 6 0 1
ECAC 6 365 13 115 2.14 .898 2 5 0 1
Tripp Tracy
Overall 7 391 24 133 3.68 .847 0 4 3 0
ECAC 5 301 17 97 3.39 .851 0 3 2 0
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good shooting
rhun
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