Saturday night, game three of hockey*4 weekend found the Crimson just
getting by the Big Green.  Panic mood seems to have taken hold of
Harvard as Dartmouth did not play a great game, but the Crimson did
not venture much.
 
There was no scoring in the first period.  Harvard was skating some-
what better than Friday night, but they still did not play with any
drive.  The Big Green played a good forecheck/backcheck game, but
also offered little offense.  In the second period Harvard got a
power play goal when Derek Maguire (Ashlin Halfnight, Kirk Nielsen)
had his point shot defected in by a Dartmouth defender.  The Crimson
finsihed its scoring for the night when Brian Farrell (Chris Baird)
got a shorthanded goal.  Baird made the intercept and feed Farrell,
who waited until the goalie went down to fire high into the net.  In
the third period Dartmouth got their goal when Scott Fraser (Tom
Ruzzo, Yanick Roussin) took a pass from Ruzzo, who was on his back
at the time, and put the puck home at the far post.
 
Dartmouth did not play an interesting game.  They had very little
pressure on the Harvard net.  As a team I thought they skated fine.
They just did not have much of an offense Saturday night.  I thought
goalie Mike Bracco played well.  He stood-up and made several good
saves.  The best skaters for Big Green were Dax Burkhart, Dan Bloom
and Mike Stacchi.  Burkhart and Bloom are a strong defensive pair.
Stacchi showed some spark on attack.
 
Harvard seems to be in shutdown mood.  The tie with Vermont has made
the coach go back to what he loves best: defense.  The whole weekend
for the men was slow.  The puck movement on Saturday night was ex-
tremely poor.  In the last three minutes of the game, I thought they
were going to give it away, as panic reigned.  Trying to close out
a game seems to be a mental block right now.  I guess scoring a few
goals is beyond the current psyche.  The outstanding player of the
match for Harvard was Lou Body.  His good defensive marking and very
good break out passes stood out.  I also liked the skating and touch
play of Ben Coughlin.  Brian Farrell was probably the Crimson's most
dangerous player on the ice.  McCann and Halfnight had their usual
stellar skating games.  Kirk Nielsen move well but needs to keep his
head up looking for the best plays.  Cory Gustafson had a fair game,
but is off the boil at the moment.  Derek Maguire continued his cool,
steady D and lovely playmaking skills.  Aaron Israel played a strong
match in goal.  His stand-up style stopped a few series of shots
well.  Harvard played with set lines and as Julian noted were with-
out injured Tom Holmes (Bonne chance!) and benched Steve Martins.
I would agree with Coach Tomassoni's action as Martins should be
scoring many more goals.  He has the talent he just needs to get on
with it!  Philpott saw limited action in the 1st & 3rd periods
Saturday night only.  I agree with Julian that he is a liability.
Stuart Swenson got to play and fit in very nicely.  Overall, Harvard
just looks a tired team.  They are not going to win many games down
the road if they don't put more effort into scoring goals.
 
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 good shooting
 rhun
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