The Harvard Crmison came to Meehan arena to do one thing, WIN. They gave the nod to MI native Tripp Tracy to be the stalwart between the posts. He was anything but. The Crimson busted out of the gate in high gear to swarm the Bears early with a couple of nice flurries, but soon fell behind for nearly the entire game. Freshman Ethan Philpott showed momentarily why he should be considered one of the best freshmen in the NCAA - as he looked to have donned rockets in lieu of his Bauers as he blasted by three Bruins, splitting two of them, only to have Brown goalie Geoff Finch beat him to the puck. Finch wisely came out of his net to the top of the circle to stop the play. The freshman phenom Philpott, resigned the rest of the night to loafing around and just laying CRUSHING hits on anyone who got near him. (The Harvard football team's defensive unit could have used his services earlier as the Bears gridders rolled to a 44 - 29 trouncing of the Crimson.) This guy is BIG. The referees gave the Bruins every chance they could think of (and even made up a few) as referee Ammian consistently saw infractions that just weren't occuring, giving the Bruins as many as three 5 - 3 opportunities during the game. Crimson veteran and standout forward Cory "I'm a Goon" Gustafson should learn to stay out of the box more, as he did in the overtime allowing him to break away from the Bears defenders and BLAST a shot past Geoff Finch that few people in the arena even saw. Brown took the lead in the first period when senior captain Kelly Jones tipped a cross-crease pass from linemate and fellow captain Chris Kaban over the right pad of Tripp Tracy. The period ended with Brown leading 2 - 1 on another goal by Bruin junior defenseman Mike Traggio. The lone Crimson tally came during a 5 min major to senior defenseman Mark Shaughnessy for checking from behind. The puck was being tied up along the boards near the top of the circle to Finch's right when Shaughnessy lowered his head and ran into the Crimson forward along the boards in a very vicious manner. Harvard set up and scored within the first minute on a tipped shot from the left point. The Bears clamped down for the rest of the penalty and allowed no other quality scoring chances for the duration of the infraction. The second period saw Harvard go with an all freshmen forward line often that consisted of Ehtan Philpott, Joe Craigen, and Stuart Swenson. The future of hockey in Caimbridge looks bright if these three make any progress at all as players during their four years. Craigen, a center from MN, can handle the puck extremely well. With Philpott roaming around and the equally talented Swenson - these three will be dangerous. They have just enough speed to keep them in the thick of it with the best in the league. (I knew I should have taken a notebook with me to the game.) Brown would score another goal in the second to stay ahead 3 - 2. Tripp Tracy looked terrible during this period. He was everywhere EXCEPT where he should have been. Traggio added the lone Bear's tally of the period for his second of the night. The lone Harvard goal came from junior defenseman Peter McLaughlin. In the third, Harvard sent in some fresher legs for most of the period in an effort to catch up, but ended up relying on their veterand to pull the game out for them. Jason Karmanos, Brian Farrell, and Tom Holmes seemed to have been on the ice almost the whole period. The Bruins capitalised on a power play goal by Eric Trach as the Harvard defenders seemed confused about what was going on and let the small center from Mahopack, NY sneak in next just to the left of Tracy where he was fed a pass from the right circle and buried it into the empty net as the the Harvard defenseman dove to try and stop the goal. (Senior standout Steve McCann was called for high sticking.) That was all the bears could muster. Steve Martins, a junior forward from Quebec (this guy has wheels! He is the strongest skater by far, of anyone from either team. He has the talent to do it all!) Frehsman Joe Craigen got the Crimson's first tally of the period as he picked up a rebound in front of a fallen Finch and sent the puck into the top shelf. The tying goal came with just under three minutes to play in the game. With the referees starting to call a more even game (Note: the game flowed fairly nicely all night, they just kept putting Harvard down by as many men as possible in the first two periods) the Bruins were penalized a man. (can't remember who or for what right now) After wasting the first minute of the man advantage, Harvard called a timeout and sent Martins, McCann, and Farrel to the front line. 20 seconds later, as Martins streaked in from the top of the left circle, he dished off to a wide open McCann standing at the right circle who promptly buried it behind the Bears goalie. The Crimson offense gathered round to congratulate thier captain for tying the game. McCann was used often as a winger on the power play all night long. This guy is VERY good. Not a single Bruin could get by him when he was on defense and he can lead the attack (and he love to do it) whenever the situation presents itself. Tripp Tracy did make two nice kick saves in the final minute to send the game into overtime, but Finch played much better as he stopped two breakaways during the third period. 3 minutes into the overtime, it was over. Harvard showed in the last 10 mins of regulation that they NEVER want to lose. They did everything except score on numerous occasions. Harvard looked to be the better team, they dominated play when they weren't short-handed. Shots on goal at the end of regulation were 34 - 22 Harvard. Maybe the Harvard team should be in the top 12, but not the top 5. And hey, anyone want to put the Brown Bears up there? I think I'll wait till next week before I call that one. Mike -----------------------------------+------------------------------------ DOS = Dead Operating System | DOS is Dead, Windows = Windoze | Windoze shall never awaken, N/T = Nice Try | Nice Try though: Solaris = Slow-aris | Slow as an abbacus, OS/2 = Our Saviour is 2 | WPS: Where Productivity Starts. -----------------------------------+------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] | Michael Sheridan [log in to unmask] | 95 Benevolent St. [log in to unmask] | Providence, RI 02906 [log in to unmask] | (401) 351-9721 -----------------------------------+-------------------------------------