I didn't see Richard Hungerford tonight at the game, taking his usually excellent game notes, so here's my poor, from-memory game account, in case Richard indeed was unable to make it tonight. I figured tonight's matchup was a fairly close one between two teams in the increasingly muddled ECAC (unless you're Brown). Indeed, when I arrived, during the first intermission, the scoreboard read one goal a piece for both Harvard and RPI, and 8 S.O.G. for both as well. The 1500 or so fans (almost equally divided between Harvard and RPI supporters) were kept quite entertained by fast paced action (both the skating and a fair amount of "extra-curiccular" activities--the penalty box was often occupied tonight). The winning goal did not come until 0:23 left in the game. After a face-off in the Harvard zone, the defense failed to clear the puck, which found its way to the RPI player on the left point. A fine shot beat Tripp Tracy high to put RPI up for good. An unfortunate outcome for the Harvard faithful, particularly after seeing their team claw back from a two-goal deficit during the second half of the third period. At around the 10:00 mark of the third, Doug Sproule deflected a shot from Ben Coughlin from the top of the left faceoff circle. (RPI 3, Harvard 2) It seems the Crimson have found their big man to occupy the middle on the power play in Sproule, who is providing some sorely needed scoring punch. Another freshman, Henry Higdon, showed great tenacity tonight, in forechecking and chasing down the puck in the offensive zone. His hustle resulted in the third goal by Stu Swenson (Higdon, ?), who got the puck after Higdon chased it down in the corner to the goaltender's left. Swenson headed toward the net and put it in high in the corner. However, the RPI goaltender did not let any other Harvard bids find the back of the net (besides the goal in the first). Numerous times Harvard forwards closed in to point blank range and simply couldn't find anywhere to shoot the puck. While the Crimson do seem to be suffering from a lack of scoring punch, the solid, steady play of the RPI goalie closed off many a shooting opportunity tonight. The second RPI goal came during the second period. As Harvard's defense (again) failed to clear the zone, an RPI player above the left face-off circle made a beautiful pass to a teammate sitting ALL BY HIMSELF next to the right post. Tracy had come out, apparently expecting a long shot, and had no chance. I think the RPI forward was closer to the net than Tracy! The third goal came at about 6:40 in the third, from a set-up behind the net to an Engineer parked out in front. The Harvard power play continued to look confused, as the Crimson seem to have problems coming through center ice and passing around the zone. RPI's penalty killing unit was quite effective in breaking the power play set-up and intercepting passes. One possible bright spot for the Crimson may be the return of big freshman Geordie Hyland on defense. (Hey, anything that means less ice time for Breistroff can't be bad...) He played well and showed good skating ability. Unlike another large freshman from recruiting classes past... Finally, Higdon, Craigen, and Holmes get my stars for sheer hustle and effort tonight...these guys really got Harvard back into the game. --Julian Chu (currently lurking the 'Net from the account of ghostwriter B. Nago)