Friday night at Bright the Harvard Crimson beat the St. Lawrence Saints
8-3.  Harvard was very fortunate in that a number of outside shots found
net.  While there was a lot of scoring this wasn't much of match with
both teams playing tough guy and dump and chase for most of the night.
 
In the first period, the Crimson scored first on a power play goal by
Steve Martins (Brad Konik, Perry Cohagan).  Some quick passing after a
face-off setup Martins who waited and roofed his shot.  St. Lawrence tied
the game just after the Harvard ppg when Burke Murphy (Thomas Cullen,
Derek Ladouceur) scored high after a scrum in front of the Harvard net.
The Crimson regained the lead on a shorthanded goal by Peter McLaughlin.
The Saints were changing power play units when a wild pass found the blue
liner at the red line.  McLaughlin let rip a slap shot that somehow found
the far post.  In the second period, Geordie Hyland (Ashlin Halfnight)
finished off a lovely play by Halfnight.  The sophomore defender had
darted into the attacking zone and pulled the St. Lawrence defense over
before laying off the nice pass.  Hyland took the feed, waited and then
drilled his shot.  Off the ensuing face-off Harvard took the puck right
back to the Saint's net where eventually Konik (Ben Coughlin, Bryan
Lonsinger) poked it home.  The Crimson went up 5-1 on a 4 on 3 power play
goal when Lonsinger's (Martins, Coughlin) outside shooting paid off.  At
that point St. Lawrence changed goalies.  B. Murphy (Scott Stevens, Ryan
Cassidy) got one back for the Saints when he poked home from a scrum in
front of Tripp Tracy.  In the final period, Kirk Nielsen (Jeremiah
McCarthy) roofed a rebound just after Harvard had put on a lot of power
play pressure.  St. Lawrence got a power play goal from Jeff Kungle
(Cullen) when his point shot went in off the goalie's shoulder pads.  The
Crimson scored another shorthanded goal when Konik (Lonsinger, Michel
Breistroff) went the length of the ice and took the puck straight to the
net.  Harvard closed out the scoring at 8-3 on another power play goal
when Breistroff's (McCarthy) point shot found net through traffic.
 
St. Lawrence looked like they were having an off night.  They did not get
good goaltending.  Like Harvard they seem very interest in team defense.
Unlike the Crimson, they do have some nice touch plays on the attack,
when they choose to use them.  Defender Jeff Kungle was their outstanding
player.  A very smooth and intelligent player who is a major force on the
ice.  The line of Paul DiFrancesco, B. Murphy and Stevens were very fast
and I was surprised that they didn't do more damage.
 
Harvard was fortunate to have the outside shots go into the net.
Hopefully the team will use this win as a confidence builder.  Steve
Martins played his usual upscale game.  He is a great skater, passer and
scorer.  Martins can be a total player in that he does get back into his
own zone too.  However, as is also usual, he took himself out of the game
with a number of cheap shots which resulted in penalties.  First-year
defender McCarthy had another good game on the blue line.  He has
developed into a fine skating, heads-up player.  McLaughlin also showed
some refined touch back on defense.  Konik opened up the ice for the
Crimson with his moves, passes and what he does best:  skating off the
puck.  Cory Gustafson laid off some delicate passes and was the most
creative attacker for Harvard.  Perry Cohagan had to be the Crimson man
of the match.  His passing and extra effort Friday night were super.
 
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 good shooting
 rhun
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