Varsity Icemen Edge by Clarkson, 5-3

POTSDAM, N.Y.--Most college hockey teams do not venture forth eagerly on weekend road trips to Canton, N.Y., and Potsdam, N.Y., for few visiting squads have returned victorious over both St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

The Crimson icemen scorned tradition, however, last Saturday when they downed the Golden Knights, 5-3, here in Clarkson Arena, only 24 hours after edging the Larries, 6-4, in Canton.

Harvard became only the fourth ECAC team in history to garner victories at St. Lawrence and Clarkson on consecutive nights. Boston University, Providence and Boston College each performed this feat in the past, but their task was easier than Harvard's.

Previously, Clarkson met its Saturday night opponent after playing a game the preceding evening. Last weekend, however, the Golden Knights rested on Friday, lying in wait for their prey, while Harvard faced the Larries.

The Clarkson strategy failed, however, as the Crimson upped its record to 3-2. Left-winger Jim McMahon, who scored the hat trick against St. Lawrence, led Harvard to victory with two goals, collecting the game-winner at 8:15 of the final period during a power play.

Harvard took advantage of the five-on-four situation by executing a perfect passing play. Senior co-captain Bob Goodenow, on the right point, sent the puck to junior Steve Dagdigian in the right corner.

Dagdigian passed to Randy Roth, just to the right of the Clarkson net, and Roth flipped the puck out to McMahon, who was waiting on the left side of the crease.

McMahon deflected the puck past Clarkson netminder Syl Larose to give Harvard a 4-3 lead. Goodenow scored an open-net goal with 22 seconds left in the game to insure a Crimson victory.

Harvard opened the scoring at 1:28 of the first period when left-winger Jim Thomas beat Larose with a shot into the far corner from ten feet inside the blue line. At 16:55 McMahon lengthened Harvard's lead to 2-0 when the Crimson collected a power-play goal using the same pass pattern which produced the game-winner.

Clarkson's Dan O'Driscoll beat Harvard goalie Jim Murray at 10:51 of the second period to narrow the Crimson's lead. O'Driscoll collected his second tally of the night on a power play with 43 seconds left in the period, knotting the score at 2-2.

Junior defenseman Ed Rossi earned his first goal of the season at 1:54 of the final stanza to give Harvard the lead once again. Less than three minutes later, however, Clarkson freshman Chris Valentine scored as the Golden Knights came back to tie the game. McMahon and Goodenow then tallied to make the final 5-3.

Twenty penalties were called during the contest, 11 on Harvard and nine on Clarkson. Clarkson defenseman Dave Cooper hit sophomore Dan Bolduc with his stick in the mouth and eye near the game's end, and Bolduc had to be carried off the ice on a stretcher. Thomas moved up to the first line left-wing position to take Bolduc's place.

Golden Knights' fans delayed the game on two separate occasions when they threw beer cans and bottles onto the ice. The referee ruled "no-goal" in Harvard's favor twice, thus incurring the wrath of 2000 Clarkson supporters.

The fans had arrived one hour before game-time to hang a Crimson skater in effigy and to applaud their team as the players did pushups and situps on the ice during the pre-game warmup.

Murray made 31 saves, while Larose blocked 27 shots.