Crimson Icemen Upend Scrappy Brown Six, 6-2

Brown, fighting for an ECAC seed, nearly pulled off an upset last night against the number two seeded Crimson hockey squad. But their stubborn defense collapsed in the third with the score tied at two, and Harvard broke loose to win, 6-2.

The Bruin six had trouble generating any offense in the first two periods, but its defensive play held the Crimson to just one goal. Harvard managed only 17 shots on net, seven in the first and ten in the second.

The opening period went scoreless. Harvard had a decided edge in territorial play, but couldn't get many testers on Brown goalie Dave Sagaser. The Crimson mustered but two shots during its two power play opportunities.

Tempers flared in the second period as officials Dana Hennigar and William Downing whistled eight penalties, four to each team. The solo tally of the period came off the stick of senior Bill Corkery. Sagaser made two saves from in close, but couldn't control the rebound and Corkery poked it home at 5:21.

With a minute remaining in the period, Corkery had another bid from a bad angle at the side of the net. The shot sent poor Sagaser staggering, causing him to lose his gloves and stick. Harvard, however, couldn't capitalize on the semi-naked goaltender and the puck was tied up before the Crimson could get off any more shots.

Bob Goodenow put Harvard out in front by two at the start of the third. Randy Roth won the face-off to the left of Sagaser at 0:51 and Goodenow converted on a hard shot at 0:52.

The visiting Brown band and a group of loyal fans that made the trek from Providence started to make a lot of noise in the third to rally their seemingly defeated team. The Bruins came alive in response to the hooplah, tying the score at two.

Norm Howarth provided the offense for Brown, tallying at 3:35 on a powerplay and at 7:11. The Harvard fans, not wishing to be outdone by these Providence rowdies, began to swing into gear, rallying the Crimson icemen.

The Brown defense suddenly fell apart against the Harvard onslaught, as the Crimson broke it open for four goals within a span of five minutes. A Mark Noonan slapper, screened beautifully by Goodenow, snuck past Sagaser at 9:31 to put Harvard ahead for good.

Corkery came busting down the right side two minutes later, and blasted one at Sagaser. The Bruin netminder couldn't hang on to the rebound, however, and Larry Desmond lit the lamp.

Roth picked up the next Harvard tally unassisted at 12:10, scoring on his own rebound. Bob McManama kept his string of goal scoring alive two minutes after that, as he and Corkery combined for a short handed goal. McManama has tallied in his last eight games, totalling 13 goals.

Stand out sophomore forward Jim Thomas suffered the only injury of the physical game. In his usual hustling style, Thomas surged in with the puck at the Brown net, but was tripped from behind by Gary Farniuk, sending him crashing into the goal post at 12:25 of the middle period. Thomas was helped off the ice with a bruised thigh.

The score isn't truly representative of the game Brown played. The Bruins were scrappy throughout, playing a close checking physical game. The defense stymied the Crimson most of the contest, but Harvard capitalized on its few errors in the third and the team fell apart.

Brown, unbeknownst to the referees skated the last thirty seconds with seven men on the ice in a last ditch attempt to make the score look respectable. No such luck.