Roth's Pair Propels Harvard To 4-2 Win Over Dartmouth

From a fan's viewpoint, it was the most tedious game of the season, but it was enough to keep intact Harvard's perfect ECAC (11-0) and Ivy League (6-0) records, as the Crimson skated to an easy 4-2 victory over a docile Dartmouth squad last night at Watson.

That Harvard didn't run away with the contest altogether was due primarily to the outstanding play of Big Green goalie Jeff Sollows. The Crimson pummeled Sollows with 47 shots on the night, but the Dartmouth goaltender racked up 43 saves. At least a dozen of them were of the spectacular variety.

The high point of the game was the penalty-shot goal scored by the Crimson's Randy Roth at 2:29 of the second period, with the game tied at 1-1. A Dartmouth defenseman had covered up the puck in the Big Green crease, incurring the seldom-called infraction.

Harvard coach Bill Cleary turned to his captain and leading scorer to put the Crimson ahead, and Roth didn't let him down. In fact, he made it look easy, faking Sollows out of his pants, and back-handing it over the down-and-out goalie.

"I thought at first that I might shoot from far out," Roth said, "but Sollows is big and cuts the angles well. When he came out of his crease as far as he did, I went right, left, and then right again to score it."

Harvard scored first at 3:21 of the first period on a goal by Paul Haley from Kevin Carr and Dan Bolduc. Carr fed Haley a perfect pass to send Haley in alone on Sollows, and he lifted a backhander over the sprawled Big Green netminder.

Tied Up in Knots

Dartmouth knotted things with just 53 seconds to go in the period on a three-on-two break, with the Big Green's Danny Tomlak getting the marker.

Roth then put Harvard ahead to stay with his goal, and the Crimson's Ted Thorndike netted the eventual game winner at 4:51 of the second stanza shoving in a rebound of a Jimmy Thomas shot that Sollows was lax to cover up.

Roth got his second goal of the game with assists going to Eddie Rossi and Dave Gauthier at 5:07 of the final period, and school was out for the tame Big Green. Dartmouth got one last goal, on a power play with 10 seconds left, for the 4-2 final.

Dartmouth seemed to lack the fight it has had in its last two appearances at Watson, which earned the Big Green a tie and a win. Only three penalties were called on both sides throughout the first two periods. Rumor says that fourth year Dartmouth coach Grant Standbrook can't fire his team up anymore, and he may be gone after this year.

There was a small, obnoxious contingent of Dartmouth students in Section 13 on hand last night, yelling such notable Dartmouth cheers as "Harvard Sucks" throughout a good part of the game, before most of them passed out from, guess what?...Roth's goals were his ninth and tenth on the season, raising his team leading point total to 23.

The Crimson's Brian Petrovek, by virtue of allowing only two goals, lowered his ECAC leading goals-against average to 2.36...Paul Haley's marker was his eighth of the year. "Cat" is the fifth leading scorer of the squad with 16 points... Defenseman Eddie Rossi continues to play gambling, offensive hockey at the opposition's blue line, which resulted in a few excellent scoring chances against the Big Green.