Terriers Evict Icemen From Walter Brown, 8-5

Though the Harvard hockey team was supposed to be the host at Walter Brown Arena last night, the regular tenants, the Boston University Terriers, made surrogate subletters of the icemen and raised their record to 5-0 with a decisive 8-5 victory.

Playing without the services of six of its top forwards, B.U. ran up a 7-3 lead after two periods, then held on in the final 20 minutes.

And though the Crimson would outscore B.U. 2-1 in the third, goalie Jim Craig was just good enough (12 saves, 28 overall) and the Terrier defense just careful enough to prevent Harvard from damaging their unblemished record. And when Todd Johnson slid his third goal of the night 80 feet into an empty net to make it 8-5, blemished only was Harvard's aborted comeback attempt.

Tommy Murray popped his first goal of the year from out in front to make it 7-4, and then surprisingly clean play from both squads (no third-period penalties) helped the icemen cut the deficit to two with six and a half minutes remaining.

Harvard used a line change to its own advantage, as freshman Dave Burke and George Hughes, two of the team's better goal scorers, passed it back and forth before Burke flicked it by Craig for the game's last legitimate goal.

The Terriers had emerged with a 2-1 lead after an up-and-down slapshot fest of a first period.

Sophomore hip check specialist Daryl MacLeod opened the scoring at 3:04, taking a shovel pass from freshman Rob Davies and firing a high wrister to the short side of the cage past Crimson frosh Wade Lau.

Davies had broken in alone on Lau, but was checked off the play just as he passed off. Harvard defenseman Jack Hughes could not get to MacLeod in time to stop his shot.

The Crimson then pulled the emergency brake on B.U.'s momentum, as senior Murray Dea popped his first of the year just six seconds later to tie it at one-apiece.

Dea took the puck after a face-off in the B.U. zone and surprised the out-of-position Craig with a whistler to the lower right corner.

As both teams went into fleeting moments of offensive pressure, the Terriers used the last half of the first to conduct a give-and-go, 3-on-2 clinic and cop the go-ahead goal at 10:05.

Sophomore Mark Fidler took the puck into the left corner, and after drawing the attention he is accustomed to from the Harvard defense, dropped the puck back to junior Scott Nieland at the point. Nieland's blazer motored by the glove hand of the screened Lau and into the upper corner for B.U.'s second score.

But the dogs went mad in the second period, despite some strong play by Harvard in the middle of the stanza, and were up 7-3 with one period left.

B.U. made bookends out of its goal-scoring outbursts, firing in three in the first six minutes plus, and a pair within the last 1:24.

MacLeod notched his second of the evening at 2:43 when he tucked a rebound pass from Davies into a virtually vacated net. Sophomore Johnson then cranked his first of two second-period scores when he scooped the puck up at center ice after some Harvard pressure and beat Lau low to the right.

Jack O'Callahan, whose slapshot was good for an assist on the third goal, then made it 5-1 at 6:12. Fidler stole the puck at the Harvard blue line and tossed it ahead for the Terrier captain, whose bomb exploded in the back of the Harvard cage.

A pair of B.U. penalties a minute and a half later gave the Crimson a chance to come back--sort of. Sporting a two-man advantage, Harvard's Jack Hughes got into the "boom and score" parade with a low rocket from the right point. Jack's tally came as the result of pretty checkerboard power-play passing, and fueled the icemen's momentum for the next several minutes.

Harvard pulled within two at 13:59 when Gene Purdy pocketed the rebound of a George Hughes shot for his third goal of the year.

On top 5-3, the Terriers jacked up their lead again in NCAA champion-style. With the clock winding down, sophomore defenseman Tim Kimball fired a blind dart that surprisingly made it by everyone. Johnson then closed out the second period gunfight with 22 seconds left when he slam bammed the puck up and over Lau during a crease scramble for the 7-3 cushion.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard winger Gene Purdy, off to his customary strong start, fractured his right wrist in the third period and will be out indefinitely. B.U.(5-0)  2  5  1-8 HARVARD(1-3)  1  2  2-5

SCORING: B.U.--Daryl MacLeod (Rob Davies, Bill O'Neill) 3:04; H--Murray Dea (unassisted) 3:09; B.U.--Scott Nieland (Mark Fidler) 10:05. Second Period: B.U.--MacLeod (Davies, Jack O'Callahan) 2:43; B.U.--Todd Johnson (unassisted) 3:49; B.U.--O'Callahan (Fidler) 6:12; H--Jack Hughes (John Cochrane) 8:23; H--Gene Purdy (Jack Hughes, Cochrane) 13:59; B.U.--Johnson (Hetnik, Meagher) 19:38. Third Period: H--Tom Murray (Mike Watson) 5:54; H--David Burke (Graham Carter, George Hughes) 13:19; B.U.--Johnson (Hetnik, Craig) 19:56.

SAVES: B.U.(Craig) 28, H (Lau) 22.

SCORING: B.U.--Daryl MacLeod (Rob Davies, Bill O'Neill) 3:04; H--Murray Dea (unassisted) 3:09; B.U.--Scott Nieland (Mark Fidler) 10:05. Second Period: B.U.--MacLeod (Davies, Jack O'Callahan) 2:43; B.U.--Todd Johnson (unassisted) 3:49; B.U.--O'Callahan (Fidler) 6:12; H--Jack Hughes (John Cochrane) 8:23; H--Gene Purdy (Jack Hughes, Cochrane) 13:59; B.U.--Johnson (Hetnik, Meagher) 19:38. Third Period: H--Tom Murray (Mike Watson) 5:54; H--David Burke (Graham Carter, George Hughes) 13:19; B.U.--Johnson (Hetnik, Craig) 19:56.

SAVES: B.U.(Craig) 28, H (Lau) 22.