Overtime Goal Lifts Icemen Over B.U.

"I've been living here all my life, and I've always wanted to beat B.U., "Mark Fusco, freshman defenseman of the victorious Harvard hockey team shouted above the din of the locker room. "I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life."

In what has to be termed the most exciting Harvard hockey game since the finals of the '78 Beanpot, Dave Conners flicked the game winner past B.U. goalie Jeff Weisman with just 45 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Crimson a 4-3 win over B.U. at Walter Brown Arena last night.

For two periods the penalties and the penalty-killing provided the story. But it was the third period of the overtime, which featured furious skating and many of the year's most ferocious checks, that provided the heart-thumping action and ultimately decided the difference.

While Crimson fans sweated as the Terriers, seemingly always on the verge of scoring, mounted attack after attack at the Crimson net, Harvard goaltender Wade Lau dived, reached, lunged, and grabbed one apparent goal after another, keeping the Crimson alive with his spectacular play.

Finally, just when it appeared destined that both teams would leave the ice unfulfilled, Conners got hold of a Mike Watson pass and moments later the icemen raised their sticks in unison having beaten the Terriers at Walter Brown for the first time since 1973.

The evening's scoring began when B.U.'s Tony Meagher swooped down the right side and flipped a pass to Tod Johnson who ran the puck past Lau at 4:18 of the first period.

The Crimson retaliated minutes later. Dave Burke, who played by far his most impressive game of the campaign, raced the length of the ice with the puck and let go from ten feet. In the ensuing scramble for position. Tom Murray poked it home to knot the game at 1-1.

For the remainder of the first period, and most of the second, the team shoveled men from ice to the penalty box with amazing regularity. As a result of a minibrawl in front of the Crimson net the icemen skated with three men for four full minutes.

Roaring in anticipation of the coming Terrier goal, the viewer-capacity crowd slumped back in their seats again and again as Lau rose to the occasion. Stopping two-on-one's, three-on-two's and once even a three-on-one, Lau recorded 11 saves in the first period and 29 overall.

Capitalism

At 12:49 of the first period, B.U.'s Tim Kimball snuck a shot past Lau into the far corner. A minute later Mitch Olsen evened the score at 2-2 when he hit the back of the net for a short-handed goal.

After surviving a two-man down situation, ten minutes into the second period, the Crimson immediately found itself two men up, as two Terrier penalties, 20 seconds apart, gave them a sterling opportunity to score the go-ahead goal.

Mike Watson did just that moments later, but this time B.U. proved their mettle by tying the game a third and final time on a Paul Fenton goal.

The remaining minutes, easily the best played of the season for the Crimson, consisted alternately of near-misses and breathtaking defensive plays, until Conners ended it all, 45 seconds before the final buzzer.