Thrills and Penalty Kills

"Harvard penalty on number 10, Dave Burke, two minutes, for hooking at 19:16..."

The announcement of Burke's penalty less thane one minute into the game proved to be a harbinger of things to come. By the time Dave Conners raised the fists of uncountable Crimson rooters with his overtime goal, the high-pitched hum of the Walter Brown public-address system had become a part of the lives of the 2900-plus who enjoyed the game.

Spending almost as much time up or down a man as they did at full strength, the Crimson "special teams"--the penalty-killers and power play--were put to the test. Some awesome B.U. defense muted the icemen while one man up, but equally stellar penalty-killing by the Crimson not only provided a life for the young pucksters, but--yest, we'll go out on a limb--saved the game.

There's no way enough can be said about a penalty-killing act that, forced into action five times--twice with two men down--yields not a single goal. And this, against the vaunted Terrier power play.

Simply, it meant the difference between a win and a loss. Last Wednesday, when the penalty killers committed mass suicide and allowed three power-play goals by Providence College, Coach Bill Cleary's words were "a lack of discipline."

Today he spoke short and sweet, and his words on the power play can be applied to the entire game--now that we have it safely tucked away in our pockets: "Everything went right.

For much of the game, Walter Brown resembled the Boston Garden--during a Celtics game, not a Bruins game. Whistle after whistle after whistle could have prompted the casual observer to hunt for personal fouls and traveling violations, but through it all the icemen stayed tough.

Mark Fusco, who not only played awesome hockey on penalties, but starred during the five or so minutes the teams played at full strength, credits practice with bringing the penalty-killing unit around. "We finally did what we were told to do in practice," Fusco said with a grin after the game. "We were just more intense..."

Luckily for the Crimson, the final time they heard the public address system's obscene whine, they didn't care what it sounded like. "The final Harvard goal was scored by Dave Conners..."