Icemen Top Cornell; Lau Keys 5-3 Win

It ain't over yet. The Harvard hockey team, needing a win virtually every time it takes to the ice for a decent shot at qualifying for post-season play, jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead against Cornell and hung on for a 5-3 decision last night at Bright Center.

Offensively, the freshmen came through again, supplying all five goals. But the icemen can thank sophomore goaltender Wade Lau for their first win since January 4 and the improvement of their ECAC record to 5-7-1 (5-11-1 overall). Lau allowed the big Red only a single marker during a one-sided second period, stopping 19 of 20 shots.

By the time Cornell finally broke through--the Big Red's Larry Tobin beat Lau with 3:51 left in regulation, and center Roy Kerling connected on a power-play slapshot with 1:52 to play, cutting Harvard's lead to 4-3--it was too late.

Cornell pulled goaltender Brian "Cheesy" Hayward in an effort to knot the score, but Greg Olson, the Crimson's freshman red-light specialist(he leads the team with ten goals), ended the tension and sealed the victory for Harvard 54 seconds before the final buzzer.

After face-off to the right of Lau, the younger Olson (defenseman Mitch is a sophomore) gained control of the puck in center ice, carried it into the Cornell zone, and deposited it gently--almost lovingly--into the vacated net. 5-3 Harvard, game over, and after Monday night's Beanpot debacle--B.C. tallied four consecutive goals to overcome a 3-0 Crimson first period lead--relief was evident in the winning team's locker room and in coach Billy Cleary's face.

"Why has Harvard made a habit of starting strong and then falling apart in the final 40 minutes?" Cleary was asked. "Don't ask me, don't ask me," he replied. "Every coach in the world wants to know what makes their team play well. If I had the answer, I'd be a millionaire."

The Cornellians, who had come out on top of four of their last five ECAC contests and narrowly (4-5) dropped an exhibition to the West German Olympic Team Monday night, quickly found themselves trailing 3:22 after the opening face-off.

Freshman center Greg Britz, recently replaced by senior Paul Mangano on the Dave Burke-Tom Murray line, opened the scoring for Harvard when he tipped Mitch Olson's blast between the pads of Cornell netminder Darren "Dagwood" Eliot.

Eliot, who was to depart after the first period, had no chance on Harvard's second marker, a patented frozen rope from the point by Mark Fusco at 4:41. The red-haired freshman defenseman from Burlington, Mass., now tops the Harvard scoring list with nine goals and nine assists for 18 points.

Then left wing Rob Burns got into the act, nabbing his second and third goals of the season. Ten minutes into the contest, Burns was given credit when the puck slipped across the Cornell goal line after a wild scramble in front of the net. At 18:31, he stepped in front of Big Red left wing Jeff Baike's ill-advised own-zone pass and rammed it through Eliot to put Harvard up 4-0 after one.