All for One; One for All

It was a "total team effort." Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said of his squad's performance last night in the Beanpot.

"We all played poorly."

And it could have been a lot worse.

Keeping in mind that the Crimson surrendered seven goals, this is quite a serious statement. And believe it or not. Grant Blair had a good night. But the Crimson needed a lot more than good.

"It takes some kind of hero or god [to stop those kinds of shots]." Harvard Captain Ken Code said after the 7-3 loss.

Northeastern's forwards seemed to have purchased the best seats in the house--right in front of the Harvard net. No Crimson defensemen bothered them all night.

Asked about all of his squad's standing around. Cleary responded. "We did that well."

Aside from Blair, there were few bright spots for the Crimson. Dave Connors and Brian Busconi pulled nice moves on their respective breakaways, but one-man rushes do not an offense make. And the Harvard blue-liners were nowhere to be found all night.

The Crimson wasn't even prepared to blame the Garden's small ice surface, which favors big, slow-skating squads like the Huskies.

"Not much of an advantage," Code said.

Not much of anything for Harvard last night. No offense, no defense, no passing, no shooting--no nothing.

"This is probably the worst game we've played all year," Cleary said.

The Crimson--which, with the exception of Blair, looked bad in its last two periods against Yale--has got to break out of its mini-slump of late, or risk losing its reputation as a February team.

No one would accuse Harvard of being a Beanpot team, however. The Cantabs have dropped five straight in 'Pot play, and seem destined to extend their streak next week against Boston College. B.C. is the ECAC's number two squad.

It's hard to imagine that even the Eagles could treat the Crimson as harshly as the Huskies did, or rather that Harvard will be so flat again.

For now, Bill Cleary will be concentrating on getting his troops up for their Friday night Ivy battle with Princeton. The Tigers, 16th in the ECAC, might just have to take some punishment from a very frustrated Harvard team.

In any event, the icemen will not soon forget last night's fiasco at the Garden. Again, it was no contest from start to finish.

"They just completely outplayed and dominated us," Cleary said.