Swimmers First, Icemen Second

The game was a 2-2 tie, but you couldn't tell it from the bowed heads and hushed voice in the Harvard men's hockey team's locker room Saturday at Bright Center.

"This was worse than when my dog died," said senior center Phil Falcone about the second night of the Crimson's ECAC quarterfinal series against Clarkson.

On the strength of its 3-1 victory in Friday's series opener, Clarkson (19-9-2) moves on to Boston Garden and next weekend's ECAC Final Four. For Harvard (10-14-3), it's time to turn in the equipment.

Falcone and eight other Crimson regulars will exchange helmet and jersey for cap and gown, never again to take the ice for the Crimson.

The seniors leave with an ECAC crown (junior year), a Beanpot championship (freshman year), three Ivy titles and a second-place finish in last year's NCAA tournament.

But 1983-84 didn't behave like the nice seasons of the past. For the first time in four years, there was no late-season streak for the first time in four years, there were no Boston Garden heroics.

Only six players stayed healthy enough to skate in all 27 games. Junior Brain Busconi led the team in scoring with just 18 points, a total so low it would have placed him 11th on last year's scoring list. Despite it all, Harvard won an Ivy championship and came within a goal of pushing Clarkson to a mini-game.

"We've struggled and didn't quit," Crimson Coach Bill Cleary said after Saturday's game. "We hung in there right to the end."

Trailing 1-0 in a game their opponent could afford to tie, the icemen rallied for a two-goal second period. If not for a freak third-period goal, Harvard would have broken a six-game Clarkson winning streak, forced the series to a mini-game, and perhaps returned to the Final Four for the third straight year.

"That was our best game of the year," senior Shayne Kukulowicz said. "I don't think anybody in this [locker] room's got anything to be ashamed of."

The Crimson came out forechecking, and Clarkson didn't get a shot on net in the first four minutes. But when Gord Sharpe's cross-checking penalty gave Harvard a man advantage, the Crimson power play failed to produce any scoring opportunities.

Senior Tony Visone blasted the puck just wide of the post at the seven-minute mark, then left the ice for slashing 14 seconds later Sophomore center Mike Harvey kept Crimson goalie Grant Blair busy, but Harvard emerged unscathed.

Clarkson opened the scoring with just 1:01 left in the period. Defenseman Bob Armstrong drilled a slapshot from the right faceoff circle. Blair made a stick save but couldn't cover up. The rebound came out to freshman Al Hill, who punched it home from the slot for his 16th goal of the season.

Blair stopped short-range shots from Harvey and Sharpe to keep the margin at one until the second of three second-period penalties on Clarkson defenseman Dave Fretz gave Harvard the chance it needed.

Randy Taylor's rocket from the right point rebounded to Crimson Ken Code at the left point. Code sent the puck in with a clang to tie the score at 12:09.

The Cantabs made it 2-1 at 17:11 of the second period, when sophomore Rob Ohno teamed with Busconi for a two-on-one breakaway. Busconi drew the defender, made the feed and watched as Ohno's shot entered the far side of the Golden Knight net.

Early in the final period, Blair's grab of a Bob Armstrong slapshot drew sighs from the 2200 in attendance. Less than a minute later, Harvard nearly got its much-needed insurance goal. Crimson Captain Ken Code's slapper deflected off the stick of netminder Jamie Falle, broke through his legs and slid just wide of the open net.

But just as Blair began to look unbeatable, Clarkson's junior Gord Sharpe knotted the score on a freak goal at 8:37.

"He had the whole side of the net," Blair recalled. "I dove over, It hit the tip of my stick and bounced off my chest."

Half a minute later, Harvard nearly struck back, when Falcone found senior Rob Wheeler at the right post. "I thought, Jeez, if I can get my stick on this it's a goal," Wheeler said. "I got pretty good wood on it. He somehow made the save."

If Falle's skates were a size smaller, Harvard would have regained the lead. The 5-ft., 11-in., 18-lb, goalie swung his foot towards the puck just in time to kick it clear.

"That was it right there," Cleary said.

After Clarkson scored the tying goal, it played strictly defensive hockey. Aware that the Crimson was tiring, the Golden Knights stacked everybody at the blue line, forcing Harvard to dump the puck into the zone.

Harvard got only four shots on goal in the period. The weary Crimson never succeeded in pulling Blair, as the Golden Knights won faceoff after faceoff and kept the puck out of their zone. It was a frustrating end to a thoroughly frustrating game.

"When you work that hard and play that well." Blair said, "it's a tough way to end a year."

THE NOTEBOOK: Blair saved 37 of 39 Clarkson shots on goal. The sophomore ended the year with a 91.0 percent save rate and a 3.09 goals-against average. "I thought he played a hell of a hockey game." Cleary said....Harvard opens its 1984-85 season November 17, the night of The Game. The opponent is--who else?--Yale.... Harvard fans will see Clarkson more often starting next year. The Golden Knights are not joining the new Hockey East league, so the Crimson will now play them twice a year during the regular season.

At Bright CenterClarkson  1  0  1--2Harvard  0  2  0--