Icemen Rip Red, 11-3; Fusco Sets Marks

ITHACA, N.Y.--When the Cornell fan jumped onto the ice to tie the traditional Harvard game chicken to the Crimson goal after the second period, he was surprised when he reached under his jacket to pull out the bird.

The chicken was dead.

And so was Cornell.

At least the birdman got to sit out the third period in a comfortable Ithaca City Jail cell. The Big Red wasn't so lucky.

After a seven-goal Crimson second period had given the visiting Harvard men's hockey team a 9-2 lead here yesterday afternoon at Lynah Rink, the Big Red had to endure 20 more embarrassing minutes as Harvard racked up an astonishing 11-3 triumph over a team that was picked to be a central challenger for the 1985-'86 ECAC Championship.

Captain Scott Fusco led the Crimson wrecking machine with six points. His four assists merely matched his output Friday night at Colgate.

His goals first tied and then broke the Harvard career goal-scoring mark of 91 held by Bobby Cleary '58.

"I'm just glad to get a couple goals," Fusco said. "I haven't been able to put it in recently."

Fusco, who took his junior year off to play for the United States Olympic Team, was the only current Harvard skater ever to have won at Lynah. His freshman year the Crimson claimed a 5-4 thriller in overtime, the only Harvard victory here in 10 years.

The Ithaca rink has been a Big Red Hell for recent Crimson squads, including the 1983-'84 edition which saw a 4-0 lead turn into a 6-5 defeat here.

Even the 4100 Lynah faithful, who had played up to 75 dollars to see the biggest annual event on the Ithaca calendar, started to flee after the Crimson's second-period fireworks.

And stunning the rowdy crowd was half the fun for the jubilant Crimson.

"It's great to just shut them up," defenseman Mark Benning said. "Silencing them is half the win."

For Benning's fellow seniors, who have struggled in three visits to Lynah, the moment was precious.

"This is really sweet," Tim Smith said.

"It feels so nice," Rob Ohno added. "We're all on a high; we're in heaven."

The Crimson (6-1-1 overall, 6-1 ECAC) is only a half game ahead of the pack in the league standings, but the blowout of the Red established the Crimson as the solid favorite in the regular season title chase.

After struggling through its first four contests, Harvard has tied nationally-ranked Boston College, 4-4, and outscored its last three opponents, 27-7.

Yesterday was the culmination of gathering Crimson momentum.

"Instead of getting caught up in all the newspaper clippings, we've finally started to do it," Smith said.

Cornell (4-2-2 overall, 3-2-1 ECAC), on the other hand, never began to get going against its high-flying visitors. The Big Red looked disorganized and overprepared for the Crimson, which stuck to its smooth-skating game throughout.

Cornell heads into exams and will not have a chance to rebound from its most disastrous showing in years until the new year.

After falling behind, the hosts lost their cool Defenseman Mike Schafer, perhaps egged on by the "Kill, Schafer, Kill" chants that rained down from the crazed students in the packed rink, tried first to take on the entire Crimson bench with his stick and sunk lower and lower as the game progressed.

By the end of the contest, Schafer had centered his frustration on Harvard Coach Bill Cleary. With just over two minutes left in the contest and his team down eight goals, Schafer let the puck fly from just outside the Crimson blue line, but his target wasn't the Harvard goal--it was Cleary, who was standing behind the Crimson bench.

Cleary dodged the bullet, but was less successful in avoiding the 5-ft., 10-in., 195-lb. Cornell Tri-Captain after the game. As Cleary signalled his team to skate off the ice, Schafer

Crimson, 11-3at Lynah RinkCornell  1  1  1--3Harvard  2  7  2--1