Might Have Been

Not to boast or anything, but I know in my heart that Harvard will come back and win it. After all, the squad has pulled off third-period heroics before: the last-minute overtime-forcing goal at Colgate, the three-goal game-tying rally at Boston College.

So even though the Crimson trails 5-1 after two periods of last night's Beanpot opener against B.U., this hockey fan isn't worried.

"I thought we won the last two and they won the third," Terrier Coach Jack Parker will say later. "I think we were worried about making a mistake and letting them back in, so we made a mistake and let them back in."

"Wait a second. What's he writing? Doesn't he know the final score?"

The three penalties are a nice touch, a way to make the comeback more impressive. Don Sweeney enters the sin bin for high sticking at 6:17, then the referees whistle Bill Cleary for slashing and Grant Blair for tripping at 8:07, with 10 seconds remaining in Sweeney's penalty.

Great, fill that box. Make those Terriers overconfident. Play shorthanded for 4:10, two men down for two of those minutes. Five yourselves up.

"Those two calls [on Blair and Cleary] were ridiculous," Scott Fusco will say later. "I was really mad." The improvement in Harvard's play "was frustration turned to a positive sense."

So a minute after the Crimson returns to full strength, Mark Benning cuts the margin to three with a shot from the left point. Four minutes later, Harvard goes on a power play and Coach Bill Cleary calls a strategic timeout. With almost four minutes remaining in the game, Tim Smith beats goalie Bob Deraney.

The score is 5-3. The miracle is happening.

"Take away his typewriter, The guy's obviously delirious."

"No, he's just a senior, a senior who has watched his school go 0-7 Beanpot games. Let him get it out his system."

Suddenly, it's B.U. making mistakes, it's B.U. getting tentative and that four-goal lead is already gone.

"Once we got up to three, realized if we put [the pressure] on could really tie it up." Crimson defenseman Randy Taylor will later.

"You get to that point, 5-3, you pop one in, a lucky break, it's 5-4 and the pressure's really on them," Fusco will add. "If you get close at the end like that the pressure switches.

And here it is, 3:54 remaining and Harvard on the move, 3:54 remaining and the gap about to narrow. Tick, tick, tick, Smith shoots at a half-open net. Just wide. Tick, tick, tick. The puck sits there for ages in the B.U. crease. Deraney falls on it.

Ah, this will be a wonderful comeback, a sparkling moment in the Beanpot's 33-year history. The Crimson will score twice in the final minute of regulation to send the game to overtime. People will forget how badly Harvard played in the first two periods.

"We dug too big a hole." Brian Busconi will caution later. "We need a full-game effort, not just the third period." In the midst of the celebration, nobody will take him seriously.

Nobody will listen when Fusco says, "It shouldn't have had to be a big comeback."

"That's 'almost,' 'almost a big comeback,' Mike. He's over here boys, better bring a straitjacket."

The quotes in this store are accurate. The writer is recovering in Quincy House.