Princeton Sextet Upsets Crimson

PRINCETON. N.J., Feb. 28 -- Princeton's fighting hockey team delivered a serious blow to Harvard's ECAC tournament hopes where it was least expected, upsetting the Crimson, 5-4, at Hobey Baker Rink here tonight. The Tigers overcame Harvard's two goal first-period lead and broke the 4-4 tie that knotted the game going into the final period.

The winning goal was a second rebound shot by Princeton Ironman John Ritchie, who scarcely left the ice in the third period. Crimson goalie Bill Diercks made a good save on Mike Wiggins and an even better one on Jerry Kearney's follow-up, but left two-thirds of the net open for Ritchie.

Wiggins welcomed the Crimson to Old Nassau with a Princeton goal after 8 seconds of play. It took Harvard 11 minutes to equal that on Bob Fredo's deflection of a shot by Bob Carr.

Then at 15:03 the visitors took the lead for the first and last time. Dwight Ware and Ben Smith dug the puck out of a scramble and fed Bobby Bauer for a 10-footer from a slight angle.

Princeton bounced two goals in off Crimson defenseman Chip Scammon early in the second period, but Bob Carr's 40-foot shot straight into the goal on a power play evened the score at 9:01.

Two minutes later Kearney put the Tigers up, 4-3, when Diercks lost track of the puck and left it sitting in the crease as he searched to his right.

Bauer matched that one at 13:08 with another clean 10-footer set up by a Smith pass and a Ware carry.

The Crimson had 10 minutes to catch up in after Ritchie's third period goal, but couldn't make it. Three long shots by Don Grimble, Tom Micheletti, and Scammon, with tip-in tries by Kent Parrot, Pete Mueller, and Smith, respectively, were the closest Harvard came to beating Princeton's inexperienced goalie, Reagan Kerney.

The Crimson couldn't even clear the puck from its own end in the final minute, except for one short-lived move by Smith.

Diercks, derided after Wiggins's goal, won the respect of the 900 fans with his sparkling work thereafter. His job was made difficult by the Crimson defenses unusual sloppy play. Diercks wound up with 28 saves, to 36 for the tenacious Kearney.