Cornell Skaters Dash Crimson Hopes, 7-2

ITHACA. N.Y., Wednesday, Feb. 28--Cornell's unstoppable hockey champions rolled over Harvard, 7-2, at Lynah Rink here tonight in its move toward the triple championship of the Ivies, the East, and the Nation. The Crimson stayed with the powerful Big Red for a period, but the fast, well-drilled machine pulled inexorably away thereafter.

Dwight Ware and Jack Turco scored for Harvard, but Cornell built its lead from 2-1 to 5-1 to 7-2.

Harvard held off the Big Red in the opening minutes that decided the team's last meeting, but Cornell detonated its first explosion midway through the new first period.

Crimson goalie Bill Diercks blocked a 45-foot shot by Bruce Pattison, but sophomore wing Dick Bertrand fought off Harvard's Ben Smith near the crease and banked in the rebound.

Forty seconds later Diercks let Pete Tufford's 25-foot shot from the left side through him, and the 4600 Cornell fans started screaming for a massacre.

But it was Harvard that made the next move.

Cornell's Garth Ryan hit Smith as he started to move up the ice and was penalized for checking in the offensive zone at 16:52. Coach Cooney Weiland sent on his liveliest unit: Jack Turco, George McManama, Dwight Ware, Terry Flaman, and Chris Gurry, and the underclassmen responded within 40 seconds. Ware knocked down a slap shot by Gurry and put a rebound in over sprawled goalie Ken Dryden at 17:35.

The Big Red put the game away with three goals in the second period. First line wing Brian Cornell faked defense-man Smith onto the ice and went around him, then did the same to Diercks to make the score 3-1 at 5:10.

Harvard, with a good effort by Chip Otness, killed the second period's only penalty. But as 10:16, Diercks couldn't handle the bouncing puck off a face-off and Dan Lodboa raised the margin to 4-1.

With less than three minutes left in the period. Smith lost the play at the point. Cornell defenseman Gordie Lowe sped in around Carr and lifted the puck over the prone Diercks.

Cornell came on in the third period primed to satisfy the blood-thirsty demands of the Ithaca crowd, John Hughes picked up a blocked slap shot by Pattison and found the range with a six-foot backhander at 0:29. The Big Red set up a shooting gallery around Diercks, and Brian Cornell collected a kewpie doll at 1:04.

When Harvard gained a man advantage at 10:15, the Big Red didn't kill the penalty, it murdered it, with goalie Dryden even icing the puck to the fans' delight.

Harvard's second goal came with 97 seconds to play. Dryden was out of the crease in a scramble and Cornell's Tufford had already made one save when Turco, with help from McManama, closed the final gap to 7-2.

Cornell, which had outshot Harvard only 40-32 in the first two periods, out-gunned the Crimson 36-18 in the third.

In saves, Diercks made 34 to Dryden's 24. The Cornell junior, who received superior support from his defense all night, was formidable in his own right, and made spectacular saves on solo breakaways by Kent Parrot and Bobby Bauer.

Cornell, which has clinched a tie for the league title, can wrap up its third straight Ivy crown at Princeton Saturday. Harvard closes its regular season with a game against Yale Saturday at the Boston Garden.