Skaters Whip Brown to Preserve Ivy Hopes

PROVIDENCE-Taking advantage of a lethargic Brown effort and a rare off night on the part of goaltender Don McGinnis, Harvard's gradually-improving hockey team exploded for four goals in the second period and eased past the Bruins, 6-3, at Meehan Rink last night.

The Crimson's performance was somewhat less than spirited, but the victory, which keeps Harvard's Ivy title hopes alive, was never really in doubt after the first 35 minutes of play. Only a Harvard third-period letdown, which had been a frequent occurrence in December, could have saved Brown, and consistent Harvard checking and puck clearance prevented it from happening.

But for the first period, the Crimson played wholly uninspired hockey. Sophomore Red Jahncke deflected a slap shot past McGinnis after less than five minutes of play to put Harvard ahead, but Brown's Mike Edwards tied the game 76 seconds later. The Crimson managed only seven shots on net for the remainder of the period.

The second session was quite different. Harvard's defense, which had been a little careless earlier in the contest, came alive getting the puck to the forwards with unusual effectiveness and breaking up Brown's weak passing with a body checking game it had used so effectively last week in Montreal.

At 1:02 with Harvard a man down, Steve Owen took a pass at mid-ice from defenseman Terry Driscoll, broke in alone on McGinnis, and put the Crimson ahead. At 3:12, Leif Rosenberger scored on the power play to increase the lead to 3-1, and Harvard seemed fairly secure.

But John Bennett floated a 20-footer past Crimson goaltender Bruce Durno six minutes later, and the near-capacity crowd, previously silent, turned Meehan Rink into a snakepit-for about two minutes.

For at 11:15, with Harvard's Dave Jones off for cross-checking, Skip Freeman ricocheted a shot from the point off a Bruin defenseman into the net, and it was 4-2.

Havern Keeps Margin

And even though Brown's Dave McKay scored on the power play 45 seconds later, Harvard's Bob Havern kept the margin intact on a shot from the right face-off circle that squeezed past McGinnis. The victory, although it was not completely evident at the time, was assured.

Freeman added a sixth goal at 17:30 of the final period, and with a minute remaining in the game, Bruin coach Jim Fullerton replaced McGinnis, who had made 40 saves, with sophomore Mark Donahue.

So the previous loss to the Bruins in mid-December is properly avenged, and the Crimson still has a somewhat realistic chance of wresting the Ivy title away from Cornell.

But Brown, one understands, is not nearly in the Big Red's class, and although Harvard's performance last night showed marked improvement over these of three weeks ago, it will need quite a bit more to beat Cornell this weekend.