Harvard Hockey Squad Downs B.C. Eagles, 6-4

A fired-up Boston College hockey squad gave Harvard all that it could handle last night, but the Crimson managed to put it together when they needed it to beat the Eagles, 6-4.

The game was a bit on the sloppy side, as neither team could capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities set up by defensive errors. Both team got off to a slow start, but the Crimson picked up the pace as sophomore center Randy Roth scored two goals in the first period.

The first tally came with Roth standing all alone out in front of the B.C. net. He took the pass from the corner and banged the puck home after just 1:25 had elapsed in the period.

Roth's second goal came on Harvard's first power play opportunity at 12:54 of the period. This gave the Crimson a two-goal lead and it looked like smooth sailing from there on in.

The Eagles, however, exploded to score two goals in the space of a minute and nearly got the go-ahead goal, as they put the pressure on the Harvard skaters. McManama capitalized on Harvard's second man-advantage situation with an assist from Dave Hynes, to put the Crimson back in command. B.C. again put the pressure on and tied the game with less than three minutes in the period.

Glaring Mistakes

"I don't quite know how to explain it, but some nights you just don't move," coach Bill Cleary said after the game. "We made three glaring mistakes in the first period and they took advantage of them. I'd have to give our boys credit, though for tightening up in the last two periods and only allowing B.C. one goal."

The Crimson tallied twice in the second stanza B.C. only one goal. Hynes scored at 5:01 on a very nice unassisted play that caught B.C. netminder Neil Higgins out of position.

Sophomore Jim Thomas tallied next after some great passing in front of the B.C. net. Thomas passed it to linemate Bob Goodenow, who passed it back to Thomas for the score.

The Eagles made the game tight on a goal at 10:29 that flew past Crimson goalie Joe Bertagna, who was screened all the way.

The final period went scoreless until the 19:18 mark when Thomas scored his second goal of the night. It looked tense for a while, as the Eagles had some excellent bids. But Bertagna and the defense rose to the test to save the game.