Penn Skaters Stun Crimson Six, 3-2

In an exceptionally fast game that was played from crease to crease in all three periods, a fired-up Penn team upset Harvard with a goal in the final minute of play, 3-2, at Watson Rink on Saturday.

Both teams had numerous scoring opportunities. The outstanding players in the game were Crimson goalie Joe Bertagna, and his Quaker counterpart, John Marks, Bertagna finished up with 31 saves, and Marks had 33.

Penn had a two goal lead with nine minutes left, but Harvard's Local Line tied the score with two goals by center Bob McManama on consecutive shifts. The game came to an anti-climatic end when Bill MacDonell tipped in a rebound for the Quakers at 19:01 in the third period.

Both teams were hitting hard from the very beginning and there were several near fights in the first period. The Crimson drew three first period penalties, while the Quakers had only one, but Dave Cavanagh and Jay Riley had little trouble stopping the Penn power play.

Harvard's junior line of Bill Corkery, Dave Hynes and McManama were overpowering on several shifts, but the Penn defensemen kept the tied up in front of the cage. Marks made some great saves on screen plays and ended many threats by falling on the loose puck.

Penn outplayed Harvard in the second period, as aggressive forechecking stopped most Crimson plays before they even got started. Bertagna prevented Penn from converting on their momentum until 13:47, when Mike Callaghan scored off of a face off.

Bob Read added another goal for the Quakers at 4:08 in the final period, but the Local Line continued to exert pressure, and it finally broke through at 10:57 on a fine individual effort by McManama. After taking a pass from Hynes, McManama appeared to be snuffed out on the boards. But he broke past the Penn defenseman and caught the inside post from the face off circle.

Harvard tied the score five minutes later on the best play of the night. Corkery started the rush by batting the puck past a defenseman to set up a two-on-one break. Hynes took a pass from McManama, drew Marks and the defensman to one side, and then sent a perfect pass across the crease where McManama was waiting for the tip-in.

The Local Line had several more near misses in the final seconds of the game when coach Bill Cleary pulled Bertagna.

"We had a lot of penalties," Cleary said after the game, "and that just isn't our type of game. But you have to give credit to Penn. They've really improved their defense since we played them last."

The upset was indicative of the increasingly tight competition in Division I, "Any of the top six teams in the ECAC can beat anyone else on a given night," Penn coach James Salfi said.