Crimson Skaters Crush Dartmouth, 9-3

HANOVER, N.H.--Harvard's varsity skaters closed in on their goal of a perfect Ivy League season last night when they crushed the Big Green, 9-3, before a full house in Dartmouth's Davis Rink.

The Crimson icemen, 11-0 in the League, must now defeat the Elis in New Haven this Saturday to cement their first perfect Ivy record since 1957.

The Big Green never threatened, to the disappointment of a sellout crowd witnessing Dartmouth's final home contest in cozy Davis Rink. Next year Davis will be replaced by a new, 3500-seat arena.

Leigh Hogan, Jim Thomas, and Dave Gauthier each scored twice, and Ed Rossi earned four assists on Harvard's first four goals to pace the Crimson attack. Rossi a senior defenseman, now boasts a total of 34 points on three goals and 31 assists.

The Crimson opened the scoring at 3:31 of the first period when Captain Randy Roth beat Big Green goalie Jeff Sollows with a high shot from the left face-off circle area during a power play.

Dartmouth's Danny Tomlak knotted the score at 1-1 midway through the stanza on a clean shot from 30 feet out, but Hogan answered back 17 seconds later to give Harvard a 2-1 edge.

The Crimson killed two penalties and failed to capitalize man-up opportunity during the second half of the period, and then with 30 seconds remaining. Thomas converted on a slapshot to the far corner, making the margin 3-1.

Harvard's skaters turned the game into a rout during the second period, as they had done one week earlier against Cornell. Thomas started the four-goal deluge by slipping a backhander past Sollows at 5:48 during a power play.

Fifteen seconds later, Hogan picked up his second tally with a close-in shot, and at 11:34 Gauthier, alone in front of the net, gave Harvard a 6-1 lead after taking a Kevin Burke pass from deep in the corner.

Jim McMahon extended the margin to 7-1 at 14:21, assisted by Steve Dagdigian and Dave Bell. Sollows had made the initial save when Bell came in on a two-on-one break, but McMahon shoveled home the rebound.

Dartmouth collected two goals early in the final period, the first on a two-on-one break and the second during a power play. Harvard's Paul Haley tallied from the point at 17:50 and Gauthier made the final score 9-3 on a rebound at 18:14.