Skaters Survive Third Period Friar Rally, 6-5

The Harvard hockey team is unbeaten in 1976--just barely.

Providence College has been doing its damndest to end that string in the past week, but has only managed to come up with a 4-4 tie last Wednesday and a wild 5-6 loss to the Crimson Saturday in Watson Rink.

The Friars are now 1-2-3 over their last six games, while Harvard has compiled a 4-0-2 bicentennial record.

Freshman center George Hughes gave his teammates an assist Saturday (five to be exact) as the Crimson jumped out to a 6-1 lead after 13:24 of the second period. Hughes, the squad's top scorer with 20 points, set up the first five goals, then won three crucial faceoffs in the final minute as the rallying Friars pressed for the tying goal with six attackers.

"It's a funny thing," Hughes said. "You get head like that and you just start to loaf a bit. We weren't hungry enough after the sixth goal and we sat back and let them take the play to us."

Clutch Performance

Brian Petrovek came up with a clutch performance in the third period as a very hungry Providence squad swarmed all over the Harvard net. Petro made 17 saves in the period, almost as many as he made in the first two combined (18).

PC's Randy Wilson, one of three talented Wilson brothers on the team, tallied at 3:27 of the third, to narrow the score to 6-4, but the Friars stalled a bit as the referees whistled penalties to Tom Bauer (5:34) and Steve Heggison (9:19). The Harvard power play, which clicked for a pair of goals earlier, could not put the game out of reach.

Purdy was banished to the penalty box at 12:02, followed by Jim "Sonny" Liston at 13:19, and though Petro was able to stop the Friars with a couple of great saves while his team was two men short, he could not thwart the entire PC power play.

John McMorrow (2 goals and an assist) fired in the Friars' fifth goal at 15:01, and suddenly it looked like Harvard might be lucky to escape with another tie. Providence was provided with plenty of chances in the final five minutes, but Petrovek showed he is All-American, despite a five-goal-a-game average this season.

Providence goaltender Bill Milner, a freshman, has been touted as eventual All- American material, but when it comes time to vote on the honors he better hope that Saturday's game is forgotten. Milner lasted only two periods, letting six of 19 shots go by him, and looked like he was competing in Mini One-On-One rather than a key ECAC contest. He was lifted for Ray Moffitt in the third.

Milner's shaky performance, however, should not detract from Harvard's play in the first two periods. The Crimson squad came out flying, scoring the first two goals just 14 seconds apart at 7:03 (Dave Bell from Jon Schuster and Hughes) and at 7:17 (Schuster from Bell and Hughes) of the first.

Hughes and Bell have worked well together this season, first with freshman Gene Purdy and now with former first- liner Paul Haley, who changed places with Purdy during the Western swing.

"We have a good line," Hughes says, giving the credit to his linemates for his five-assist evening and his team-high point total, "I've just been fortunate to work with them, that's all."

Providence's three top scorers rallied after the Hughes line had struck, and combined on the power play at 13:41 as defenseman Ron Wilson (42 points) and brother Brad (40 points) fed leading scorer Dan Kennedy (44) on a perfect play to make the score 2-1.

Burke replied five minutes later culminating a flashy power play rush from center ice with Harvard's third goal to finish the fast-paced period with Harvard outshot 11-9, but leading 3-1.

Freshman defenseman Jim Trainor opened the second period with a weak, bouncing slapper from the right point that startled everyone, especially Milner, when it skipped into the net at 1:23. Phelps Swift racked the count up another goal at 2:32, and O'Donoghue embarrassed Milner again, when his shot slid under the PC goaltender's stick and between his legs at 13:24.

"We were really skating well the first two periods," Hughes commented, "We skated like we did out West," when Harvard dumped Michigan State twice to turn the corner on the season.

The Crimson squad, however, stopped skating with five minutes left in the second period as Colin Ahern scored on a Dave Dornseif rebound at 15:00 and McMorrow slapped one past Petrovek with just 49 seconds left to turn things around for Providence, though not quite far enough.