J.V. Icemen Blast Warriors

The Harvard junior varsity hockey team exploded for five goals in the final period at Watson Rink last night to turn a 4-2 battle into a 9-4 laugher over the Merrimack J.V.

The Crimson skaters passed crisply throughout the contest, keeping the puck away from the visitors, and worked hard to keep the puck in the offensive zone.

The Merrimack forwards, on the other hand, consistently settled for long shots as soon as they crossed the blue line into Harvard's end, and rarely could mount any sustained offensive pressure.

John Moot and Dave MacKinnon fired home the first two goals of the game for the Crimson, but Nell Herron countered for the Warriors to make the score 2-1 after the initial period of play.

Early in the second frame, MacKinnon blocked a Merrimack pass at his own blue line and raced between two defenders toward the Warrior net. Goalie Ken Richardson came out to meet him and knocked the puck away from the Crimson forward.

But Harvard's Mike Clasby got to it first and, with Richardson out of the play, fed a centering pass to Steve Andrews, who fired a shot into the corner of the net past two Warrior defensemen who jammed themselves into the goal mouth.

The Warriors answered that tally when Crimson goalie Barry Wald deflected a shot back over the cage but the puck rebounded off the board to Kevin Lawler near the right post. He flicked it past the lunging netminder to make the score a short-lived 3-2.

It was Wald's only lapse in the period. Merrimack's long shots had been wild in the first frame, but in the second 20 minutes they began to find the mark. The Warriors failed to screen out the Crimson goalie, however, and Wald did a fine job of picking off the long-range blasts.

Less than a minute after the Merrimack goal, MacKinnon scored on a pass from defensemen Ken Dummitt to put Harvard back on top by two.

The Crimson tucked the game safely into the win column in the first six minutes of the final frame. John Dunderdale blasted home a cannon shot from the point on a power play to put Harvard up by three.

Four minutes later, Moot streaked in along the left boards and fired a blinding slap shot that the Warrior goalie didn't see until he turned around to scrape it out of the net. Just 27 seconds later, Dunderdale set up John Marchand and Harvard led, 7-2.

Merrimack rallied for the next two scores, but it was too little too late. Lyman Bullard and Clasby clicked for two quick tallies in the final minutes to forge the final margin, 9-4, after the Warriors came up empty on a power play--their last chance to get back into the game.