B.U. Edges Freshman Skaters With Help of Full Varsity Line

With 19 minutes to play, the freshman skaters were sitting pretty yesterday at Watson Rink. They were leading powerful B.U. by three goals and dominating play. What could happen?

The Terriers answered that question with four straight goals to win, 7-6,--helped considerably by four players detached from the B.U. varsity, the top team in the country.

Terrier Matt Marden picked up an almost instant tripping penalty at 16 seconds and the Crimson power play cranked up early. But B.U. survived crisp Crimson passes, broke into the Harvard end and scored short-handed at 1:50.

Crimson center Randy Millen tied the game five minutes later on a hard 15-foot wrist shot, but the Terriers took the lead again less than a minute later. Once again, Harvard came back, with a David MacKinnon score tying the game at 2-2.

Sporting a full line of freshmen from their varsity squad, the Terriers took the lead back, and Harvard went to the dressing room trailing by a goal.

The Crimson owned the second period. MacKinnon scored his second goal of the game on a short-handed effort, and Franco Scalamandre followed with a blistering slap shot to land Harvard in front, 4-3.

Mike Clasby opened the third period, stealing the puck from a Terrier defenseman after just ten seconds of play. He skated by two more Terriers, and dropped a perfect pass on the stick of Murray Dea. Dea's score increased Harvard's lead to 5-3.

Instant Replay

Just in case any fans missed it, Clasby did it again just ten seconds later, setting up Randy Millen for a backhander to give Harvard a comfortable three-goal lead.

But Clasby couldn't keep up the pace, and B.U. started to take over. Sixteen minutes and four straight scores later, the Terriers were leading, 7-6, on the strength of five goals by varsity players.

"They were the best team we played all year," Harvard captain Mike Steward said after the game. "If they only hadn't had that varsity line, we would have beaten them."