A Gaudy Encore

Give Dartmouth a couple of insurance goals and you can put last night's 3-2 win over Harvard at Bright Center in the books as a replay of last year's game here.

Last season the Big Green came in 1-5, snapped up a 5-2 win and went on to the finals of the ECAC. This time, the record stood at 1-3, and, with stalwart goaltender Bob Gaudet back off the injury list and in the nets, the Big Green looks ready to move again.

With five straight wins in Cambridge, dating back to 1975, Dartmouth and the large contingent of green sweaters which follows them down here have found the confines of Watson Rink and now Bright Center quite comfortable. And none more so than Gaudet, who, for the second year in a row, made all the difference.

Take the third period. Except for the Great Northeastern Massacre, period number three has consistently rated as Harvard's best through the season. Last night the forwards really turned it on after the second intermission. But except for Rick Benson's snap shot at 11:19, cutting the lead to 3-2, Gaudet turned everything right off.

At 10:15 Crimson forward Rob Burns let a wrist shot fly from the circle to Gaudet's right. The Big Green netminder made the save somewhere in his pads, losing sight of the puck for a few moments, unsure whether he had it. When he saw that he did, he looked to the roof of Bright Center as if to express his thanks. But last night Bob Gaudet didn't need any divine help. All he needed was a glove and a stick.

Benson's tally followed soon after and the Crimson increased its pressure in the Dartmouth zone, trying to get the equalizer. With just under six minutes to go, Tom Murray and Greg Olson, as they have all season long, burst through the opposing defenders. But Gaudet alertly skated about 15 feet out of the net, clearing the loose puck before the Crimson speedsters could get to it.

Just about ten seconds later, Olson and Murray appeared right on top of Gaudet again. Olson crossed a nice pass to Murray streaking in on the left, but the captain bobbled the puck for a moment, and as he shot, Gaudet belly-flopped in front of him, smothering the puck as Murray flew over the top.

With 1:47 on the clock, Crimson coach Bill Cleary pulled goalie Wade Lau, but even six skaters couldn't turn the trick. Gaudet came up with one more tough save, on a Mark Fusco slapshot with about a minute to go.

Gaudet stopped the Crimson again and again. Like instant replay.