Icemen Rout Dartmouth, Hold One-Game Ivy Lead

HANOVER, N.H.--The stage was set at Dartmouth last night for another upset. Late last season, Ivy-leading Yale had come to Hanover only to be shinned by the Big Green. But when Ivy-leader Harvard visited last night, the visitors relentlessly rolled over Dartmouth, taking home a 9-1 victory.

The Crimson, now 14-7-1 overall and 12-5-1 in ECAC play, leads Yale by a game in the ECAC standings, with the Bulldogs visiting Bright Center this Saturday.

At the outset last night, neither team took control, but the Crimson eventually made Dartmouth goalie Carey Gandy the busiest man in Thompson Arena. The Huntsville, Ala., native made 16 saves in the opening period, including several tough stops during Harvard's two mid-period power plays.

But the visitors finally broke through on a textbook style give-and-go, with Scott Fusco dishing the puck to Shayne Kukulowicz and getting a back just in time to lift it into the twines for a 1-0 lead.

Playing before its final home game crowd, the Big Green failed to come to life in the second stanza, as the visitors continued to hold the edge in the play, Kukulowicz widened Harvard's lead to two at the 5:07 mark, when he carried the puck down the right side and smashed it just inside the far post.

Both goalies were tested later in the period, with the Crimson's Grant Blair holding firm on a Dartmouth power play and Gandy denying Mitch Oison on a breakaway at the 13-minute mark. But the Dartmouth goaltender gave way once more, when Harvard's Dave Commors stole the puck from Big Green blueliner John Donnelly, then passed it ahead to Jay North who flipped it in between Gandy's legs with 1:11 left in the period.

In the third stanza Harvard busted the contest wide open, victimizing Gandy four times in three minutes. First a Tony Visone back-hander made it 4-0. Then a Mitch Olson blooper that popped out of Gandy's glove and a tricky sinker off Mark Fusco's stick led to a switch in the Dartmouth net.

But the new sieve, Tom Martinson, surrendered three more tallies as Harvard iced the contest, and more of the Arena's all-green seats were showing by mid-period as the fans cleared out. Dartmouth finally spoiled Blair's shutout at the 9:49 mark on Allen Taber's power-play goal. A hail of tennis balls, fish, and a chicken followed, delaying the game several minutes.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Dartmouth chicken--a plump, black-feathered bird--looked much healthier than the one that attended last Friday's Cornell game at Bright...Harvard is 13-1 in games in which it led after two periods.

At Hanover, N.H.

H. Sooft Fusco (Shayne Kukulowicz, Jim Turner) 18.44, H. Kukulowicz 5:07; H. Jay North (Dave Connors) 18:49; H. Tony Visone (Greg Britz, Greg Chalmers) 4:41; H. Mitch Olson (Dave Burke) 5:41; H. Mark Fusco (Burke) 6:25; H. Jay North (Phil Falcone, Connors) 7:29; D. Allen Taber (Doug Hirsch, Bruce Cullen) 9:49; H. D. Connors (Ken Code, M. Fusco) 14:10; H. D. Burke (Olson, Tim Smith) 14:57; Saves: Harvard: Grant Blair, 6-8-13--27; Dartmouth: Carey Gandy, 16-10-2--28, Tom Martinson, 9--9.