Icemen Tie 'Pot Consolation, 7-6

On November 25, 1968, the headline of The Harvard Crimson read "Harvard beats Yale, 29-29." The Crimson football team had scored 16 points in the game's final 42 seconds, and Harvard fans everywhere considered the outcome a victory.

"Harvard ties Boston College, 6-7" would be a rather appropriate epitaph for the injustice which took place in Monday's Beanpot consolation contest. Most unbiased sources agree that B.C.'s final "goal" came after time had expired, and few have publicly agreed with the referee who called it otherwise, Ben Albert.

All of the refs for that game were from Hockey East, a conference which would dearly love to erase the stigma of being an expansion league spun off from the larger ECAC. The Crimson may have grounds for complaint on the ref issue, though on the other hand all the striped-shirts for the Northeastern contest in the Beanpot opener were from the ECAC.

Unfortunately there can never be a definitive settlement of this matter. No television crew was able to get a clear angle of both the shot and the clock, so no conclusive replays are available. It's just Albert's word against those of the goal judge and of the 14,141 fans in attendance who thought they saw otherwise.

The problems with having lost to B.C. go beyond simply coming away from the 'Pot empty-handed yet again. Come seeding time in the NCAA tournament, this game could help decide which team gets a home-ice advantage and which must travel West in the quarter finals.

One would hope, however, that the committee will realize that the game's ending was shrouded in controversy and that the teams skated evenly for (at least) 69 minutes and 59 seconds.

Dog days of winter: The Crimson seems to have hit a mid-season slump, as it has lost three of its last five contests. Harvard hadn't accomplished that dubious feat since it lost two straight to Wisconsin in December 1985, and then, two games later, lost to RIP.

One possible explanation for the "decline" is the high number of goals the team has been allowing. The Crimson gave up five goals in both the Yale and Northeastern contests, and then allowed BC to poke home seven shots on Monday.

In fairness to the Crimson, though, the Eagles probably have the nation's most potent offense, and two of those three losses went into overtime.

Speaking of the defense, the last few games have marked a departure from Coach Bill Cleary's season-long system of alternating his goalies.

The Northeastern game was Dickie McEvoy's second straight game in goal, and after John Devin manned the position for the Army game, McEvoy was back between the pipes against Princeton and B.C.

Except for the Eagles' contest, the Crimson offense has been missing its usual potency. The power-play is stronger than ever, clicking at about 34 Percent efficiency, but the even man units have been stumbling.

One reason is the ECAC referees' tendency to call more penalties this season. As Lane MacDonald said, "When we do get continuity, it's when we have all four lines skating. More penalties make it hard to keep that continuity."

MacDonald pointed out that in December when Harvard played at Duluth--where fewer penalties are called--it was the even-man unites which won the games for the Crimson. That observation held true in the Princeton victory, in which Harvard had only 40 seconds worth of power-play opportunities.

The most notable statistic from Saturday's game was that Allen Bourbeau, Harvard's power-player extraordinaire, notched his first goal in an even-up situation. Bourbeau is third on the team with 13 goals, yet this was his first five-on-five tally.

Around the ECAC in three paragraphs: Princeton's outstanding sophomore, John Messuri, to only one assist, but last year's ECAC Rookie of the Year now leads the conference scoring race. His 32 points are one more than Tim Barakett's total, while MacDonald has fallen to fourth with 28 league points.

Separating the Crimson teammates are Cornell's Joe Nieuwendyk and Clarkson's Luciano Borsato, who both will be making appearances in Bright Center this weekend.

Dickie McEvoy remains atop the conference with a sterling 2.00 goals against average in league play.

Slapshots: Sophomore forward Paul Howley saw the first varsity action of his career during the B.C. game, as he became at least the fourth player to man the fourth line's left wing....Butch Cutone, the 1983-84' Ivy League Rookie of the Year, has yet to record even an assist this season....This year's was the first Beanpot Tournament to have three overtime games....Always an unpredictable tournament, this year's 'Pot was no exception. Minnesota-Duluth is the only team to have played all four participants this season, and both UMD Captain Guy Gosselin and forward Brian Johnson had predicted B.C. would beat Harvard in the final. The Huskies were the surprise team of the tournament. As Gosselin had said "Northeastern? The other three teams are better."