A Bedtime Story With Harvard as Hero

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--If the Harvard hockey team was looking for a letdown after last Friday's thrilling 4-3 overtime victory against Boston College, it found the right place to play last night: Brown's Meehan Auditorium.

Welcome to Meehan Auditorium--the Slumberdome, the Palace of Deep Sleep, the House that Rip Van Winkle Built.

Last night against Brown, the Crimson could have taken a snooze cruise for three periods. All the ingredients were there: 1050 quiet fans, a small student section and plenty of empty brown, orange and yellow seats.

But while the crowd at Meehan was curling up with blankets and pillows, Harvard was holding a slumber party.

Invite all your friends, spin some tunes, roast marshmallows.

Score 10 goals. Give up only one.

Who's dozing off now?

"You just never know what to look for after a game like Boston College," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "I was a bit worried, not hoping for a letdown."

Take a nap, coach. You've got nothing to worry about. The Crimson is undefeated after seven games, the third-ranked team in the nation, and on top of the ECAC standings.

The Crimson is passing the puck like it is the only team on the ice. Move the puck, back and forth, right and left. Catch the Bruins sleepwalking.

Harvard's defense is playing as tough in the last period as in the first. Not many teams would dive in front of pucks when they are up by more five goals. Harvard would. That's why it has allowed an average of 2.3 goals per ECAC game.

"I was surprised," Harvard Captain Lane MacDonald said. "I kind of expected a letdown after the B.C. game."

Harvard expecting a letdown? Maybe Brown was also expecting a Harvard letdown, hoping that Meehan's bedtime spell would mesmerize the Crimson?

All those great expecations.

"We always had a lot of trouble in this rink," MacDonald said. "It's tough to get up in a game when there's a small crowd and little noise."

An eager Brown band and a lonely fan dressed in a life preserver gave Harvard some competition in the noise-making department.

But during the third period, the band had dispersed, and the fan had decided to donate his life preserver to the Bruins on the ice. They were sinking fast.

The Crimson, however, received a wake-up call and scored five goals, its best final-period output of the season.

The first score came after 23 seconds had elapsed. C.J. Young passed the puck to Allen Bourbeau for a shorthanded two-on-one goal.

Would you like to have your pillow fluffed, Brown?

Then MacDonald added two goals. One off a pass from Bourbeau, the other on a power play. Harvard was ahead, 8-1.

Read you a story, Bruins?

Ed Krayer banged a Kevin Sneddon rebound that almost gave Brown goalie Chris Harvey whiplash and caused the net to quake.

A cup of warm milk?

And with less than three minutes left in the game, MacDonald and Young decided to play some pingpong hockey. MacDonald to Young to MacDonald. Red light, hat trick, double-figure victory.

Good night.