Young, Icemen Down Ailing Green

Even strength, power play, short handed, hands tied behind his back, blindfolded--Harvard hockey forward C.J. Young did it all last night.

Young scored five goals, including three short-handed tallies in a span of 48 seconds, to lead Harvard to a 10-0 shutout of Dartmouth in front of 2555 spectators at Bright Center.

The victory improved Harvard's overall record to an untarnished 11-0 mark (9-0 ECAC, 7-0 Ivy League) and solidified its hold of first place in the ECAC standings.

Harvard has outscored its opponents, 27-3, in its last three games at Bright and 37-4 in its last four ECAC games.

"Everything went right," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "I think maybe we learned our lesson last Saturday, when we didn't play well [when the Crimson defeated the University of New Hampshire, 4-3, in overtime]. We came out flying tonight."

Although Young was Harvard's head pilot last night, he had a couple of teammates who crowded the cockpit. Freshman goalie Chuckie Hughes (29 saves) recorded the first shutout of his collegiate career, while Mike Vukonich scored two goals. Peter Ciavaglia collected four points (one goal, three assists), and Captain Lane MacDonald had four assists.

"The team, as a whole, played better," Vukonich said. "I think everyone knew what we had to do. We just played our own game and let them come after us."

Young rose to the top of Harvard's marquee when he earned rave reviews for his short-handed hat trick. After notching his first goal of the night--a power-play tally that gave Harvard a 2-0 lead in the first period--Young didn't panic when teammate Kevan Melrose was whistled for charging with 43 seconds left in the second period.

The show began.

Fifteen seconds after the penalty, Young streaked down the left side of the Big Green zone and slapped the puck into the right side of the net past Dartmouth goalie Tim Osby (32 saves) to give the Crimson a 7-0 lead.

With the Dartmouth power play stumbling, MacDonald controlled the puck in the zone and passed it to Young. This time, Young shot from the right side. With 14 seconds left in the second period, Young notched his third goal of the game.

Big Green Coach Ron Mason replaced Osby with Steve Laurin. Nothing changed. Josh Caplan's pass led Young into the zone. He took his shot 21 seconds into the final period, and the puck trickled past Laurin.

Show's over.

"The puck was just bouncing my way," Young said. "Lane made a great pass on one goal and Josh made a great pass on another. Sometimes, there are nights when the puck bounces your way."

Young made an encore performance later in the game when he skated with MacDonald on a two-on-one break. MacDonald's pass stuck to Young's stick on the left side of the net, and Laurin had no chance to stop Young from scoring his fifth goal.

With the clock ticking down in the final period, the focus of the game centered on Hughes. Shutout or no shutout, that was the question.

For a brief moment it looked like Hughes would not record the doughnut. With 1:33 left in the game, Jamie Hanlon broke away from the Harvard defense and set up a showdown with Hughes.

Hanlon swept to his left, but so did Hughes. Hanlon shot, but Hughes was there to make the save.

"I was kind of laughing," Hughes said. "It was kind of ironic. I wanted the shutout more against Cornell [when Hughes gave up one goal], but I'll take this one against Dartmouth."

"He had to come up with a big save at the end," Cleary said. "He made a good move."

In the first period, Harvard jumped out to a 5-0 lead and outshot the Big Green, 25-4. The Crimson defense was so tough that Dartmouth did not take a shot from in front of the net.

Because of exams, the Big Green had not played in three weeks. But even if Dartmouth had been at the top of its game, it probably would not have been able to stop Harvard.

"Playing the way we played in the first period," Cleary said, "I'm not sure it would have made much difference."

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson will take a break from ECAC action until January 6 and go on a European vacation to Finland and Sweden this week for four exhibition games.

Crimson 10-0 at Bright Carter Dartmouth  0-0-0--0 Harvard  5-3-2--10

First Period--1, H, Vukonich 2 (Donato, Carone) 2:03; 2, H, Young 9 (Ciavaglia, Bourbeau) 14:19; 3, H, Vukonich 3 (Donato, Caplan) 16:02; 4, H, Carone 5 (Weisbrod, Ciavaglia) 17:33; 5, H, Ciavaglia 5 (Young, MacDonald) 18:54. Penalties--D, Hanlon (hooking) 6:00; D, Desmond (tripping) 13:22; D, Tomalty (elbowing) 18:11.

Second Period--6, H, Murphy 7 (Krayer, Ciavaglia) 12:42; 7, H, Young 10 (MacDonald) 19:32; 8, H, Young 11 (MacDonald) 19:46. Penalties--H, Bourbeau (holding, roughing) 3:22; D, Nieman (high-sticking, roughing) 3:22; D, Hanlon (10:00 misconduct) 7:45; D, Tomalty (elbowing) 12:42; H, Weisbrod (5:00 slashing) 13:22; H, Melrose (4:00 charging) 19:17; D, Miller (slashing) 19:32.

Third Period--9, H, Young 12 (Caplan) :21; Young 13 (MacDonald) 12:49. Penalties--D, Goulet (charging) 4:55; D, Tomalty (cross-checking) 7:43; H, Ciavaglia (roughing) 8:53; D, Freedman (elbowing) 8:53; D, Tomalty (game misconduct) 9:46; D, Desmond (hooking) 13:18; D, Goulet (holding) 14:59; H, Caplan (roughing) 14:59; D, Freedman (high-sticking) 16:59; H, Melrose (high-sticking) 17:57.

Saves: D, Osby 20-12-x--32, Laurin x-x-19--19; H, Hughes 4-11-14--29.

Power Play: D, 0-4; H, 2-7.

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