At Halftime, It's MSU 6, Harvard 5

By the end of the first period of last night's Harvard-Michigan State NCAA playoff game, MSU had its travel agent on the phone and was booking a flight to Minneapolis, Minn.

By the end of the game, the Spartans were inquiring whether, perhaps, those plane tickets were refundable.

State jumped to a three-goal advantage in the first period and a four-goal advantage early in the second, but barely hung on for a 6-5 edge after the end of the first game of a total-goals series in front of 2650 spectators at Bright Center.

Michigan State (26-14-3) and Harvard (21-10-0) will meet again tonight in the conclusion of the NCAA first-round series. The winner will face the University of Minnesota in next week's NCAA quarterfinals in Minneapolis.

Harvard will have to beat the Spartans by a pair of goals in tonight's game to move on to the next stage of the tournament. If the Crimson beats the Spartans by a goal tonight, a series of 10-minute, sudden-death overtimes will follow until a winner emerges.

Considering its shaky start, the Crimson was happy with its one-goal loss last night.

"We were fortunate to be in the game after that first period," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "We sat around and watched them skate. We're pleased to come out 6-5. It's a real morale booster."

Considering their flying start, the Spartans were less than overjoyed about the final outcome.

"The way we played toward the end, it's kind of disappointing for us," Michigan State Captain Tom Tilley said. "It's been like that all season. We just don't seem to be able to handle prosperity well. We come out well for the first period or so and then we have a letdown."

Harvard stumbled to deficits of 4-1 (after one), 5-1 (at: 40 of the second period) and 6-3 (with 11 minutes left in the game). But each time, Harvard was able to chip away.

And the Crimson had to mount its comeback without goalie John Devin, who was injured early in the first period and was removed in favor of freshman backup Michael Francis at the beginning of the second period.

Devin suffered a mild concussion and was still feeling woozy after the game, Cleary said. Cleary said he would probably start Francis in goal tonight.

In his 40-minute stint, Francis surrendered a pair of goals, but kept enough shots out of the net--he finished with 20 saves--so the Crimson could begin its assault on State.

Down by three with the third period half over, Harvard stormed back. On a three-on-three situation (thanks to an overflow crowd in the penalty box), Jerry Pawloski twirled and backhanded a 20-ft. shot past MSU goalie Jason Muzzatti and into the net, cutting State's lead to 6-4.

Then, with 40 seconds left in the game, freshman Peter Ciavaglia cut down the right side of the ice and drew Muzzati out of the net. Ciavaglia skipped past the flailing goalie and sent the puck into the barren State net to pull Harvard within one goal.

"Harvard's got some real talented players," MSU Coach Ron Mason said. "They took advantage of us one-on-one. One goal [Pawloski's] was a real lucky goal, the other was a real nice goal. Now it's a real barnburner."

Harvard got in trouble early when Brian McReynolds flipped a shot from the point past Devin with the game not yet a minute old. U.S. Olympian Kevin Miller, who returned to the Spartan line-up after the Olympics ended in late February, broke in alone on Devin a minute-and-a-half later. Miller ripped a shot past Devin for a 2-0 State lead.

"I knew they'd be a difficult team," Miller said. "They're fast. They play a little different style than we do. We try to hit a little more."

Spartans, 6-5 at Bright Center MSU  4-1-1--6 Harvard  1-2-2--5

First Period--1, M, McReynolds (Gibson) :57; 2, M, Kevin Miller (Marshall, Kip Miller) 1:26; 3, H, Janfaza (Armstrong, Sweeney) 4:43; 4, H, Reynolds (Tilley, Cole) 7:54; 5, M, Harding (Cole, Beadle) 14:45. Penalties--M, Barrels (interference) 2:58; M, Reynolds (slashing) 4:22; H, Janfaza (slashing) 5:42; H, Weisbrod (high-sticking) 10:01; M, Hamilton (holding) 16:13.

Second Period--6, M, Tilley (unassisted) :40; 7, Janfaza (Hartje, Sweeney) 11:35; 8, H, Vukonich (Weisbrod, Murphy) 18:08. Penalties--M, Clement (interference) 5:59; M, Harding (high-sticking) 11:27; M, Beadle (interference) 12:19; H, Caplan (elbowing) 14:58.

Third Period)--9, M, Kevin Miller (Luongo, Hamilton) 9:56; 10, H, Pawloski (Donato, Armstrong) 17:23; 11, H, Ciavaglia (unassisted) 19:20. Penalties--H, Wesibrod (roughing) 7:46; M, Clement (roughing) 7:46; M, Gibson (slashing) 11:33; H, Vukonich (slashing) 11:33; H, Caplan (interference) 15:18; H, Sweeney (4:00 roughing) 16:21; M, Harding (4:00 roughing) 16:21; H, Janfaza (4:00 roughing 16:21; M, Cole (roughing) 16:21; Hamilton (roughing) 16:21; M, Luongo (roughing) 16:47; H, Young (slashing) 16:47.

Saves--M, Muzzatti 9-12-7--28; H, Devin 9-X-X--9, Francis X-6-14--20.

Power Play Opps: M, 1-4; M, 2-6.

A: 2650