FLYING HIGH AGAIN

After two no-win games (a 5-5 tie at Yale and a 4-3 defeat at Boston University), the Harvard men's hockey team must have felt like a Thanksgiving turkey with its wings clipped: ready to cook, but unable to fly.

Step in Matt Mallgrave. The senior wing's three goals Saturday night gave the Crimson its wings as it flew past Brown, 4-2, at Bright Hockey Center.

"We were just feeling a lot better Saturday night than we had in the past few games," sophomore forward Cory Gustafson said. "After BU, we were starting to question how everything was supposed to go."

Now the Crimson has nothing but good cheer for the holiday season. Harvard upped its record to 5-1-1 overall and 5-0-1 ECAC is now holding on comfortably to first place in the division. Brown, meanwhile, slid to 3-3 for the season.

"As a team, we're feeling pretty good," said junior defender Sean McCann, who assisted on Captain Ted Drury's open-net goal that secured the win. "As long as we keep playing hard and using our main asset, our skating, we should be alright."

Harvard certainly didn't look alright at the beginning of Saturday night's contest, missing passes and skating sluggishly as it had Tuesday at Walter Brown Rink. Indeed, Brown took the early lead at 4:33 of the first period, when senior Mike Ross dumped a shot through Harvard goalie Tripp Tracy's legs.

Tracy, who was playing on more than a week of rest, was visibly upset by the goal. But Mallgrave was there to wipe the tears--and Brown's victory hopes--away, tallying three straight goals.

Standing free in open ice, Mallgrave took a feed from junior defender Michel Breistroff and slapped it over Brown goalie Geoff Finch's far shoulder at 13:07 of the second period.

With Brown a man-down, Mallgrave gave Harvard the lead at 3:39 of the third. Skating on the left side, Drury made a no-look, Olympian-style pass to junior forward Chris Baird, who quickly flicked the puck across to Mallgrave. The Leverett-resident one-timed the disc 10 feet into the net past a bewildered Finch.

Complete Trick

Mallgrave completed the hat-trick 5:30 later when he scored from the right side to give Harvard the 3-1 lead. Fans tossed hats into the goal to celebrate Mallgrave's first collegiate three-goal performance, while Brown, frustrated and confused, took a time out to recover.

"[Mallgrave] was unbelievable. Without his goals, we couldn't have gotten the win. He was just super," Drury said.

Brown scrambled over the next few minutes to get something going, finally tallying with 1:18 left after pulling Finch from net.

"That goal was just a scramble in front of the net. It could have gone either way," McCann said. "We didn't panic, though. We just realized we had to take control of the last minute."

Harvard accomplished that, and Drury's empty-netter with 26 seconds remaining wrapped up the win.

Tracy played solidly down the stretch, holding off several 2-on-1's and 3-on-2's. With his 28 saves, the freshman improved his season record to 3-0.

"Tripp played outstanding," Gustafson said. "He didn't play for a couple of games and then he comes in and plays like that...That makes us feel great."

HARVARD, 4-2 at Bright Hockey Center Brown  0  1  1  --  2 Harvard  0  1  3  --  4

G: Brown--Mike Ross, Kelly Jones; Harvard--Matt Mallgrave (3), Ted Drury. A: Brown--Brian Jardine, Derek Chauvette (2); Harvard--Michel Breistroff, Drury, Chris Baird, Steve Flomenhoft, Bryan Lonsinger, Sean McCann. S: Brown--Geoff Finch 27; Harvard--Tripp Tracy 28.