M. Hockey Edges Black Bears

PORTLAND, ME.--Harvard's Cory Gustafson had an assist Monday night in the men's hockey game against Maine--that's news.

Gustafson also had three goals--that's not.

Well, maybe it is. With his team-leading 12th, 13th and 14th goals (and only his third assist) notched against the Black Bears, the Cabot House junior has suddenly become the Crimson's go-to guy, sparking seventh-ranked Harvard (8-3-1, 6-2-1 ECAC) to a wild 7-6 win over unranked Maine (10-8-0, 7-3-0 Hockey East) before 5,409 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

"He's done it all year for us," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said of the 5'11" fireball from Regina, Saskatchewan. "He was a guy who going into this season we hoped would make that jump to a higher level, and I tell you, that last goal of his was a big-time goal."

Was it ever. Reg Cardinal had just scored 55 seconds into the final period to give Maine a 5-4 lead, but here was Gustafson, singlehandedly knifing through two Black Bear defenders and then deking past goalie Blair Marsh into an open net. An unassisted goal, a hat trick and, less than two minutes after Cardinal's power-play goal, another tie.

"I feel really good with the puck, especially after the long rest," Gustafson said in light of Harvard's 15-day layoff going into Monday night. "Those first two goals, the puck just bounced right for me--it seems luck is with me this year. I can't complain."

Lady Luck also dealt the Crimson a full house as the clock wound down, with Harvard clinging to its one goal lead and facing 1:38 of a penalty kill (1:09 of which was 5-on-3) to end the game. Mike Latendersse, already with two goals on the night, failed to collect an easy centering pass in the slot. He had room to gun past Harvard's Tripp Tracy on the short side, but the puck slid under his blade to the near corner.

Aces and eights--the dead man's hand was too much for embattled Maine Coach Shawn Walsh to bear.

"We've got 20 guys who played their hearts out, and they're awful tired," Walsh said. His troops had beaten Cornell in Minnesota less than 24 hours earlier (in Walsh's first game back after serving a university-enforced five-game suspension for using an ineligible player), and the strain of playing three tough games in four days had taken its toll.

"It helped playing Harvard, because our guys respect them so much, but in the second period we were just dead," he said. "I told them after the second period that it was a heavyweight fight, and they had us just about knocked out in rounds eight, nine, and ten, but they hadn't gotten us yet."

"It was one of those games in which you thought whoever would score last was going to win," Tomassoni said. "Somebody asked me late in the game what I thought the key to winning was and I said, 'Getting the last goal.' Fortunately, we did."

Remarkably, neither team led by more than one goal throughout the contest, and when Maine's Trevor Roenick (brother of Chicago Blackhawk star Jeremy) tipped home a power play shot by Patrice Tardif (1-3-4 on the night), the lead belonged to the Bears for the fifth and last time at 6-5.

But Harvard struck back quickly. Unsung center Kirk Nielsen blasted through Marsh from the right point to even the game at 8:08. And it took only six seconds to capitalize on a holding call against Maine defenseman Jason Dekker; right winger Brian Farrell redirected Derek Maguire's shot for his fourth game-winning goal of the year, this time with 9:33 to play.

"Let's not kid ourselves--the better team on the ice tonight won," Walsh said. "Tiredness wasn't really a factor; in the third period, it was anybody's game. And I think the skilled player [Gustafson] won the game for them."

Gustafson's first two goals came in the first five minutes of the second period, probably the only stretch of sustained dominance by either team. Harvard's Aaron Israel (replaced during a mutual goalie-swapping with 10:03 left in the second) had to stop but one shot during a stretch in which the Crimson put nine shots on Marsh, culminating in a Tom Holmes-to-Gustafson finish 4:59 into the second.

Holmes assisted on two Gustafson goals in getting the game's third star (behind Gustafson and Latendersse). Maguire also had two assists.

Seniors Chris Baird and captain Sean McCann also scored goals for Harvard as 12 different Crimson skaters had at least one point.