Men's Hockey Weak in 5-4 Win Over Dartmouth

Keep a bad team close and it will smell blood.

For the second straight game, Harvard's men's hockey team let an inferior opponent stay close entering the third period, only to see that team tie the game.

First, the Crimson did it four nights ago against BU in the final of the Beanpot, and such lethargy proved fatal--Harvard ended up losing to the Terriers in overtime.

Last night in happened again, but, fortunately for the Crimson, the final result proved more positive: Harvard (16-4-2, 13-2-2 ECAC) squeaked by ECAC cellar dwellar Dartmouth (3-18-1, 2-14-1 ECAC) by a 5-4 count on a overtime goal by Jason Karmanos.

"We'll take the two points and hopefully learn a lesson," Harvard Head Coach Ron Tomassoni said, after setting off the proverbial fireworks in the Crimson lockerroom following the match.

The Big Green actually looked like it would get a big upset when it scored two goals in a 2:11 span in the third period, turning a 3-2 Harvard lead into a 4-3 Crimson deficit.

But Cory Gustafson, whom Tomassoni labelled as one of the Crimson's few good players last night, converted a pass from Steve Martins off of Dartmouth goalie Mike Bracco's pads just 43 seconds after Dion Del Monte had given the Big Green its short-lived lead.

"I think most of our problem was that we were watching the play," Gustafson said. "But [Kirk] Nielsen and [Ben] Coughlin played really well."

Neilsen, Coughlin and Karmanos almost single-handedly kept the Crimson offense going, and it produced the game-winner.

The winning play started when defender Lou Body stopped a Dartmouth clearing attempt at the blue line and fed Nielson. Nielsen then fed Coughilin, who passed the puck back to Ashlin Halfnight at the point.

Halfnight then sent a shot towards a mass of bodies in front of Bracco and the puck caromed first off a Big Green defender and then off Karmanos into the net.

"Thank God we had Nielsen's lie," Tomassoni said.

Harvard got off to a very slow start in last night's game, lowlighted by Dan Bloom's rebound goal past Tripp Tracy just 45 seconds into the game.

Dartmouth kept the pressure up and allowed only three shots for the Crimson through the first ten minutes.

Fortunately for the Crimson, it got the spark it needed when two Big Green players collided when they tried to make a line change, thus sending Nielsen and Coughlin fed Nielsen, who deposited the puck into a vacated net to tie the game at the 11:15 mark.

"It's kind of frustrating when you have chances and are not scoring," said Nielsen, who has had trouble converting numerous chances in recent games. "[Scoring a goal] sort of gives you inspiration."

Harvard gained momentum from Nielsen's goal and drew two power plays in the next five minutes. On the second power-play attempt, Martins fed Brian Farrell with a cross-ice pass, and Farrell one-timed it through Bracco's legs with 2:43 to go in the opening stanza.

The Crimson kept the offensive pressure going in the second period and Coughlin deflected Peter McGlaughlin's point shot 4:42 in the goal to give the Crimson a two-goal lead.

Harvard had numerous chances to put the game out of reach but it had trouble putting the puck on net and failed to get to many rebounds.

A couple a lazy Harvard penalties late in the second period brought Dartmough back to life and Mike Stacchi defelected a point shot past Tracy with just 50 seconds left before the second intermission.

"Dartmouth got a big goal there," Tomassoni said. "They came into the third period thinking they could knock us off."

In the third, the Big Green had extra jump in its skates compared with the sloppy and passive Crimson.

Dartmouth out-chanced Harvard and out-checked the Crimson, but Harvard was able to pick up its hitting game after falling behind.

"You got to be mentally tough," Tomassoni said. "Other teams pay attention to the polls and want to beat a top team."

The Crimson played a good 30 minutes last night but it must play a good 60 minutes tonight if it is to beat a solid Vermont squad.

When good teams smell blood, they almost always make the kill. HARVARD, 5-4 at Thompson Arena Harvard  2  1  1  --  5 Dartmouth  1    2  --  4

First Period

Dar--Bloom 3 (Logu, Geary) :45.

Har--Nielsen 4(Coughlin, Karmanos) 11:15.

Har--Farrell 20(McGlaughin, Cohagan) 17:17 power play.

Second Period

Har--Coughlin 8(McGlaughlin, Cohagen) 4:45.

Dar--Stacchi 11(Hughes, Bloom) 19:10 power play.

Third Period

Dar--Geary 2(Burkhart, Dumas) 12:46.

Dar--Del Monte 8 (Bracco) 14:57.

Har--Gustafson 18 (Martins, Craigen) 15:46.

Overtime

Har--Karmanos 4(Halfnight, Coughlin) 1:54.

Saves: Har--Tracy 7-5-5-1-18; Dar--Bracco 11-9-10-0-30.