Icemen Fall to Northeastern; 0-2 in Beanpot

BOSTON--The World Series only contains teams from the United States and Canada.

Hot dogs aren't made out of canine entrails (at least they're not supposed to be). Harvard  2 N.U.  4

Star Trek's Next Generation weren't descendants of the orignal cast.

The House Whip doesn't take out a belt and lash people (or so we're told).

And the Beanpot consolation game certainly does little consoling for the teams that play in it, especially the one that happen to lose.

The Harvard men's hockey team (12-9-1 overall, 10-5-1 ECAC) played a sloppy game last night against Northeastern (13-11-5) in the Beanpot consolation at Boston Garden and wound up on the short end of a 4-2 score. All the scoring occurred in the second period.

"We looked at it as an important game," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "It's tough to play when there's nobody in the stands when you go out to start the first period, [but] you got to be tougher mentally."

The building was empty when the game started with maybe a few hundred fans filling the 14,448 seats in the Boston Garden. And the adrenaline and quality of play reflected the disinterested attitude inside the Garden, at least for those first 20 minutes.

There was virtually no checking (except a couple of shots after the whistle), very few good scoring chances and rather poor power-play work by both teams. The Harvard players did work hard, but the team had trouble clicking.

The second period was more of the same, except in the quality scoring chances category. There were 11 total shots by the two teams, and six of them found the mesh. Sluggish defense and some undisciplined penalties brought the Crimson down.

"We took a few stupid penalties, and those wore us down," Tomassoni said.

While Northeastern didn't convert on any of its six power play chances, its second goal came less than one minute after a power play chance had expired. Husky Jason Kelley wristed a shot up high that beat senior netminder Steve Hermsdorf to give North eastern a 2-1 lead 8:05 into the second period.

The Huskies scored the next two goals as well--a shorthanded tally and a stuff-in--to take a 4-1 lead late in the period.

So for the second straight week, the Crimson had to play from behind (it fell behind Boston College, 4-0, last week). Junior Jason Karmanos fed senior Perry Cohagan on a two-on-one goal with 54 seconds left in the second period to cut the lead to 4-2, but Husky netminder Mike Veisor stopped all 12 Harvard shots in the third period to preserve the win.

"We had a lot of opportunities that we could have capitalized on, but we didn't," Karmanos said. "We didn't and that's the story of the game."

The Crimson fell behind early in the second period, but the team retaliated 15 seconds later. Karmanos rifled a shot high on Veisor, and senior Cory Gustafson grabbed the rebound and roofed the puck over the fallen goalie at the 2:03 mark.

However, the Crimson would commit as many penalties over the remainder of the period as it would send shots on goal--two.

"We have to work for every one we can get," Tomassoni said. "We just have to get more disciplined."

And for Harvard's sake, that better happen very soon, as Dartmouth and Vermont come to Bright Hockey Center this Friday and Saturday. By virtue of its four non-ECAC losses, the Crimson's only shot of making its third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance is to either win the ECAC regular-season crown or the ECAC Tournament.

Harvard trails Clarkson by four points with six games left, but even if it doesn't catch up to the Golden Knights, the Crimson has to start playing better hockey or else the rest of the season will be as forgettable as last night's game.

"Every game is a big one now," Karmanos said. "We still have a shot to take the league title, but moving into the playoffs we need all the confidence we can get."

In the Championship game, B.U. destroyed B.C., 5-1, for its eighteenth Beanpot Trophy. NORTHEASTERN, 4-2 at Boston Garden Harvard  0  2  0  --2 Northeastern  0  4  0--4

First Period

No scoring.

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

NU--Collett 8 (McGillis)1:48.

Har--Gustafson 8(Karmanos) 2:03.

NU--Kelly 4 (Lupo, Melong) 8:05.

NU--Parlon 8 11:27. (SHG)

NU--Shields 18 (Campbell, Bouchard) 17:23.

Har--Cohagan 7 (Karmanos) 19:06.

Third Period

No scoring.

Saves:Har--Hermsdorf 4-2-6 12; NU--Veisor 7-3-12 22.

Power Play:Har--0-5, NU--0-6.