The 'V' Spot

CHESTNUT HILL--The line that divides a good team from a great team is often very small. For the Harvard men's hockey team on Friday, that line was about the width of a goal post.

It was a painful lesson to learn.

Approximately a minute into the second period, junior winger Chris Bala took the puck in the slot, juked a defender and cut to his left. He released a hard, accurate wrist shot that clanged off the top right corner of the iron.

Thirty seconds later, center Ales Dolinar notched his second goal of the game to give No. 8 Boston College a virtually insurmountable 2-0 lead in a game that would end in a 3-0 shutout.

"The difference was when we made a mistake they just jumped on it," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. "When they made a mistake we didn't finish."

Dolinar took advantage of one of the few even-strength Crimson defensive miscues.

Skating down the middle on a two-on-two rush with senior Kevin Caulfield on the right wing, Dolinar dished it to Caulfield midway through the Harvard zone. Caulfield took the pass and managed to get a step on junior defenseman Tim Stay. As the puck went to him, Dolinar's marker--junior defenseman Liam McCarthy -turned to watch it. Dolinar took advantage of the moment, slipping past McCarthy on the way to the net.

Caulfield threaded a return pass and the puck hit the twine.

In that brief time span, the Eagles took the game by finishing their chances after the Crimson failed. That was the lesson.

Then the pain began.

B.C., not known for its size, stepped up its physical play beyond the normal parameters of rough hockey. It seemed that both teams had just called up the Hanson Brothers of the hockey classic "Slapshot" to fill their rosters.

At 7:33 of the second, senior winger Matt Macleod was battling for the puck along the boards and had his helmet knocked off on a check from behind. After replacing it, he crashed the net, where it was dislodged again. Another Crimson player storming B.C. goalie Scot Clemmensen exacted some revenge, grabbing the netminder by the neck and hauling him down as the whistle was blown.

The antics continued.

Late in the period, Stay discovered it very difficult to carry the puck down the ice after an Eagle had ripped the stick from his hands.

A few seconds later, freshman winger Brett Nowak found himself lying behind the net with B.C. defenseman Brooks Orpik trying to strip him of his jersey and shoulder pads.

At this point, I glanced at the scoreboard and had to remind myself that the objective of hockey was still lighting the lamp, and Harvard's had yet to shine.

The casualties were mounting. Sophomore winger Jeff Stonehouse had to leave the match with a concussion. Captain Trevor Allman needed stitches after the game.

Through all of the din, referee John Bunyon barely called enough penalties to avoid a brawl. By game's end, though, he had issued 25 minors.

"We came in expecting this to be physical," said senior defenseman Matt Scorsune. "We had to meet the challenge and we didn't back down."

No, Harvard didn't back down and perhaps the bitterness in the violence should be typical of a cross-town rivalry. But the physical play also robbed Harvard of the offensive flow it needed to come back.

The Crimson executed its game plan defensively very well--B.C. managed just four shots on goal in the first and five in the third, but it could never sustain its own pressure on Clemmensen. When Bunyon arbitrarily decided to give Harvard a man-advantage, the power play continued its slump, going 0-for-6. It has now scored twice in its last 26 chances.

Coming off a promising 5-1 win against Union last Saturday, the offense reverted to its earlier, futile form.

"Something I'm striving for is for kids to play hard from the beginning to the end," Mazzoleni said. "I'm proud of the way we played tonight. Down the road we'll win these games."

Maybe down the road, but right now Harvard received a good, long look at one of the best teams in the nation and found its failings. The gap between the Crimson and B.C. is only as wide as the goal post, but that's an awfully vast bridge to cross.

And a painful one.