Crimson Drops Heartbreaker

No one expected it. With the score Harvard 4, Dartmouth 4, Dartmouth's Dennis Murphy sat in the penalty box for hooking with only 24 seconds elapsed in the ten minute overtime period. Harvard's power play had been passing and shooting well all night. A quick goal would give the Crimson the game. With the Woodsmen playing shorthanded, Dartmouth's Don O'Brien poked a rebound past rookie goaltender John Hynes to give Dartmouth a sudden-death, come from behind victory, 5-4.

O'Brien's tally resulted from a two on one break with teammate Ross Brownridge. Harvard's Gene Purdy drilled a slap shot wide of the mark that rebounded to center ice. Sophomore defenseman Jack Hughes pivoted to gain control of the loose puck as Brownridge and O'Brien swarmed on the disk. Brownridge's initial shot was stopped by goalie Hynes before O'Brien, a sophomore, found the open net.

Entering the third period trailing 3-2, the Crimson notched two quick goals to regain the lead in the contest. Junior Murray Dea tied the score at 3-3, banging a rebound past Dartmouth goalie Jim Jankowski, a freshman from Montreal, at 2:28 of the stanza. Harvard freshman Rick Benson fed the puck to John Cochrane streaking down the right wing. Cochrane nailed a slapper on net which Dea, skillfully trailing the play, flipped into the cage.

At 5:31, the same line of Benson, Cochrane and Dea combined to give Harvard the advantage. This time it was Benson picking the upper right hand corner of the goal, again on a rebound, after Cochrane hit Dea with a pass and the junior from Edmonton, Alberta cranked a wrist shot which Dartmouth's Jankowski coughed up.

Dartmouth evened the score at 10:44 of the third as Mark Miles beat Harvard's Hynes on a breakaway with a wrist shot just beyond the goaltender's outstretched glove hand.

Hynes overcame any first game jitters when he was severely tested late in the third stanza. With one minute and a half remaining in regulation time, a Harvard defensive lapse left Dartmouth's Murphy standing alone in front of the Crimson goal with the puck on his stick. Murphy deked, Hynes sprawled and smothered the disk. One minute later, the sophomore goaltender from Chatham repelled a flurry of Dartmouth shots from close range to put the contest into overtime.

George Hughes initiated the scoring in a game in which Harvard incurred nine penalties and Dartmouth seven. Hughes's tally capped a pressing power play. In classic Harvard style, Captain Brian Cook, planted behind the Dartmouth cage, caught a pass from Purdy and zipped the puck onto Hughes's stick. The All-Ivy center put the Crimson on the scoreboard. The Crimson failed to score on three other power play opportunities in the first period.

Leading 2-1 at the start of the second stanza, Dartmouth's Brownridge (one goal, two assists) jammed a Mark Culhane power play rebound by Hynes to put the visitors ahead 3-1. 1:40 later Harvard's John Garrity took a pass from captain Cook (two assists), wheeled; to his backhand, and beat the Dartmouth netminder from eight feet out.

Overall, Hynes left too many rebounds lying in the slot, but did make some excellent saves. He should become steadier with each period he plays. Freshman Tom Murray revealed poise, fine puck control and awesome speed, while Benson exhibited alert passing and heady play. As always, the Hughes brothers were the most, and defenseman Kevin O'Donahue keeps getting tougher and stingier on `D'