Crimson Destroys Northeastern, 10-2, In Beanpot Upset

It was the night everything went right for the Harvard hockey team. It was the night the Crimson (6-11) escaped from its self-imposed manacles of a listless offense and an immobile defense. With a display of force that had lurked just below the surface all year, the icemen made every one of the failures and disappointments that have spotted this unhappy season vanish into the misty Boston Garden air.

Erupting for four goals in seven minutes of first-period playing time, Harvard first stunned, and then humiliated, a Northeastern squad ranked first in the East and fourth in the nation, 10-2, before 14,456 at the Garden last night.

And now, with all of the abruptness of a Mark Fusco twinetwanger, the Crimson has played itself into a Beanpot final for the first time since 1978.

It was Fusco who led the charge, feeding Greg Britz for the game's first tally just four minutes after the opening faceoff, drilling a slapshot home for the third goal five minutes later, and then settling down to play some of the best transition defense this team has seen since the redoubtable Jack Hughes went west.

And while the red-haired sophomore ruled the blue line with solid stickwork punctuated with kamikaze sprawls in front of Husky slapshots, Harvard's Instant Karma line--featuring the dazzling Olson--pounded home four goals and tallied ten points to dominate Harvard's best offensive night since the 14-4 trouncing of Colgate six years ago.

Olson scored the Crimson's second goal, taking a pass from Tom Murray just past center ice and sweeping in on Husky goalie George Demetroulakas while sliding the puck into the net. But it was his pass to linemate Mike Watson at 11:42 of the period, after a magnificent rush, that set up the fourth Harvard marker and proved to the Huskies--and the Crimson--that the explosion was for real.

Olson picked up the puck just over his own blue line, threaded through two defenders and flipped a calculated pass to Watson, who, with half of Causeway St. to shoot at, calmly earned his ninth marker with a flip.

Only twice in the remaining minutes did Harvard falter. The Huskies, who had blazed past the Crimson, 11-5, way back on November 25, picked up a goal from Paul Filipe at 12:32 of the first period and captured the momentum early in the second. But Wade Lau, playing a dominant game in the Crimson nets, made the glove save on Randy Bucyk and the stick save on Gerry Cowie to douse the threat effectively.

Shortly after Jim Turner made it 5-1 off a two-on-one with Gary Martin, Northeastern coach Ferm Flaman removed Demetroulakas in favor of Mrk Davidner. But the red light kept blazing: Phil Falcone at 9:34, Watson on the power play at 13:37, David Burke on a rebound at 14:37, and Olson's second of the night, an outrageous, sprawling, shorthanded effort at 19:20.

The final Northeastern rush came when Sandy Beadle scored just 23 seconds into the final stanza. The icemen, not quite sure how to handle a 9-2 lead, began to falter, and Northeastern flooded the Crimson zone and seemed ready to put a few more past Lau. But the junior netminder's point-blank stop of a Tim Jacobs bullet repulsed one threat, and his stick save of Craig Frank darter slapped away another.

Even the heroic Beadle, the ECAC's leading scorer who is called "the messiah" by the locals, missed an open net with ten minutes remaining, thus symbolizing Northeastern's frustration. The Huskies, in one period earlier this season, scored eight goals. Not tonight.

It has been a while since Harvard has played in a Beanpot final, and only Murray and Rick Benson of the current crew remember losing to BU in the Blizzard-delayed 'Pot of '78. Next Monday night is as good a time as any to give this sagging hockey program the shot in the arm it so sorely needs. And it is also as good an opportunity as we're bound to get in a while to find out if Billy Cleary's Crimson sextet can win a big one.

THE NOTEBOOK--With Harvard virtually eliminated from ECAC playoff consideration, the fact that last night's contest does not count in the conference standings is of little or no importance. Like it or not, however, the Crimson returns to the ECAC wars on Friday night when it hosts St. Lawrence, a bit of a surprise team in the league this year.

HARVARD 10, NORTHEASTERN 2

At Boston Garden

1st Period: H--Greg Britz 2 (Mark Fusco, Ken Code), 4:38; H--Greg Olson 7 (Tom Murray, Mike Watson), 5:23; H--Fusco 5 (David Burke, Dave Connors), 9:41; H--Watson 9 (Olson, Murray), 11:42; NU--Paul Fillpe 3 (Ken Manchurek, Rick Tumbull), 12:32.

2nd Period: H--Jim Turner 3 (Gary Martin, Code), 6:13; Phil Faicone 4 (Burke, Connors), 9:34; H--Watson 10 (Olson, Murray), 13:34, pplay; H--Burke 6 (Falcone, Fusco), 14:37; H--Olson 8 (--), 19:20, shorthanded.

3rd Period: NU--Sandy Beadle 22 (Gerry Cowie, Jeff Hiltz), 00:23, pplay; H--Shayne Kukulowicz 3 (Scott Powers, Bill Larson), 7:05.

H  4  5  1--10NU  1  0  1--