Icemen Turn Brown Black and Blue, 10-2, Saturday

Harvard men's hockey goalie Grant Blair didn't look the least bit disturbed when Brown's first shot Saturday night soared into the net behind him.

And Bruin defenseman Sean McNamara--who had blasted the shot from the blueline--did not raise his stick in triumph.

Only the spectators sitting in the stands behind the Crimson goal seemed at all excited.

Many screamed--and some scrambled--as the puck rocketed off the protective net hanging above them and into their midst.

Although the Bruins (4-11 overall, 3-11 ECAC) finally found the real Harvard twines at 4:32 and 9:49 of the second period, two goals weren't nearly enough to down the Cantabs (12-4-1 overall, 12-2 ECAC), who walked away from Bright Center with an impressive 10-2 win.

The victory was the second of the weekend for the Crimson--which knocked off Yale, 3-2, Friday--and the squad's fourth in a row.

"You worry about a letdown after a big game like Yale," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "But we came out and played well."

With the pair of weekend wins, the Crimson solidified its hold on first place in the ECAC. If Harvard wins five out of its remaining seven league games, it will wrap up the ECAC regular season title for the first time since 1976.

The Crimson, now 6-1 Ivy, also moved a step closer to capturing the Ancient Eight crown. It need only knock off Priceton Friday and Cornell a week later to become Ivy champions.

"We'd like to win the Ivy outright," Cleary said.

The only excitement for the 2513 fans who turned out for Saturday's contest came after Brown's second tally--forward Joe Kuzneski's slapshot from the point--put the visitors within a goal of a tie game.

But Crimson forward Lane MacDonald retalliated nine seconds later with a smash from 15 feet out that eluded the outstretched mitt of Bruin goalie Bob Naegele and settled into right-hand corner of the Brown cage.

Indeed, MacDonald--who, like Rob Ohno and Allen Bourbeau, scored twice for the Crimson--gave Naegele headaches all night, finally knocking the sophomore netminder out of the game with a blast that Naegele deflected with his helmet.

Naegele's replacement--third stringer Dominic Alfonso--didn't fare much better, surrendering five goals, including one to Ohno that dribbled under his pads and into the net after the Crimson center had barely grazed it with his stick.

"I was planning it all along," Ohno said.

Harvard got a sterling performance from its backup goalie, junior Dickie McEvoy, who replaced Blair with 16 minutes left in the game.

McEvoy--who hadn't played in two years--stopped 11 Brown shots while giving Blair a chance to rest for the first game of the Beanpot tournament tonight at Boston Garden.

"It felt great," McEvoy said. "I was a little nervous at first. But once I got into it, I was all right."

McEvoy wasn't the only new face on the ice for Harvard. The Crimson sported arevamped fourth line that included Greg Chalmers,back from a semester off, and Butch Cutone, whohad been injured for the last month. Formerfourth-liners Nick Carone and Andy Janfaza weremoved down to the JV team.

"We wanted to try out some new players," Clearysaid. "We just can't be complacent at this point."

Although Cutone played center for most ofSaturday's game, he was switched to defense whenChris Biotti went down with a knee injury.

Biotti's status is questionable for tonight'sgame. "It's just a wait and see situation," Clearysaid.

If Biotti is unable to play, Cutone willprobably replace him. And Carone will likelyrejoin his old line