Harvard Defeats BU in Beanpot

BOSTON--There's an old adage which says that defense wins ball games (or puck games).

The Harvard men's hockey team took that saying to heart with a tremendous defensive effort. The Crimson completely shut down a sloppy Boston University offense, an effort culminating in a 4-2 victory last night at the Boston Garden in the first round of the 42nd Beanpot Tournament.

"That was certainly our best performance of the year for a full 60 minutes," Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni said.

If the 4-2 score looks familiar, that's because the Crimson defeated the Terriers by the same count in last year's Beanpot finale. But this game bore no resemblance to last year's, as Harvard dominated the contest for the final 50 minutes. The score was close until midway through the third, when Steve Martins put the Crimson up, 4-1, but the Crimson (13-3-2 overall, 10-2-2 ECAC) simply outplayed the Terriers (19-7-0).

The game started with very little flow, as both number-three Harvard and number-two BU (those national rankings are bound to change) seemed to jump offsides or ice the puck every 30 seconds in the first seven minutes.

What finally got the Crimson into a rhythm was a Terrier goal, ironically. Bob Lachance's shot from the left face-off circle got by netminder Tripp Tracy at the 13:39 mark of the first period, putting BU up, 1-0.

Harvard woke up immediately thereafter, and it took control of the game from that point on.

The next shift saw a well-disciplined Martins get railroaded by BU's Dan Donato (yes, Ted's little brother), earningthe Crimson a power play 47 seconds afterLachance's goal. Martins, bullied early and oftenby BU's thugs, refused to retaliate.

Enter exhibit A--how to work a power play.Derek Maguire received the face-off win andcrossed the puck to Chris Baird. Baird thenquickly passed to captain Sean McCann, whoone-timed it into the short side of the net byTerrier goaltender J.P. McKersie to knot the gameat one-all.

Bang, bang, bang--like clock-work, Harvardpassed its way into a tie game.

"One of the things I really try to stress is ifa team gets a goal on us, then we got to get oneright back," McCann said.

The Crimson's defensive shutdown of BU thenbegan. The Terriers managed only six shots in thefirst twenty minutes and a paltry three shots inthe second period.

Every Harvard defender picked up his man in theHarvard zone, while the forwards also came back totake any open Terrier players out of the actionand clear the puck out of the zone time and timeagain.

"It was unbelievable," Tracy said. "I don'tthink I've ever seen a better defensiveperformance in my life. I knew that [our defense]was good, but not that good."

And good defense also led to the go-ahead goalwhich put the Crimson up for good. McCann found anopen Ben Coughlin on a 4-on-3 break, and Coughlinbanked the puck off the right post past McKersieat the 16:10 mark to make it 2-1, Harvard.

Harvard completely controlled the secondperiod, yet the score remained 2-1 after two. TheCrimson had an amazingly-high 50 scoring chancesto the Terriers' 23.

BU Coach Jack Parker could call them "crucialmistakes" after the game, but Harvard's two goalsresulted from smart plays and hard work by severalplayers.

After some early offensive pressure by BU inthe third, Coughlin lifted the puck high into theair out of the Harvard zone and over a Terrierdefender.

Kirk Nielsen calmly waited for it and created atwo-on-one break with Jason Karmanos. Karmanostook his pass and top-shelved the puck by McKersieto give the Crimson some cushion at the 2:03 mark.

"I wasn't quite sure what Ben was doing withthat puck," Nielsen joked after the game.

While the Crimson had extended its lead to two,BU failed to register a shot on goal in the thirduntil over seven minutes had elapsed in theperiod.

Martins then sealed BU's fate with ahighlight-material goal at the 9:05 mark. Insteadof passing the puck to a wide-open Cory Gustafson,Martins took the puck from the right side of theTerrier net, deked out a BU defender, switchedhands and lifted a backhand shot over McKersie tomake the score 4-1.

BU's Steve Thornton scored with 48 secondsremaining to provide the final margin of Harvard'svictory.

Harvard will seek its second straight Beanpotchampionship Monday night when it faces BostonCollege (5-4 double-overtime winners overNortheastern in the other semifinal) at 8 p.m. inthe Boston Garden.HARVARD, 4-2 at Boston Garden

Harvard  1  1  2  --  4Boston U.  1  0  1  --  2

First Period

BU--Lachance 7 (Pandolfo, Thornton) 13:39.

Har--McCann 11 (Maguire, Baird) 14:32. (PPG)

Second Period

Har--Coughlin 7 (McCann) 16:10.

Third Period

Har--Karmanos 3 (Nielsen, Coughlin) 2:03.

Har--Martins 13 (unassisted) 9:05.

BU--Thornton 5 (Pomitcher) 19:12.

Saves: Har--Tracy 5-3-7-15; BU--McKersie13-10-9-32.

Power Play: Har--1 for 4; BU--0 for 1.

Attendance: 14, 448.CrimsonDavid E. RosenSTEVE MARTINS (on one leg) celebrates hisgame-clinching goal.

Enter exhibit A--how to work a power play.Derek Maguire received the face-off win andcrossed the puck to Chris Baird. Baird thenquickly passed to captain Sean McCann, whoone-timed it into the short side of the net byTerrier goaltender J.P. McKersie to knot the gameat one-all.

Bang, bang, bang--like clock-work, Harvardpassed its way into a tie game.

"One of the things I really try to stress is ifa team gets a goal on us, then we got to get oneright back," McCann said.

The Crimson's defensive shutdown of BU thenbegan. The Terriers managed only six shots in thefirst twenty minutes and a paltry three shots inthe second period.

Every Harvard defender picked up his man in theHarvard zone, while the forwards also came back totake any open Terrier players out of the actionand clear the puck out of the zone time and timeagain.

"It was unbelievable," Tracy said. "I don'tthink I've ever seen a better defensiveperformance in my life. I knew that [our defense]was good, but not that good."

And good defense also led to the go-ahead goalwhich put the Crimson up for good. McCann found anopen Ben Coughlin on a 4-on-3 break, and Coughlinbanked the puck off the right post past McKersieat the 16:10 mark to make it 2-1, Harvard.

Harvard completely controlled the secondperiod, yet the score remained 2-1 after two. TheCrimson had an amazingly-high 50 scoring chancesto the Terriers' 23.

BU Coach Jack Parker could call them "crucialmistakes" after the game, but Harvard's two goalsresulted from smart plays and hard work by severalplayers.

After some early offensive pressure by BU inthe third, Coughlin lifted the puck high into theair out of the Harvard zone and over a Terrierdefender.

Kirk Nielsen calmly waited for it and created atwo-on-one break with Jason Karmanos. Karmanostook his pass and top-shelved the puck by McKersieto give the Crimson some cushion at the 2:03 mark.

"I wasn't quite sure what Ben was doing withthat puck," Nielsen joked after the game.

While the Crimson had extended its lead to two,BU failed to register a shot on goal in the thirduntil over seven minutes had elapsed in theperiod.

Martins then sealed BU's fate with ahighlight-material goal at the 9:05 mark. Insteadof passing the puck to a wide-open Cory Gustafson,Martins took the puck from the right side of theTerrier net, deked out a BU defender, switchedhands and lifted a backhand shot over McKersie tomake the score 4-1.

BU's Steve Thornton scored with 48 secondsremaining to provide the final margin of Harvard'svictory.

Harvard will seek its second straight Beanpotchampionship Monday night when it faces BostonCollege (5-4 double-overtime winners overNortheastern in the other semifinal) at 8 p.m. inthe Boston Garden.HARVARD, 4-2 at Boston Garden

Harvard  1  1  2  --  4Boston U.  1  0  1  --  2

First Period

BU--Lachance 7 (Pandolfo, Thornton) 13:39.

Har--McCann 11 (Maguire, Baird) 14:32. (PPG)

Second Period

Har--Coughlin 7 (McCann) 16:10.

Third Period

Har--Karmanos 3 (Nielsen, Coughlin) 2:03.

Har--Martins 13 (unassisted) 9:05.

BU--Thornton 5 (Pomitcher) 19:12.

Saves: Har--Tracy 5-3-7-15; BU--McKersie13-10-9-32.

Power Play: Har--1 for 4; BU--0 for 1.

Attendance: 14, 448.CrimsonDavid E. RosenSTEVE MARTINS (on one leg) celebrates hisgame-clinching goal.