Eagles and Gerbe (four goals) keep clicking

NATHAN GERBE Sharp from circle

Boston College junior Nathan Gerbe found a spot he really liked last night, on the edge of the right faceoff circle, just to the left of Harvard goalie Kyle Richter.

From that perch, Gerbe scored four goals, three on the power play and one in a four-on-four situation, to lead BC over the Crimson, 7-2, at Bright Arena. The 15th-ranked Eagles (6-4-5) picked apart No. 14 Harvard (6-4-2), paced by the snarling, 5-foot-5-inch Gerbe, who has eight goals in the last three games, including a pair of victories over Boston University. Last night he got his second hat trick in three games, then added a fourth goal to reach 13 for the season.

Teammate Benn Ferriero was a force as well, scoring a pair of goals and finishing with a career-high five points. Freshman Joe Whitney of Reading also picked up career highs in points and assists (four). Even goalie John Muse jumped into the offense, notching an assist on Ferriero's second goal when the swift junior picked up the rebound of a Muse save and slipped down the right wing, uncorking a shot from the right circle that found the far corner of the goal. Ryan Carroll had replaced Richter at 2:55 of the third, his first collegiate game, but the result was the same: an Eagle in the right circle, a shot, and a goal.

It was time to pile on. BC was 4 for 10 on the power play, and scored on 7 of 27 shots in the game.

"We're on a pretty good roll now," said BC coach Jerry York. "We had career nights from Nathan Gerbe and Benn Ferriero; they kind of spearheaded the whole offense."

BC had a slow start this season, but with victories over Hockey East foe BU and a demolition of Harvard, the Eagles' offense has been on the move. Harvard had no clue how to stop it, particularly on the power play.

The Eagles moved the puck around the zone at high speed, then dumped it off to Gerbe in the right circle. "The goals were all a result of our good passes," said York. "We were unselfish."

Gerbe felt like the right guy in the right place.

"It's just the guys out there did a great job of moving the puck," he said. "And when the puck bounced to my side, there was no one there. Everyone else did such a great job, it was there for me to shoot. It was nice."

Harvard coach Ted Donato was disappointed with his team's effort and execution. Even as Gerbe repeatedly diced up the Crimson penalty kill, they could not adjust.

"We didn't have a real answer for their power play," Donato said. "We knew what they were trying to do."

The BC power play got untracked at 3:33 of the opening period, 23 seconds after Harvard's Michael Del Mauro was sent off for contact to the head.

Gerbe sliced a shot from the bottom of the right circle to beat Richter. The Crimson answered 10 seconds into a power play at 11:05, when freshman Michael Biega ripped in his fifth goal of the season, also from the right circle.

But that was Harvard's last gasp. Muse made a series of difficult saves when the game was close, and then Matt Greene gave BC the lead at 13:29, taking advantage of Harvard's scramble to recover from a failed rush. Greene collected a pass from Whitney and dumped the puck past Richter.

Ferriero got his first at 3:17 of the second, a slick two-on-one passing sequence with Gerbe, Ferriero finishing from the right post.

"Our power play was really clicking," said Ferriero. "We were really moving the puck unselfishly and moving it to the open guy. I've been struggling a little bit to score goals, and when you get a chance like that, you just have to bury it."

At this point, the Eagles resembled a pack of hungry dogs, swarming the Harvard net. Gerbe made it 4-1 at 6:51, and though Biega added a second power-play score for Harvard at 11:38, the Crimson had no bite. Gerbe got No. 3 at 17:30 of the second, and No. 4 at 12:10 of the third.