"It feels so nice," Rob Ohno added. "We're all on a high; we're in heaven."
The Crimson (6-1-1 overall, 6-1 ECAC) is only a half game ahead of the pack in the league standings, but the blowout of the Red established the Crimson as the solid favorite in the regular season title chase.
After struggling through its first four contests, Harvard has tied nationally-ranked Boston College, 4-4, and outscored its last three opponents, 27-7.
Yesterday was the culmination of gathering Crimson momentum.
"Instead of getting caught up in all the newspaper clippings, we've finally started to do it," Smith said.
Cornell (4-2-2 overall, 3-2-1 ECAC), on the other hand, never began to get going against its high-flying visitors. The Big Red looked disorganized and overprepared for the Crimson, which stuck to its smooth-skating game throughout.
Cornell heads into exams and will not have a chance to rebound from its most disastrous showing in years until the new year.
After falling behind, the hosts lost their cool Defenseman Mike Schafer, perhaps egged on by the "Kill, Schafer, Kill" chants that rained down from the crazed students in the packed rink, tried first to take on the entire Crimson bench with his stick and sunk lower and lower as the game progressed.
By the end of the contest, Schafer had centered his frustration on Harvard Coach Bill Cleary. With just over two minutes left in the contest and his team down eight goals, Schafer let the puck fly from just outside the Crimson blue line, but his target wasn't the Harvard goal--it was Cleary, who was standing behind the Crimson bench.
Cleary dodged the bullet, but was less successful in avoiding the 5-ft., 10-in., 195-lb. Cornell Tri-Captain after the game. As Cleary signalled his team to skate off the ice, Schafer