Maybe Yale men's hockey goalie Mike Schwalb felt intimidated.

On Friday, he witnessed a super-human performance by Cornell goaltender Doug Dadswell, whose tournament-record 57 saves helped the Big Red slide past the Elis, 3-2, in double overtime in the semifinal round of the ECAC tournament.

And in Saturday's consolation game Schwalb had to compete with the nation's lowest goals-against average, in the person of Harvard's Grant Blair.

Maybe that's why he surrendered five goals to the Crimson in the first 25 minutes of play Saturday.

Maybe that's why after the fifth Harvard goal--a Tim Smith blast from 10 feet at 5:16 of the second period--the beleaguered goalie was gone.

In came third-stringer Mickey Kappele.

And although the senior allowed only one goal in the remaining 35 minutes, he couldn't prevent Harvard from pounding the Bulldogs, 6-3, before 6268 spectators at Boston Garden.

Cornell nipped Clarkson, 3-2, in overtime late Saturday in the tournament final to win the ECAC crown.

Both Harvard (22-7-1 overall) and Cornell (20-6-4) will advance to the NCAA tournament, with quarterfinal games beginning at local sites Friday.

Meanwhile, Yale (21-10) and Clarkson (18-11-3), whose seasons came to an end Saturday, will have ample time to prepare for next year.

For Harvard--which had played sluggish, uninspired hockey for the past three weeks--the victory represented a return to the form that lifted it to seven straight victories from early February to the middle of March.

Back in Crimson

"We're back," Crimson Coach Bill Cleary said. "That's the type of hockey we're used to playing. Yale's a big, strong team. You can't give them any room."

For Yale, the loss was a sad end to a season which saw it win 20 games for the first time in its history and capture second place behind Harvard in the regular season ECAC standings.

"It wasn't our fault that we didn't play well," said Eli Coach Tim Taylor, whose team played just under 72 minutes of exhausting hockey the previous night. "We just didn't have anything left. I'm not disappointed. I think we've won the accolades of everyone in the league this season."