It was over before it was over.

Last night, the Clarkson hockey team pulled away early in the third period and coasted to a 6-4 ECAC semifinal victory over Harvard before 8423 fans at Boston Garden.

The Golden Knights came into the tournament ranked sixth, but have now pulled out a pair of upsets over Cornell (a week ago) and the Crimson to advance to tonight's final against St. Lawrence.

Harvard, the defending ECAC Champion, entered the tournament as the top seed, but struggled last night.

"We let it slip away," Harvard defenseman Don Sweeney said. "You dig yourself that deep a hole, and it's tough to get out."

Last night, one of the meek inherited the earth.

"We had nothing to lose," Clarkson forward Luciano Borsato said. "We were the big underdog. We were relaxed. We went in and played our best."

And one of the bleak inherited a consolation game it had wanted no part of.

"Clarkson deserved it," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "We had our chances, but we just didn't capitalize."

Harvard let an early 2-1 advantage dissolve into a 5-2 defecit early in the third period. Harvard (now 20-9 overall) had beaten the Golden Knights (17-14-4) twice during the regular season. Number three was not to be.

"We've got a taste of the good life now," Clarkson forward Steve Williams said. "We're hungry and we want more."

Today, Harvard will face Vermont in the ECAC consolation game, which may have a bearing on bids for the NCAA Tournament.

Last night, Josh Caplan got the Crimson on the board first with a drive down the right side, a slippery move across the middle and then a flip shot past Clarkson goalie John Fletcher with the game eight minutes old.

Clarkson jumped back less than two minutes later when Dan O'Brien took a pass from Mike Morrison in front of the net and then jammed a shot past Harvard goalie John Devin.

But with a minute remaining in the period, Ed Presz dug the puck out from behind the Clarkson net and found Tod Hartje driving across the middle. Presz put the puck on Hartje's stick, and Hartje put the puck in the back of the net for a 2-1 Crimson edge after one period.