"Needless to say, I'm pretty happy," Gilligan said, "and so is half the state of Vermont."

But the Green Mountain state was quiet for the first two-and-one-half periods of the game, when Roy (23 saves) dazzled the crowd with his deflections and silenced the Catamount offense.

And even when Browne did tally the game-winner, Roy, the ECAC's leading goaltender during the regular season, blocked away two successive shots.

"He made two great saves before the final goal," Cleary said. "We just didn't clear the puck."

On the other end of the ice, Harvard's offense had difficulty trying to get the puck in close and challenge goalie Mike Millham (22 yesterday's news."

"They played a good game," Cleary said. "They played tightly, and they didn't give us that much up close."

The Vermont blueliners held Harvard to no shots on goal during the sudden-death period.

While Vermont has a chance to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the top-ranked Crimson must now recover from last night's loss and play the Big Red in the consolation game.

If Vermont and Harvard both win tonight, it is possible that the Crimson could earn a bye in the tournament when the selections are announced tomorrow afternoon.

"We just can't let up," Cleary said. "There's nothing as stale as yesterday's news, and [last night's loss] was yesterday's news."