Trailing 3-2 with 1:48 remaining in its season, the Harvard men's hockey team searched for a miracle--like Peter Ciavaglia's sudden-death overtime goal to beat Colgate on December 2, or Ted Donato's slapshot goal with five seconds to play to force overtime with Rensselaer on December 8--anything that would draw the Crimson even with Clarkson and keep alive Harvard's hopes of advancing to the ECAC finals.

But, consistent with the Crimson's 1-6 record in its one-goal games this season, Harvard could not slip past the solid Golden Knights defense and fell to Clarkson, 3-2, in front of 9034 Saturday night at the Boston Garden. The Golden Knights advanced to face north country rival St. Lawrence--which nipped Cornell, 4-3, in overtime in the other ECAC semifinal--in last night's ECAC final.

First-seeded Clarkson (24-7-2 overall, 15-5-2 ECAC) kept Harvard's league-leading offense away from the net all game long by attacking the Crimson forwards at center ice and forcing Harvard (14-12-3 overall, 13-7-2 ECAC) into a dump-and-run game.

"We knew we wanted to hem up their big guns," Golden Knights Coach Mark Morris said. "We got them off of their game by clogging up center ice. If you can do that, you force them to dump the puck."

"They like to carry the puck," Morris continued, "and if you let them pick up speed, it's tough to stop them. But if you create a lot of obstacles, you can cut down your opponent."

The obstacles at Morris's disposal--chief of which were defenders Dave Tretowicz and Sylvain Lapointe--blanked Harvard's fantastic four of Ciavaglia (Hobey Baker nominee and ECAC Player of the Year) Mike Vukonich, Ted Donato and Ted Drury for over 58 of the contest's 60 minutes. Tretowicz and Lapointe back-checked aggressively and effectively stick-checked the puck away from Harvard forwards on key chances.

The Crimson could not score until 4:39 into the third period, ending a five-period Garden scoring draught.

But Crimson Coach Ronn Tomassoni wasn't buying into the idea that the Garden's small dimensions and pock-marked ice surface were the primary cause for Harvard's offensive difficulties.

"Both teams have to play on it," Tomassoni said. "It was the third game of the day, and the ice wasn't in good shape, but that's no excuse."

A swift Clarkson offense, led by right wing Scott Thomas and center Dave Trombley, is a more likely explanation of the Golden Knights success and Harvard's demise. The two wheeled into the Harvard zone and launched shot after shot at Harvard netminder Chuckie Hughes, who saved 28 on the night.

But even Hughes couldn't stop everything. With 29 seconds to play in the second period, Thomas redirected a Tretowicz slapshot from the right point past Hughes to give Clarkson the game's first score.

But Harvard knotted the game on a score set up by the Crimson third line's smooth passing. Tim Burke raced down the left flank, outskating Golden Knights defender Mikko Tavi across the blue line, and slipped the puck across to Steve Flomenhoft, who backhanded the puck by Clarkson netminder Chris Rogles to even the game, 1-1.

Harvard's momentum was short-lived, however. The Crimson's Jim Coady was called for hooking just three minutes after the goal and the Golden Knights found an opportune moment to break out of its zero-for-10 slump on the man advantage.

Wing Mike Casselman drove down the left flank from Hughes, leaving the puck for a trailing Thomas, who flipped it into the Crimson net to make it 2-1 with 11:55 to play in the contest.

"It just felt good to get a power play goal again," Thomas said. "We knew we could do it. It was just a matter of time."