Take a deep breath and relax.

Friday night's chant of "Overrated!" by the University of Minnesota-Duluth hockey fans was a little bit premature, as the Crimson thrashed the Bulldogs Saturday night at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, 9-4.

"I think we changed their minds," senior Chris Baird said.

Rebounding from a 3-0 loss Friday night, Harvard (7-3-1 overall, 6-2-1 ECAC) decked the hall with lots of checks and scored five power play goals to earn a split in the weekend series with UMD (5-10-3, 3-8-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association).

"We were a little intimidated by the [more physical] type of play on Friday," senior defenseman Derek Maguire said. "We adjusted well Saturday, taking the body well and playing with emotion."

In the WCHA the teams play a more physical style of hockey with a lot more hitting than in the ECAC. And the WCHA referees let a lot of the clutching and grabbing go, unlike the ECAC, for the most part.

The game started off on a sour note for the Crimson, however. Perhaps the team was a little too fired up, as sophomore defender Peter McLaughlin was whistled off for slashing 10 seconds into the game.

Sophomore goalie Aaron Israel stopped two UMD shots at the beginning of the penalty kill, but Rusty Fitzgerald tucked the puck into the net after the Crimson failed to clear it away, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead at the 0:27 mark.

UMD almost made it 2-0 several minutes later, but freshman Joe Craigen cleared away a puck that was heading for the open net.

Then the Crimson started controlling the play with their checking game, which led to a Harvard power play six minutes in. This time, the Crimson capitalized, as captain Sean McCann flipped a rebound off Baird's point shot past UMD goalie Jerome Butler to even the game at one.

Another power play goal put the Crimson on top for good. Baird shot the puck from the top of the circle, and junior Steve Martins poked the rebound through the five-hole of Butler at the 12:01 mark of the first period.

Junior Perry Cohagan scored his first goal of the season 34 seconds later off a tremendous effort. As he was being dragged down to the ice by a UMD defender, he slapped at the puck, which found daylight through the five-hole of a dazed Butler to make it 3-1.

"I was able to get a stick on it and shovelled it in," Cohagan said. "My confidence had been down--[not scoring] definitely was a monkey on the back."

The first-period barrage wasn't over, however, as McCann scored his second power play goal of the game to make the 4-1 with 4:42 left. The Harvard captain used his skate to control a hard pass by Martins and then stuffed the puck between Butler and the goalpost.

Special teams played a major role in the game, as the Crimson went 5-for-6 on the power play (its only failure was on an 11-second chance late in the third). The penalty killing was also strong, blanking the Bulldogs on five consecutive power plays after McCann's second goal.