Yale certainly did just that, as Martins was held pointless and was assaulted on several occasions.

By shutting down Martins, players such as Kirk Nielsen and Coughlin were forced to step up their game to another level.

"There are a lot of kids who have not moved up into primary roles, prime-time players, and they've got to accept that responsibility," Tomassoni said. "I was trying to keep everyone active because of the penalties. [Tom] Holmes and Martins were outstanding killing penalties, but then going five-on-five they aren't as fresh out there."

The learning experience that these first two losses represent came into play Saturday night, when Harvard battled Princeton.

Again, the Crimson showed its apparent superiority in the first two periods, as it jumped ahead to a dominating 5-1 lead. The capacity crowd at Hobey Baker Rink (yes, THAT Hobey Baker) even began to file out as the game easily appeared to be in the hands of the Crimson players.

In fact, the Crimson took noticeably less of what Tomassoni would call "stupid penalties." Harvard still had more than its share, however, as the Tigers had six power-play opportunities.

Again, the time spent killing off these penalties might have hurt the Crimson. In the third period, Princeton scored three unanswered goals in a six-minute span to rouse the comatose crowd.

"We made two bad passes to allow them to make the game close," Tomassoni said. "Those are the things you can correct. As long as it doesn't happen again, they are very correctable."

"If we learn from these mistakes we will be a pretty good hockey team down the line," he said.

This weekend was also the first full-time playing experience for Tracy. The junior goalie was accustomed to splitting the weekend series the past two years with Aaron Israel.

"I enjoyed the chance, because after Friday's disappointing loss, I was able to get back in there and come out strong [Saturday]," Tracy said. "There really is nothing to panic about. We've played in three pretty tough rinks."

"Yale is an improved hockey team, but they got a very, very lucky goal," he said.

The Crimson returns home after this tough road trip with a seven game homestand awaiting it, one of which against third-ranked BU next Tuesday.

"The more we stay out of the box, the better we are," Coughlin said, with perhaps the most succinct evaluation of the team's success.

"This win is a big boost for the team's confidence," Tomassoni said. "We're definitely going in the right direction."

Tomassoni might want to move his team rather quickly, though, as his team faces tough ECAC foes Cornell and Colgate at home this weekend.