BOSTON--The collective jaws of Harvard Hockey dropped in unison--of course, it's never supposed to end like this. Watching the other guys hold aloft the trophy destined for their possession precious few minutes earlier, wearing their imitation Crimson jerseys and flaunting the same sheep-eating grins the good guys had worn only one week earlier.

But when you play Goalie Roulette in the late stretches of sudden death overtime, as legs and hearts give way to hopeful belief in a stone wall covering all 24 square feet of the mesh at your end of the ice, sometimes the odds beat you. Even when the gun's chamber is supposed to be empty.

Tom Ashe's game-winner seemed so innocuous--with nobody to pass to in the Harvard zone, he flicked the puck on net and goalie Aaron Israel, hardly expecting his dice roll to come up snake-eyes. A simple dump-in, nothing more. But suddenly, the clock froze at 1:55, the red siren blared, and the Beanpot final was over.

2-1. Boston College. In sudden death.

Harvard fell to 15-4-2 overall, remaining in first place in ECAC play at 12-2-2. Boston College improved to 12-12-3, sticking to the Hockey East cellar at 4-10-3. And Harvard failed for the seventh time in trying to repeat as Beanpot champions. But the emotion of the moment would be lost given just these numbers.

"A heartbreaker," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said, eyes gazing into space. "I'm still as proud of this team as I was last Monday night, and I know we'll bounce back--we've got a hell of a hockey team."

To reinforce that message to his rink general, he jumped off the Harvard bench to console Israel as he trudged to the Harvard bench. The message for his distraught sophomore: Hold your head up, Izzy.

"There's no reason Aaron should be hanging his head tonight--he played one hell of a hockey game," he said. "Both goaltenders did."

But it was indeed Greg Taylor who got the honors, every bit the equal of the more heralded Israel, and when the money was on the table and final hands were played, he won this Las Vegas duel and all the accolades that go with it.

Beanpot MVP.

Most Valuable Goaltender in the tournament. And a treasure chest of memories tolast a lifetime.

"That's kinda gravy...as long as we win theBeanpot, I don't care about individual honors,"Taylor said. But he'll want to remember this nightfor the rest of his life .

As will Ashe, who in scoring only his secondgoal of the year, unassisted at 8:05 of OT, got"easily the biggest goal of my career," in hiswords. "Definitely a flukey goal--I was pulling upfor a trailer, and I didn't see anybody so I putit on net.

"I guess the goalie had moved a little bit...Iwasn't really looking for a goal, but I got luckand it went in. With both goalies playing so well,we knew it was going to be a lucky bounce whichdecided the game," he said.

And Israel's reward for his 23-saveperformance, which by all rights got the Crimsoninto that overtime? Having to stand beforereporters and answer what happened to let thatsecond goal in.

"I made a judgment call expecting [Ashe] topass across, and he didn't," Israel said. "[Am Iupset with myself?] No, not at all. I played agood game out there."