Perry Cohagan tied the game up for the third time at 3-3, cashing in on his own rebound during a St. Lawrence power play. But with 5:57 left in the game, Burke Murphy of the Saints tipped a pass from the corner past a sprawled Hermsdorf for the score.

"I thought I played OK, but that fourth goal is the one I really should've had," Hermsdorf said.

But Tomassoni expressed satisfaction with Hermsdorf's play. "[Hermsdorf] played very well, it was just a hard-fought game," Tomassoni said.

Harvard's power play came up empty once again Friday night, barely putting any shots on net.

"Even strength we played well, but we even let up a shorthanded goal and another at the end of a power play," Tomassoni said.

A Golden Night?

With the disappointing loss to St. Lawrence, one might have expected the Crimson to come out flat against 10th-ranked Clarkson.

Au contraire, mon frere.

Clarkson (which fell to 9-5-2, 5-2-1 ECAC) had not beaten Harvard in almost three years, and the Crimson entered a roaring Cheel Arena by bombarding Clarkson goalie Dan Murphy with 16 shots in the first period. Tripp Tracy only had to face six--but still the game was knotted at 1-1.

The second period swung towards Clarkson, when in a span of 32 seconds Clarkson scored two goals to open up a 3-1 lead.

Steve Palmer of Clarkson took a pass from Kevin Murphy in front of Tracy and fired it home with 12:40 remaining in the period.

Then two preseason All-Americans, Marko Tuomainen and Claude Morin, screamed down the ice in a 2-on-1 break. Tuomainen tipped the puck past Tracy and suddenly Harvard found itself in a two-goal hole.

At this point Clarkson decided to revert to a defensive strategy, allowing Harvard to break out rather easily while focusing on breaking up play in the neutral zone.

But the Crimson fought back in one of the league's most vicious rinks. Kirk Nielsen tallied another power play goal for the Crimson with 6:25 left to go in the second period.

Leading now only 3-2, Clarkson was called for icing repeatedly in the third period, as Harvard controlled the puck in the Golden Knight end for most of the stanza.