Less than three minutes later, the troublesome tandem would strike again. This time St. Louis passed the puck to Vermont defenseman Jonathan Sorg at the right point. Sorg launched a rocket of a shot which Perrin tipped into the upper right hand corner of the goal.
The Catamount's 5-1 victory was capped with a final goal by forward Matt Sanders, who scored with less than 15 seconds remaining in the third. It was the only goal of the contest in which neither St. Louis nor Perrin was involved.
"They have two great hockey players [in St. Louis and Perrin] on that team and they took over that third period," Tomassoni said. "They're talented kids, but they've also got that attitude, that hunger, the confidence to finish plays, and that's what this team needs to get."
"There are two excellent players they have on their team," Prestifilippo said. "They're very good, very crafty and I thought we held them in check early, but then they burned us a couple of times. I think tomorrow night [against Dartmouth] will be a tell-tale sign for the team."
Saturday, the team headed down Interstate 89 to Hanover to face the Big Green. And, after two periods, the Crimson found itself in a situation identical to the previous night's loss.
In the first period, Dartmouth jumped out to an early two-point lead, but Harvard came back to within one after a goal by junior forward Henry Higdon.
Demonstrating tremendous puck handling skills, Higdon skated in alone down the left side against Dartmouth goalie Eric Almon. Just wide of the left pipe, Higdon slipped the puck behind the goaltender into the net. Once again, the score stood 2-1 before play in the third period.
Would it be deja vu or victory? Would a hard-fought game again be lost in the final period?
Forwards Doug Sproule and Joe Craigen were determined not to turn the weekend into a double feature.
At 14:06 in the third, Craigen slid the puck to Sproule, who skated to the left of Almon and tucked the puck away for the game-tying goal.
With less than two minutes to play, senior captain Ashlin Halfnight was called for holding. The Crimson was forced to kill off the crucial penalty without its most experienced defenseman.
Although the Big Green spent the remainder of the period in its offensive zone, the Crimson kept the game tied. Harvard players, on the defensive, dove to the ice repeatedly to break up Dartmouth's passes and shot attempts, taking the game into overtime.
At 3:11 in the extra period, Sproule found the net a second time. Craigen saw an open Sproule in front of Almon and delivered the puck right onto the blade of his stick. Without hesitation Sproule blasted a shot into the left of the net.
"Craigen fed [the puck] to me," Sproule said. "I was wide open and I just shot it as hard as I could to the upper part of the net and it went in.... It's all confidence."
"The team has been struggling offensively and to fall behind 2-0 after one period with the lack of goal production, it was a great character win," Tomassoni said. "We've been playing well. We just haven't had a whole lot to show for it."
Harvard left its bench and flooded onto the ice in celebration, finishing well for the first time in the New Year.