"We have to make a decision as a team to not just be happy with playing well," Tomassoni said. "We have to get that killer instinct, that attitude."

Again behind two goals in the first period against Dartmouth on Saturday, it looked like Harvard would play victim once again. Then, out of the blue, Doug Sproule whipped the game-winning overtime goal into the back of the net and Harvard was celebrating a comeback win.

"We have been playing well, we just don't have a lot to show for it," Tomassoni said. "Even this should not have been a 3-2 game. There is absolutely no question we dominated this game, there shouldn't have even been an overtime."

"Basically we're playing a good game, but we're just not finishing." Sproule added.

Goals are the fruits of labor, the frosting on the cake, the byproducts of The Attitude. It's about breaking to the net expecting to score, not just hoping.

"It's all confidence," Sproule said. "I just felt like I was going to score, and sure enough, you do."

For the first time, an arrogance emerged from the Harvard team and it materialized in the Sproule tally.

"I think this game was huge," Higdon said. "Instead of being two games below .500, now we are .500 and we have two more games before break. We get two wins there and then we're in great shape."

Vermont believes that it will return to Lake Placid come March; does Harvard?