Prestifilippo stole the show, however, at the 10:07 mark of the final period. After a scuffle in front of the net, where at least eight bodies were piled on top of each other, referee John Gallagher raised his arms to the air and signalled a Yale penalty shot.
Claiming that a Harvard player had purposely covered the puck while it was in the crease, Gallagher instigated what has become a lost art form in collegiate hockey--the penalty shot. Thus Hamilton took his place alone at center ice and bore down on Prestifilippo while all eyes followed the play.
There would be no glory for Hamilton as Prestifilippo read the play perfectly and blocked the shot with his right pad, effectively keeping the score locked at 2-1.
"[The penalty shot] could have been called, it could not have been called," Prestifilippo said. "I've seen none here and probably only one or two in high school. I just wanted to win the game and that was kind of just a sideshow."
Despite the Prestifilippo heroics, Yale would not be denied an insurance goal, and with only 56 ticks left on the clock Geoff Kufta put in an open netter.
"It's hard to do up here and we have been trying a long time," said Taylor, who is in his 19th season behind the Yale bench. "I told the kids before the third period that 'there are 15 generations of hockey players that would die to be where you are right now with a chance to win.' It had a lot of meaning for me too."
As the Yale players joyously rode home to New Haven knowing that they had accomplished something which their predecessors had not, the Harvard contingent skulked back across the river.
"This was a very disappointing loss for us," Prestifilippo said. "I don't have much to say except that we're disappointed to come away with one point from this weekend."