CANTON, N.Y.--They went into the weekend demanding four points for their efforts.

They returned home with only two.

So besides smack in the middle of the ECAC race, where does that leave a 2-3-1 (2-5-1 overall) Harvard men's hockey team which lost to Clarkson on Friday and rebounded with a win against St. Lawrence the next night?

"We went into this weekend expecting four points and we only got two; therefore the weekend was not a success," said junior Craig Adams. "We need to start sweeping weekends, not splitting."

All hopes for the sweep were eradicated quickly on the first night of play when the Golden Knights skated right by the Crimson en route to a 4-1 victory at Cheel Arena.

Harvard would find some redemption the following night against St. Lawrence in the form of its 3-1 win. That "W" prevented the Crimson from leaving the Great White North empty handed, but any Harvard happiness had to be taken with a grain of salt.

"You come into the weekend expecting four points, but by losing the first night that no longer becomes possible," said sophomore goaltender J.R. Prestifilippo. "When that happens you have to expect two points from the next game. We did that so we are pleased."

Clarkson 4, Harvard 1

It can't be denied that Clarkson is not the team it was nine months ago. The loss of Hobey Baker finalist Todd White tore an extensive hole in the Golden Knight attack, and early season losses to Yale and Princeton did little to impress the skeptics. On paper that put Harvard in perfect position to dispose of the home team and extend its series lead to 37-31-6.

It would never play out that way. The bigger, stronger Clarkson team manhandled the Harvard players on both sides of the ice and penetrated the Crimson defensive zone with ease. The constant pressure materialized in 37 Golden Knight shots--33 of which Prestifilippo warded of.

"I thought that we outplayed them considerably, but Prestifilippo is one heck of a goaltender" said Clarkson Coach Mark Morris. "He made some steals that really kept them right in the game."

Ironically, at the 10:55 mark of the HARVARD  3 ST. LAWRENCE  1

HARVARD  3 CLARKSON  6

HARVARD, 3-1 at Canton, N.Y. Harvard  0  0  3  --  3 St. Lawrence  0  0  1  --  1

Third Period

SLU--DiFrancesco (Ladouceur, Harney) 8:14.

Har--Scorsune (Conklin, Millar) 12:15.

Har--Adams (Bala, S. Moore) 18:08.

Har--Adams (unassisted) 19:42. (ENG)

Saves: SLU--Heffler 20-12-8 40; Har--Prestifilippo 8-8-14 30.

Power Play: SLU--1/6; Har--0/3.

Attendance: 2,400 second period, it was the Crimson's own undoing that led to the game's first goal.

In a draw to the left of Prestifilippo--which saw both original face-off men tossed from the circle--wingers Dana Mulvihill and Adams were summoned. Mulvihill was the quick draw and pushed the face-off forward past Adams and let loose a wrister past Prestifilippo. This unheard of turn of events put the Crimson down, but the next mistake may have put them out.

Thirty-six seconds into the final period, an errant Crimson pass across its own blueline set Golden Knight sophomore Matt Reid up perfectly to go the distance and knock in his seventh goal of the season and Clarkson's second of the contest.

"When you play these guys they are big and strong and they play that grinding style so you have to be patient," said Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni. "We've got to be able to grind with them and I thought for the most part we did."

Harvard freshman Chris Bala saved Harvard from the shutout with four minutes remaining in the game with a wrap-around tally, but the goal did nothing but avoid the donut.

"By getting our first goal we still had time," Tomassoni said. "They gave us an opportunity to win the game. We just didn't execute as much as we wanted, but still we had a chance."

Clarkson's Chris Clarke put a feather in his cap and put the game away with his 100th career point at the 2:57 mark. His blast from the right face-off circle earned him a standing ovation from the Cheel Arena crowd and effectively demoralized the Crimson corps.

"I thought that we had a pretty solid defensive game up until about 10-and-a-half minutes to go in the third and at that point we made a few mental errors that got us off kilter," Morris said. "But as soon as Clarke scored we regained our composure and put it away from there."

A fitting end came with a Clarkson empty netter with 15 seconds left on the game clock. Once again it was a careless Harvard pass across its own zone which allowed Clarke to seal the game at 4-1.

Harvard 3, St. Lawrence 1

Already with an unexpected loss strapped to their backs, the Harvard players begrudgingly moved on to Appleton Arena--the site of three straight Harvard defeats to St. Lawrence.

After one period, however, Harvard was a revitalized team that launched 20 shots on Saints' netminder Eric Heffler.

"When we didn't get that first one like we had hoped I didn't know how we would respond because of the youngness and the youth that we have," Tomassoni said. "But I think that they showed that they are a fairly mature group because they came out after a hard, physical game [against Clarkson] and played their best period of the season."

Yet despite the constant firepower which forced Heffler to make 40 total saves, the game was still scoreless with 12 minutes remaining.

"It feels good and it's nice to get so many shots on the board," Adams said. "But the fact is we need to score."

Just when it appeared that Harvard was well on its way to its first 0-0 deadlock finish since 1929, Saints' captain Paul DiFrancesco rifled home a loose puck in front of the Harvard net for the 1-0 lead.

Thoughts of zero points on the weekend hung heavily over the Crimson bench for another four minutes until sophomore Matt Scorsune broke the spell with the equalizer.

"There was no panic on the bench," Tomassoni said. "The kids knew that even though they had been snake-bitten through the first two periods that they were going to come back. You could just sense that."

Thanks to stellar goaltending by Prestifilippo (63 total saves on the weekend), Harvard and St. Lawrence remained tied until the Crimson exploded for what would prove to be the game winner with 1:52 left in the game.

After hitting the post on his first shot, Adams continued his forward motion and slapped a second chance at Heffler. Even though he didn't see the puck hit net, Adams knew something good had happened.

"Chris [Bala] did a great job getting me the puck and I shot it, but I never saw it go in," Adams said. "All I saw were the water bottles moving on top of the net and I knew it had gone in."

An empty netter by Adams capped off the dramatic third period and gave Harvard a much-needed two points.

"We harped as a staff all week long on the expectation of coming up here and getting four points," Tomassoni said. "But this was a big win. This was a character win and a team win."

And Harvard will waste no time in getting another ECAC contest under its belt before Christmas break as it faces BrownCrimsonMatthew R. CordellLONG BOMB: Freshman GRAHMAN MORRELL and his teammates launched 43 shots Saturday afternoon against St. Lawrence. Saints' goaltender ERIC HEFFLER gave up three goals in the Crimson's 3-1 victory.