BOSTON--The second you walked into the FleetCenter to watch yesterday's hockey game between Harvard and Northeastern, you knew something was wrong.

The press box and bleachers were deserted, there were some cheerleaders who looked bored beyond belief, and some bands were droning on like broken records. Oh yeah, there were also some shenanigans going on on the ice that they were calling a hockey game.

Welcome to the Beanpot Consolation--the anticlimactic, "let's get this over with so we can watch the real Beanpot game."

For the Harvard men's hockey team, it was like the sequel to a bad comedy--it wasn't funny the first time when the Crimson was blown out, 7-1, by Boston University in round one, but it was even worse the second time around.

"It wasn't an inspired game," freshman wing Brett Chodorow said.

Harvard lost 2-0 to a Northeastern team (7-20-2, 2-17-1 Hockey East) that is mediocre at best. The Crimson now boasts an unimpressive 8-13-2, 7-7-2 ECAC record. There isn't much more to say about a game in which the only highlights had nothing to do with the game itself.

Freshman defenseman Matt Scorsune added some comic relief to a depressing game, when he used his hockey stick to knock down a blue balloon which floated over the ice in the second period.

But there was a game, albeit one in which Harvard did not look happy to be in.

After a sloppy and dull first period, the score was tied at 0-0. When the buzzer sounded to end the first 20 minutes of torture, one could only imagine that things could only imagine that things could only get better for the last 40 minutes.

They did not.

Ten minutes into the second period, Husky forward Justin Keams rifled a shot that became entangled in the pads of Harvard freshman goalie J.R. Prestifilippo. Without any help from his teammates in clearing the puck, Prestifilippo lost control of it, and Husky defenseman Brad Klyn finished Keam's shot and Northeastern took a 1-0 lead.

Harvard responded by chasing more of those pesky ballons around the ice rather than trying to salvage its pride.

When the third period mercifully arrived, Northeastern took time out of bullying Harvard players to pour more salt on the Crimson's wounds with another goal. Keams bazooked a perfectly placed shot from the top of the perimeter that exploded in the top of the net to leave the final insult at 2-0.

At that point not even the handful of Crimson fans seemed to care if Harvard lost--they just wanted to make sure that the misery didn't extend into overtime.

Oddly enough, the players and the coaches seemed indifferent after the spectacle.

"For the most part we skated well," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "We created some chances. Its no secret that we've struggled to score goals all season long...I don't think it was our defensive play that hurt us, for the most part, but our inability to execute offensively."

Inability to execute offensively is a euphism. Inability to even get a decent shot off is more apt.

"I don't [think there is reason to be concerned about this game]," Chodorow said. "After the game, Coach kind of put us in the right direction...he never raised his voice, he spoke to us about heart and committment to the little things."

Last night's game could have been an opportunity for the Crimson to gain some momentum as it heads into the toughest and most crucial part of its season, beginning this Friday against Cornell at the infamous Lynah arena with its insane fans.

The lesson learned from this game?

"Not to play crappy hockey," captain Ashlin Halfnight said. N'eastern  2 Harvard  0