CHESTNUT HILL--The line that divides a good team from a great team is often very small. For the Harvard men's hockey team on Friday, that line was about the width of a goal post.

It was a painful lesson to learn.

Approximately a minute into the second period, junior winger Chris Bala took the puck in the slot, juked a defender and cut to his left. He released a hard, accurate wrist shot that clanged off the top right corner of the iron.

Thirty seconds later, center Ales Dolinar notched his second goal of the game to give No. 8 Boston College a virtually insurmountable 2-0 lead in a game that would end in a 3-0 shutout.

"The difference was when we made a mistake they just jumped on it," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. "When they made a mistake we didn't finish."

Dolinar took advantage of one of the few even-strength Crimson defensive miscues.

Skating down the middle on a two-on-two rush with senior Kevin Caulfield on the right wing, Dolinar dished it to Caulfield midway through the Harvard zone. Caulfield took the pass and managed to get a step on junior defenseman Tim Stay. As the puck went to him, Dolinar's marker--junior defenseman Liam McCarthy -turned to watch it. Dolinar took advantage of the moment, slipping past McCarthy on the way to the net.

Caulfield threaded a return pass and the puck hit the twine.