Like any good official in the playoffs, referee Drew Taylor swallowed his whistle in the final set to allow the teams to determine whether there would be a third game.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, Taylor never told linesman Bob Ritchie, who made his presence felt, nailing sophomore forward Steve Moore at 15:53 for an extremely dubious holding penalty behind the play.

Five seconds into the man advantage, leading ECAC Rookie of the Year candidate Matt Murley deflected senior forward Danny Riva's shot for RPI's second goal and the back-breaker.

"Obviously, it's a disappointing loss, especially with the way the game finished," Tomassoni said. "We have to consider this a 1-0 loss, because that's what it really was."

Taylor gave Harvard a make-up power play right afterwards, but the damage was already done, and RPI cruised to victory.

After a sluggish start, a non-call on a Crimson hit that sent an RPI player flying into Jonas roused the Engineers for a spirited last five minutes of the first period.

Rensselaer's emotion carried into the second period, and it received its first of three strong power plays at 1:04. The Engineers pressured Jonas for nearly the full two minutes and sent four shots on net--several more just missed.

Captain Alain St. Hilaire missed a golden opportunity when he one-timed a cross-ice pass through the goal area with the entire left side of the net open.