During the final minute of the period, Clarkson freshman Jean Desrochers ran over Jonas well after the whistle sounded. Junior assistant captain Pete Capouch immediately leapt to Jonas' aide, diving over the goalie to reprimand Desrochers. The WWF-like melee ended with Steve Moore coming over to put Desrochers in a headlock, but Desrochers was able to suplex the Crimson captain to the ice.

This was the type of punishment that Clarkson used to inflict upon its opponents to wear them down by the end of the game. Not coincidentally, Rolston used to be Morris' top assistant before joining Mazzoleni's staff.

"Rolston understands young athletes very well," Morris said. "With his love for the weight room, the results are not surprising at Harvard."

The Golden Knights had some harrowing chances to score about midway through the third period to make the game interesting, but a creative Jonas found a way to keep the puck out of the net.

The defense held-up admirably considering that Mazzoleni opted to play only five defensemen, sitting healthy senior Tim Stay and junior Leif Ericson without even dressing an extra forward to compensate. Harvard employed an aggressive two-man forecheck to keep the puck pinned in the Clarkson zone to alleviate some pressure on the blueline and generate more offense.

"We only dressed five defensemen tonight so we wanted to have better support for our 'D,'" Mazzoleni said. "We changed our forecheck up to be more aggressive at the defensive blueline."

Rob McFeeters scored Clarkson's only goal of the night just 44 seconds into the second period to tie the game at 1-1.