After battling to a 3-2 lead early in the final period off a soft goal from Bala that trickled through Burt's pads, Cornell battled back and capitalized on a pair of defensive lapses to eliminate the Crimson's lead and notch the eventual game-winner to take the series.

Cornell equalized the score when Big Red winger Denis Ladouceur and Cornell captain Doug Stienstra split two defensemen and rushed in all alone on Prestifilippo. Ladouceur found the back of the net at 6:29 in to the third to knot the score 3-3. Cornell took and held a 4-3 lead with a one-timer from center Krzysztof Wieckowski only 25 seconds later.

"The third period was a summary of our season," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni after Saturday night's game. "We made two critical mistakes and we lost the hockey game."

Despite playing two solid games back-to-back against one of Harvard's biggest rivals, the third period was indicative of the flaws that has plagued the Crimson all season.

Harvard's power play unit, which was responsible for two of the Crimson's three goals in Game One, was ineffective the following night, as it was unable to capitalize on seven chances against both Burt and a solid Big Red defensive core.

And the defense, which has been lamented as the Achilles' heel of the team all season, was consistent only in its inconsistency throughout the weekend. At times, the defense played superbly in front of Prestifilippo, allowing only 24 shots to reach the net.

But the same defense allowed a handful of breakaways in the third period alone, two of which came back-to-back for Stienstra and winger Stephen Baby at 2:18 and 2:46 respectively. Fortunately, a stellar showing by Prestifilippo, in his last career game with the Crimson, prevented both Big Red skaters from lighting the lamp on their attempts.