Ithaca, N.Y.--The Ithaca authorities managed to prevent most of the fish-throwing for last weekend's ECAC Quarterfinal series. Instead, the Harvard men's hockey team had to contend with a new, but far more painful playoff tradition at Cornell--losing.

The Big Red swept the Crimson in a pair of nerve-racking, exciting playoff battles, each by a score of 4-3 in front of a raucous, sold-out Lynah Rink. The defeats mark the third consecutive time Harvard and Cornell have renewed their rivalry in the postseason with the Big Red emerging victorious.

"We played great," junior winger Chris Bala said. "Each night we played well enough to win, but it wasn't in the cards, losing by a goal both times."

Indeed, the Crimson had a chance to win on both nights. On Friday, Harvard battled back to tie up the score 3-3 on a gorgeous power play goal by senior winger Scott Turco at 10:31 of the second period, while on Saturday the Crimson held leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2.

But Cornell captain Doug Stienstra found the mark with just 52 seconds left in the second period in the first game. During game two, the Big Red sealed the Crimson's fate by striking for two goals 25 seconds apart in the third period. Harvard could never get another one past goalie Ian Burt.

"I'm proud of the way we played," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "We played our hearts out. I couldn't ask for anything more from our team for six periods."

Stienstra in particular victimized the Crimson, netting two goals and three assists on the weekend. Harvard was led by the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, freshman center Dominic Moore, who had four assists.

In his final games, senior netminder J.R. Prestifilippo once again did his part to give the Crimson a chance to win. He made a total of 51 saves.