Prestifilippo especially drew the attention of the Lynah crowd. The Big Red Band had prepared "No Smoking" style signs, substituting Prestifilippo's mugshot for the cigarette.

"We lost this series in two games," Prestifilippo said. "We could've easily won it in two games."

Cornell 4, Harvard 3 (Game Two)

Entering the playoff series, the Crimson was 9-2-2 when scoring the first goal. On both nights, Harvard struck first, but on both occasions it didn't matter.

Bala set up the Crimson's first goal of this game, and he also scored on a sharp-angle shot at 4:41 of the third period to give Harvard a 3-2 lead. But the Crimson's good fortune wouldn't last.

Less than two minutes later, Cornell sophomore winger Denis Ladoucer blew past Crimson junior defenseman Tim Stay to create a two-on-none rush with Stienstra. Ladoucer kept the puck himself down the right wing and beat Prestifilippo at 6:29 of the third.

The Big Red then took the only lead it would need at 6:54 when freshman winger Shane Palahicky hit sophomore center Krysztof Wieckowski on the doorstep, and he jammed it five-hole.

"The third period was a summary of our season," Mazzoleni said. "We made two critical mistakes and we lost the hockey game."