Still, while Harvard had the chance to pick up some offensive pointers, its defense performed remarkably well despite adverse circumstances.

Harvard only fielded five defensemen last Friday due to injury and a suspension to freshman Dave McCulloch. On Saturday, McCulloch returned, but the Crimson was reduced to five again when its best bluliner, junior assistant captain Pete Capouch, went down with a concussion thanks to 6'3 goon Mike Colgan. One of the five remaining defensemen was freshman Kenny Smith, who delivered on his promise in his long-awaited debut.

"I was proud of the effort our team put forth," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "We had problems with out positioning, doing things that have hurt us all year...But we battled hard and competed."

The Crimson defense, while not shutting down the Tigers, played well enough to give the team a chance to win both games. Harvard trailed only 3-2 entering the third period on Friday and was down just 2-0 on Saturday. More surprisingly, C.C. scored just once on the power play.

It caught the attention of Colorado Coach Scott Owens:

"I certainly did not expect this weekend to be that difficult," he said. "I can't believe that they are a .500 team. [On Friday], I thought Pete Capouch was the best player on the ice."

But the kicker was his followup comment: