The Bears took a 2-1 lead a little more than five minutes later on a goal in front by right wing J-F Labarre.

The scoreboard stayed that way until 4:38 had passed in the third period, when Harvard freshman Brendan

Bernakevitch scored his first collegiate goal.

“[Brett] Nowak brought the defense up [in the neutral zone] and then passed it off to me,” Bernakevitch said. “I saw there was a little room above the glove and shot for it. I shot the puck and saw the mesh move and thought, ‘I can’t believe I just scored that.’ It was a nice relief to get that first goal out of the way.”

With the score tied, momentum seemed to swing back to the Crimson, but it didn’t stay that way.

After a barrage of Harvard shots midway through the third period nearly gave the Crimson a one-goal lead, Kirley was able to gather the final rebound and send it to sophomore Pascal Denis along the right-wing boards.

Brown’s quick transition play resulted in an odd-man rush, and Denis blasted a shot past Crothers from the left

face-off dot at 11:19 of the third for what proved to be the game-winner.

And while the Crimson responded with excellent offensive pressure, the Bears were not to be denied, as Brown

defenseman Scott Ford banked in an empty-net goal with 13 seconds left to seal the Crimson’s fate.

Eklund finished the game with 28 saves, while Crothers ended up with 21.

“I thought Crothers played very well. He stopped what he needed to stop. He played a very solid game for us,” Mazzoleni said.

Brown Coach Roger Grillo was very pleased after the game.

“Harvard’s a good team, and to come into their building in the first game of the year and win a big one is huge

for us,” he said. “We took our lumps in the past couple of years, but our guys have battled hard. We wanted it badly and we did the things that we needed to do.”