Mired in the depths of a five-game losing streak, the only place left for the Harvard men's hockey team to turn was God.

While asking for the Lord's help against an opponent named the Saints may seem a futile undertaking, the Crimson was blessed with an audience from none other than the Pope.

A fan donned a white robe and mitre and walked around sprinkling "holy water" onto the soldout Bright Hockey Center crowd Saturday night. His antics riled up the rowdy fans, and while he was performing his holy shtick in the stands, Harvard's play on the ice was simply divine.

The Crimson reverted back to its first-half form with one of its grittiest efforts of the season. St. Lawrence entered the contest winners of eight of its last nine games. Even with its superstar center, Erik Anderson, out of the lineup with an ankle sprain, the Saints had firepower to spare--especially considering the Punch & Judy show that had been the Crimson's defense as of late.

But Harvard dug deep and went back to basics. The defense clogged passes through the neutral zone, marked up men in the zone and was sure to clear rebounds. St. Lawrence had its chances to score, but few second chances.

Senior defenseman Tim Stay played his best game of the season, taking the body and making smart decisions with the puck.

Goalie Oli Jonas still had to make quite a few saves--35 of them, in fact--but the defensive effort gave Harvard a chance to win this game, a win that it simply had to have.

"That was a gutsy effort by our kids," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "Before the game, we challenged them saying this was a must-win game. We don't want to go to the well too often with that, but if we wanted home ice, we had to win this game."