The Engineers received a golden chance to tie up the game when at 19:02 McCulloch got whistled for a questionable hooking call that put the Crimson down two men for all but the last 13 seconds of the game. Kim took a tripping minor at 17:47. Not only was Harvard at a five-one-three disadvantage, which became six-on-three with Marsters pulled, but two of Harvard's best defensemen were in the box.

The Crimson sent out captain Steve Moore, junior assistant captain Pete Capouch and freshman defenseman Kenny Smith to kill the penalty and secure the win and the trio delivered. The Engineers could not get Harvard's triangle shifting, forcing the shots to come from the outside, many of which went wide. When Capouch blocked a point shot that Moore cleared with about 15 seconds left in the game, the contest was over.

"I thought on the sic-on-three they were kinda like us--neither team showed any poise setting the puck up and really getting it moving and then trying to attack the triangle," Mazzoleni said. "For scoring, it was one pass and a hammer instead of getting it moving a bit."

The final rash of penalties was part of a game bizarrely officiated by Dan Murphy. He called ten minors in the third period, after only nine combined through the first two periods. Through most of the period, the Crimson was the beneficiary of Murphy's desire to see specialty teams action awarding Harvard two five-one-three advantages of its own.

Harvard could not score, nor really even set much up overall on the eight total power plays it had on the contest.

In fact, the Engineers' best chance to even the game besides the final flurry, was a breakaway by Jim Henkel during one of those Crimson five-on-threes. Henkel darted in from the right wing on Jonas, made a gorgeous move across the crease, but Jonas had dragged his stick along the ice as he slid down and made a Hasek-like stop to keep the Engineers scoreless.

"Oh my goodness, Jonas made quite the save on that one," RPI Coach Dan Fridgen said. "Down an out, threw down the cross, and it caught his arm. Talk about snake-bitten. What else can I say?"