To give his team some breathing room, he set-up behind the net and threaded a pass to cutting freshman Dennis Packard who buried it, and the Bulldogs, with one shot.

The student section of Bright Hockey Center immediately went into convulsions not seen or heard since the early 1990s. The swagger was back in Harvard hockey because the snarl was back in Steve Moore's game. "The was the best game I've seen Steve play in my two years here," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "When you're a senior, you know that your time is getting short, so you have to make every game count and he did."

Moore had struggled to put together a complete game like that all season. Standing 6'2, 205 lbs, he motors like a freight train on the ice with excellent hands, shot and playmaking ability. Unfortunately, on most nights this year, only one side of Moore would come to play, and usually that would be the physical aspect of his game.

But the Colorado Avalanche spent a second round draft pick on him in 1998 because of his offensive ability. Though Moore has been the team's leading scorer for the past three seasons, he entered Saturday's game with just six goals on the season and 28 points. With his skill, this could have been a breakout season with at least 40 points next to his name.

Instead, the 40-point plateau went to his younger brother, sophomore center Dominic Moore, and Steve occasionally looked only too eager to control the puck too long to take the shot himself.

Not Saturday night. Steve Moore was all over the ice, pummeling hapless Elis along the boards. His hard work generated scoring opportunities as he used his great vision to find the open man, and the Crimson as a whole was richly rewarded for his efforts.

All three of Harvard's top lines were rolling in the climatic third period, but it was the captain who was out there setting the tone.