The Crimson's 3-2 loss to Union on the road two weekends ago was a perfect example of Harvard's trouble with physical play. The Skating Dutchmen executed their game plan flawlessly by taking away Harvard's ability to play an open-ice game and forcing the Crimson to adopt a dump-and-chase style to compensate.

Facing a fast-skating team who favors open ice, like St. Lawrence or Yale, is Harvard's best bet for the playoffs. And having just posted a decisive victory over the beleaguered Elis, the Crimson wouldn't have it any other way.

In Friday night's matchup, Harvard netted three consecutive goals in the first half of the first period alone.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Harvard game--or an ECAC game for that matter--if things didn't get a little more interesting.

Yale's Luke Earl, who has put up excellent numbers for the Elis as of late, converted on the team's first power play opportunity of the night by banging home his own rebound in front of the net at 14:40 in the first.

A bizarre sequence at 18:11 then saw the puck bounce off of Adam Sauve's skate and trickle across the goal line before anyone could react, inching Yale within one at the end of the first.

Sauve popped another tally at 6:39 in the second in a four-on-four situation, and Evan Wax netted the Eli's second power play goal of the night at 10:58 in the third.

"I'm not taking anything away from them, but when you look at Yale's goals, there are a lot of jumpy goals around the net," Mazzoleni said. "I was extremely proud of our kids. We did the things we wanted to do."