LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—In the overtime session in Friday night’s ECAC semifinal, Clarkson dominated for 15 minutes. But Harvard dominated the ten seconds that mattered.

Outshot and outplayed for virtually the entire extra frame, the third-seeded Harvard men’s hockey team nonetheless gutted out an exhilarating 3-2 victory over the No. 2 Golden Knights on freshman Tom Cavanagh’s goal at the 15:19 mark in overtime.

Cavanagh’s game-winner put Harvard in the ECAC championship game for the first time since 1996, and it marked only the third time in the last 17 games that the Crimson has defeated Clarkson.

“It was a big-time goal,” Mazzoleni said of Cavanagh’s tally. “It’s one that our program is very proud of.”

For so much of the overtime, it looked like Harvard would have trouble just getting a shot off. During one stretch, Clarkson held the puck close to the Harvard net for nearly six consecutive minutes before Harvard finally managed to clear the puck from its own end.

The Crimson finally broke through when Clarkson defenseman Chris Bahen’s clearing attempt was intercepted in the Golden Knights’ zone. Cavanagh collected the loose puck at the blue line and used a pick from Bernakevitch to gain some open ice. The rookie forward then skated in—eluding a Golden Knight skater hanging off his hip—and fired a backhand shot from six feet in front that eluded Clarkson goaltender Mike Walsh low to the stick side.

“I looked up at all the space [in front of me] and said ‘wow’,” Cavanagh said. “I just jumped to the spot in front of the net, got as loose as I could and just shot it.”

For Clarkson, it was a bitterly disappointing end to a game that the Knights seemed destined to win.

“Sometimes the better team doesn’t win,” Clarkson coach Mark Morris said. “That was the situation tonight.”

Clarkson suffered additional heartache the next night, blowing a 3-0 third-period lead in losing 4-3 to RPI in the consolation game.

On Friday, the Golden Knights outshot Harvard 14-5 in the extra frame, and had numerous near-miss opportunities. They were always stymied by either an unlucky bounce or a brilliant save by Grumet-Morris, who stopped a career-high 39 shots.

“They had the decided advantage in overtime, but Dov was very good,” Mazzoleni said. “One of the big parts of any victory is great goaltending, and we got that Friday night.”

Clarkson’s control of the overtime period was a departure from how the rest of the game went. Early on, it was Harvard who dictated the flow of the game, taking advantage of a fierce forecheck to bottle up the Golden Knights in their own zone.

With the score tied 1-1 in the third, Harvard scored what appeared to be the game’s crucial goal when a Kolarik shot drew Walsh out of position, enabling Nowak to collect the rebound and ease the puck into an open net. With Harvard decidedly outplaying Clarkson up to that point in the game, the goal looked decisive.

But Clarkson would not go down easily. With its season in jeopardy, the desperate Golden Knights finally began to generate heavy pressure in the Harvard zone.