HANOVER, N.H.—Two and a half years. Nine hundred eighty days. Seventy-four games.

It had been that long since the Harvard men’s hockey team missed out on a win like it did on Saturday night. The Crimson (1-1-1, 1-1-1 ECAC) took a one-goal lead into the third period before an iffy goal forced Harvard to settle for a 2-2 tie with Dartmouth, completing a three-point ECAC weekend that began with Friday’s 6-4 win at Vermont.

The last time Harvard failed to win a game it led after two periods was Mar. 3, 2001, when it tied Princeton, 2-2. That was Senior Night at Bright Hockey Center for the Class of 2001. Oliver Jonas ’01 had 38 saves. Chris Bala ’01, now married and playing in the American Hockey League, scored the first goal. Meanwhile, current Harvard freshmen Kevin Du, Ryan Maki and Steve Mandes were 15 years old.

In other words, an inability to close out opponents hasn’t been a problem in recent years for the Crimson. Last season, it was a predictable (and amazingly efficient) 22-0-0 when leading after two periods, compared with 0-10-2 when losing or tied going into the third.

But that changed Saturday night, when Dartmouth senior Mike Wheelihan scored four minutes, 24 seconds into the third period on the rebound of Mike Turner’s point shot. Harvard junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris appeared to have smothered Turner’s initial bid, but as he squeezed the puck tight to his chest, it popped out and landed beside him.

“Kind of a knucklepuck,” Grumet-Morris said. “It chipped off my elbow and went to the side.”

Wheelihan swept in along the left wing to put it into the open net. Instantly, the momentum the Crimson had built up with two second-period goals from junior Tom Cavanagh evaporated into the roar of the Thompson Arena sellout of 4,500.

Grumet-Morris stopped 26 of 28 Dartmouth shots. He could have stopped them all.

The Big Green’s took a 1-0 lead on a power play in the opening period—the fifth man-advantage goal allowed by Harvard in three games. It came on a wrister from the point by Grant Lewis that was redirected in front by Hugh Jessiman and trickled slowly through Grumet-Morris’s legs.

“Just a change of direction,” Grumet-Morris said. “That’s what they were going for. They tried it a couple more times. It’s part of the game.”

Grumet-Morris settled in from there, keeping the Big Green off the board for the rest of the first and all of the second, which gave Cavanagh ample opportunity to work with new linemates seniors Dennis Packard and Tim Pettit and build a 2-1 lead.

And outside of the Wheelihan goal, Grumet-Morris stood tall in the third, when Dartmouth held an 8-7 shots-on-goal advantage. Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said he “made a lot of key saves.”

Still, Mazzoleni didn’t seem completely satisfied.

“The two goals that went in...” Mazzoleni started, before stopping to collect his thoughts. He moved his head side-to-side, slowly and deliberately, then resumed. “We’ll leave it at that...The thing is, you only give up 24 shots each night on the road [26 in regulation on Saturday], that’s pretty good team defense.

“These are the types of games that you have to have your goalie step up in and shut the door on people. You’re not going to score six goals an awful lot [as Harvard did Friday]. Dartmouth’s not going to give up three, four goals a lot in this building, so you’ve got to come out and win some 2-1 games.”