The Crimson dominated much of the play during the last two periods, outshooting Cornell 28-19 during that span. But another defensive breakdown sealed Harvard’s fate on Vesce’s second of the night with 57 seconds left in the second.

Frustrated, Harvard defenseman Ryan Lannon broke his stick on the crossbar. And that pretty much summed it up. The Crimson couldn’t have imagined a worse goal at a worse time. Harvard had the momentum, and it was less than a minute from going into the second intermission down just one goal after nearly being run out of its own building in the first.

Goals that late in the period drive coaches bananas.

Absolutely bananas.

And, more often than not, goals that late in the period are critical.

This was the game-winner.

What now?

But hey, enough about the loss.

‘Get over it, dude,’ you say. ‘It’s Tuesday already, and I want to know why the heck you think I should blow off a week at the beach for a hockey tournament.’

Fair enough. Here it goes. From here on out, Harvard is playing for its postseason life. I’m no math whiz, but a cursory look at the geek-tastic Pairwise Rankings, almost always a direct prognosticator of NCAA tournament selection, reveals that the Crimson’s No. 16 standing this late in the season—in a 16-team tournament—has pushed its bubble to the point of bursting.

So as the final seconds ticked away on Saturday night, the following things became clear: Just like last season, Harvard will likely have to win the ECAC tournament, and the automatic bid that goes with it, in order to make the NCAAs. And, just like last season, it’s probably going to have to beat Cornell to do it. And, just like last season, when it took the Crimson five overtime periods to win the league championship and make the national tournament, it’s not going to be easy.

And Harvard is hoping now that, just like last season, it’s able to play its best hockey when one bad bounce off a skate is all it takes to start your offseason protein diet.

A lot of stuff to worry about, huh?

Here’s the good news. This year, the Crimson has proven itself to be a very focused bunch. These players want to get back to the NCAA tournament.

Badly.