Late in the third period of Harvard’s series-clinching win over Vermont on Saturday, Crimson senior Aaron Kim lay on his back in the crease as Catamounts goaltender Shawn Conschafter knelt on top of him, pinning his head to the ground with his blocker.

As Vermont cleared the puck and the play moved to the other end of the ice, referee Jack Dunn took one last look at the situation in the crease, turned and skated away—both arms at his side and the whistle in his pocket.

It was a pattern repeated all night—all weekend in fact—as Dunn slowly lost control of the game and the series.

“Things were getting pretty out of hand in the third,” said Harvard captain Dominic Moore. “There were a lot of cheap shots flying our way.”

With the referee unwilling or maybe just unable to get the game under control, the responsibility turned to the coaches.

Showing a lot of class, both responded to the challenge and did their jobs.

They also did someone else’s job—the refs’.

This game, this series and Vermont’s season were over when Moore scored on the power play to make it 5-1 in the third.

The series was probably over long before that, but the Catamounts certainly didn’t think so. After Moore’s goal they were sure.

And that’s when the referee lost complete control.

Dunn added to his own problems by botching the call on the play leading to the goal.

As the Crimson prepared to start the 4-on-3 advantage, five Harvard skaters lined up to the right of Conschafter in the Vermont zone.

“Technically the ref shouldn’t drop the puck if there are too many players on the ice,” Moore said. “They obviously didn’t notice it.”

As the fifth Crimson skater eventually realized the error and hurried to the bench, it became obvious to the Vermont bench, the Catamounts’ fans and most observers in the arena that Harvard had too many men on the ice for several seconds.

It is doubtful if the incident would have drawn more than a slight protest from Vermont coach Mike Gilligan had Moore not scored the Crimson’s demoralizing fifth goal on the play.