Junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris (30), flanked by junior Noah Welch (5), sophomore Dan Murphy (8) and freshman Steve Mandes (26) struggle to cover the puck in Harvard’s 5-3 loss to Cornell on Saturday night. Grumet-Morris made 17 saves on 22 shots

Try as they might, Harvard’s icemen didn’t complete their first sweep of the season, or earn an elusive win over their arch rival, or erase bad memories of a disappointing first half during this weekend’s home series with Cornell and Colgate.

But at least the Crimson gained something it didn’t have in head coach Mark Mazzoleni’s first four years here: a victory heading into the exam break.

After trailing by three goals before rallying in a 5-3 loss to No. 9 Cornell on Friday, Harvard scored less than three minutes into Saturday’s game with Colgate and won, 3-1. The Crimson, 3-6-1 in its last 10 games, ended the first semester 8-9-2 (6-7-1 ECAC).

“We’re all glad to end on a positive note,” sophomore goaltender John Daigneau said. “It puts you in a good mood.”

The night before Mazzoleni said his team was “manhandled” in the first period against the Big Red (7-3-5, 5-1-2), after which the Crimson trailed 2-0, but that it played “extremely well” in the second and third, when it cut the lead to 4-3 before falling.

On Saturday, Harvard played hard all three periods the way it played the last two against Cornell. The result— not surprisingly—was a victory.

“I thought we played very, very hard for 60 minutes and came out with a hard-earned victory that was badly needed,” Mazzoleni said after Saturday’s win. “It was a step forward for our team, but that’s all that is—a step. We have a long way to go.”

The two games were different in nearly every way.

Harvard never led against Cornell. Harvard never trailed against Colgate.

Harvard has lost five straight to Cornell. Harvard has won five straight against Colgate.

Junior Dov Grumet-Morris was in goal for the Crimson on Friday (17 saves). Daigneau played Saturday (17 saves).

Friday night, Bright Hockey Center was packed with 2,776 people and raucous. The crowd was into the game.

Saturday night, Bright was like a 9 a.m. core lecture (a sparse 1,317) and hushed. The crowd was hanging on every Patriots-Titans update.

The only similarity? Umm, it was cold outside both nights. Really cold.

Cornell 5, Harvard 3