Sophomore defenseman PETER HAFNER (3) and freshman forward STEVE MANDES (26) couldn’t stop St. Cloud State forward BROCK HOOTON (32) from knotting the score 2-2 in the second period when Hooton flicked the puck past goaltender DOV GRUMET-MORRIS.

The holiday season was not a merry one for the Harvard men’s hockey team. Coming off an important Dec. 13 win against the nationally ranked UMass Minutemen, the Crimson ended 2003 with two losses and a tie and a sub-.500 record.

Harvard 3, Clarkson 3 (OT)

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The Dec. 28 consolation game of the Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Pot was, at once, frustrating and encouraging for the Crimson; frustrating because the team was unable to preserve two leads, including one late in the third period, yet encouraging because Harvard’s effort—if not the result—represented a leap forward for the Crimson.

“I thought our team played exceptional,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. “I’m not happy with a tie. I thought we deserved better than that. We did everything we could. If we keep working like that, it’s going to turn for us. I don’t have any question on that.”

One bounce that certainly did go Harvard’s way occurred early in the third period. With senior Dennis Packard in the box, junior center Tom Cavanagh gave the Crimson a 3-2 lead on a beautiful short-handed goal.

That advantage held for almost 12 minutes before Clarkson’s John Sullivan dropped a shot past Crimson junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris—who had been knocked prone by his own defenseman, junior Noah Welch—for the tie.

St. Cloud State 6, Harvard 4

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The No. 8 St. Cloud State Huskies did not see the best performance from Grumet-Morris. St. Cloud coach Craig Dahl said that he thought Harvard’s goaltender “might have been off” during the Dec. 27 game when he allowed five goals on only 40 shots.

“Maybe it was fortunate for us we caught him on an off night,” Dahl said.

For his part, Mazzoleni thought the key to the game was not the play of Grumet-Morris, but rather Harvard’s lack of execution in the third period.

“It was an up-and-down game, and when we had to answer the call in the third period, we didn’t get it done,” he said.

The “call” came early in the final period. Both Harvard and the Huskies emerged after the second intermission with three goals. Welch put the Crimson ahead with a hard, accurate shot from the left boards but that lead—Harvard’s third of the game—didn’t last long.

Minutes later, St. Cloud’s Andy Lundbohm scored amidst a mess of bodies around Grumet-Morris and then Justin Fletcher added the game-winning goal at 11:22 with a hard shot from between the face-off circles. Grumet-Morris was in position to make the stop but could not, and the puck dribbled between his legs to give the Huskies a 5-4 lead.

Princeton 2, Harvard 1

PRINCETON, N.J.—The Crimson began break with an ugly loss—its second of the season—to the perennially cellar-dwelling Tigers on Dec. 16.

Harvard lost the game because of its continuing struggles on special teams.

“The roller coaster continues,” Mazzoleni said. “This has been a very difficult team to figure out what happens next.

“I don’t know what’s coming next. I do my best to control that, but it’s in that locker room. They’ve got to find it.”

Princeton’s game-winning goal came 56 seconds into the third period off a turnover deep in the Harvard zone.

Patrick Neundorfer forced the turnover behind the Crimson net and found Chris Owen in front, who popped it home.

Equally important in the loss were Harvard’s struggles on the power play. The Crimson went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage with only three shots on goal, and Harvard managed no shots on goal during a five-on-three early in the second period.

Harvard’s only goal of the game came when senior forward Tim Pettit picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone during an ill-timed Princeton line change and skated down the left side. Pettit fired from the bottom of the circle, and the puck caught the far post before bouncing in.

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.