Right. But isn’t that being a little nitpicky?

“Yeah, that is being nitpicky,” Grumet-Morris said. “The feeling in the locker room is something we’ve experienced before.”

Thank you. Parallel drawn.

HARVARD 3, BROWN 2 (OT)

No one, of course, expected this to be easy. And it certainly wasn’t.

Then again, you just knew. At least those on the Harvard side did.

When native son Tom Cavanagh, of nearby Warwick, capped Saturday night’s 3-2, series-clincher 7:35 into overtime, the celebration had an air of inevitability, rather than spontaneity.

“I think everyone sensed we were going to win that game,” said senior assistant captain Tyler Kolarik, who did his part by scoring the tying goal early in the third. “I bet myself that Tommy was going to score, and I was right.”

Cavanagh, his name already etched in postseason lore after his overtime winner in the 2002 semis (two years ago today), was superb all weekend, demonstrating the playmaking genes inherited from his three-time all-American father Joe ’71.

He and linemates Tim Pettit and Charlie Johnson finished the series with eight points.

“They killed us,” Brown coach Roger Grillo said.

Cavanagh had two assists in the Game 1 victory—both visionary passes—on Friday night, then vanquished his home-state Bears with a five-hole rebound of Dylan Reese’s point shot. Naturally, this was his team’s first overtime victory since the 2002 ECAC final against Cornell (two years ago tomorrow).

But the interesting thing about Cavanagh’s goal—and Kolarik’s correct prediction—is that neither should’ve come to pass.

Pettit—the senior winger who had scored the Crimson’s first goal in this, his school-record setting 132nd career game—beat Danis under the crossbar 1:40 into overtime. Understandably, his teammates began to celebrate while the Brown players sulked. Danis put his head down.

Only the goal light didn’t go on. And referee Scott Hansen didn’t signal. So everyone kept playing until Hansen blew the whistle to confer with his linesmen.