Harvard played a tentative first period—it was outshot 10-6—and fell behind when Clarkson winger Chris Blight took a cross-ice feed from Mac Faulkner and beat Dov Grumet-Morris five-hole with 3:21 remaining in the period.

That alone wasn’t cause for much concern on the Harvard side. After all, the Crimson was 4-2 in the ECAC tournament over the last four years when the opponent scored first, including last weekend’s series-clincher at Brown.

But before Harvard could settle itself down, the Golden Knights struck again.

Michael Grenzy sent in a point shot that Grumet-Morris saved routinely but made the mistake of turning aside to his right. There, Tristan Lush warded off Crimson defender Dylan Reese, pounced on the loose puck and whipped it in for a 2-0 lead.

Bad, bad news for Harvard. Only once in 19 postseason games--Game 2 at Brown last weekend--had the team's seniors rallied from a two-goal deficit to win.

And only four times did the Crimson rally from a deficit of any kind to win.

Was there any doubt on the Harvard bench? “Yeah,” coach Mark Mazzoleni later admitted with a smile.

But then came a focused between-periods talk—and the Tom Cavanagh Show. It lasted less than five minutes. But that was all it took to dazzle the 6,489 on hand.

Just 10 seconds after Tim Pettit won the second-period faceoff, Cavanagh—who had been awake vomiting through the night before—took a feed from Bernakevitch, cut across the grain and backhanded in his fifth power-play goal of the season.

Clarkson 2, Cavanagh 1.

“He’s a superstar,” Smith said.

Less than five minutes later, David McCulloch blocked a shot in the Harvard zone, freeing Cavanagh and Charlie Johnson on a 2-on-1. Cavanagh held it until he reached the circles, then ripped his team-leading 16th goal past Dustin Traylen’s glove hand.

Clarkson 2, Cavanagh 2.

Whole new game.

“Don’t call him Cavy anymore. He’s Mr. Playoffs,” smiled classmate Noah Welch. “You know, Michael Jordan played his best games when he was sick.”