The Crimson won just a single contest in its next six.

Then a historic comeback against Yale, rattling off six straight tallies to erase a four-goal deficit—followed less than a week later by a loss to Northeastern to place last among the Boston Four.

With every revitalizing win, two unexpected losses unsurprisingly followed.

“We had some big wins,” captain Kenny Smith said. “And we had some disappointing losses.”

Both Harvard and the puck floated in the wrong direction, aimless, off-course, wandering an unforeseeable path.

Yet somehow, without warning and right when it seemed all was lost, there was sweet, unanticipated deliverance.

Smith waited in anticipation as the puck slid towards his tape—not Welch’s—and, leaving nothing to chance, zipped a slapshot through a screen and off the knob of Clarkson goalie Dustin Traylen’s stick, right under the junction of post and crossbar.

Smith, who had become disoriented after losing his stick in a referee’s skate and turned to retrieve it, allowed a breakaway, game-clinching goal against the Big Red in one of the worst games of the season.

Smith, the captain twice-benched by Crimson coach Mark Mazzoleni, including a scratch against Rensselaer during a vital home stand with just six conference games left on the slate.

Smith, who spearheaded Harvard’s playoff run, leading the Crimson to a 9-1-1 record since returning to the lineup.

Smith, who hoisted the Whitelaw Trophy high above his head as he skated over to Harvard student section at Pepsi Arena after closing out Clarkson on Saturday.

It wasn’t the way the season was drawn up—all that midseason disappointment wasn’t supposed to get in the way—and Kenny Smith wasn’t supposed to be the shooter. But in the end all that mattered was the smile spread wide across his face and the redemption of a Crimson squad that never does what anyone expects.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.