Vermont defenseman Chris Mounsey tumbled through the crease, careening off a Harvard defender and straight into Dov Grumet-Morris. As he lay on top of the Crimson’s junior netminder, Mounsey stealthily landed a pair of blows to Grumet-Morris’ head while the officials skated away, unawares.

But he wouldn’t get away with it. Well, at least the Catamounts wouldn’t.

Later in the second period of Game 2, junior defenseman Noah Welch made for UVM forward Chris Smart, knocking him to the surface with an open-ice hit. Straddling the prone Catamount’s shoulders, Welch reached down and tore Smart’s helmet from his head, sending it skidding away while its owner raced to the official in protest, to no avail.

Though referee Dan Murphy attempted to impose order on each of the contests this weekend, issuing 35 penalties during the two games—including a pair for roughing after Friday night’s final horn—Vermont wasn’t about to back off the chippy style of play that offered its only chance for victory. But Harvard was also determined to stand its ground.

“Everybody’s playing hard, everyone wants to win,” junior defenseman Ryan Lannon said. “It’s a physical game out there. It’s part of their style. I respect that. But we’re not gonna back down.”

With 13:07 gone in the first period of Game 1 and two skaters battling for a puck trapped against the boards, both teams converged against the glass, two-by-two, until only the goaltenders were left outside the fracas. Still, the referees refused to whistle the puck frozen while a pair of scuffles broke out inside the bunch, with Lannon and sophomore forward Charlie Johnson eventually sent to the box for roughing alongside sparring mates Jaime Sifers and Evan Stoflet, while shoves continued to be exchanged behind them.

In all, eight roughing penalties were whistled on the weekend—four on that one play—with just one called without a matching infraction to offset it.

“Everyone in the stands can see their style of play,” assistant captain Tyler Kolarik said. “They like to be chippy, and that’s their game, and it works for them. I give them credit. We had to be careful not to get overemotional and, as I said, I thought we did a good job controlling our emotions.”

“NOW IT’S FAIR”

Down 4-1 as the clock ticked below four minutes during the third period Saturday night, Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon ’92 desperately needed a spark. Though two Crimson skaters had been sent off in the previous 45 seconds, a 5-on-3 power-play tally was no guarantee, given Harvard’s staunch penalty kill in the previous five periods.

Just one night earlier, the Catamounts, then down 1-0, had missed out on a golden opportunity to tie the score when the Crimson had clamped down for 1:49 of two-man-down play.

“A 5-on-3, as we all know, it’s a great opportunity to generate offense,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. “But at the same time, on the reverse end, if you don’t get it done, or at least generate offense, it can almost take away momentum from you.”

With that memory in mind in the closing minutes of Game 2, Sneddon pulled goalkeeper Travis Russell for a sixth attacker when Harvard forward Brendan Bernakevitch was sent to the box for hooking with 4:15 remaining, giving Vermont two more skaters than the Crimson. When sophomore defenseman Peter Hafner followed 45 seconds later, Russell didn’t even budge, creating a rare 6-on-3.

“That’s a pretty crazy ending, but it’s playoffs and you can’t take anything for granted,” Grumet-Morris said. “Vermont made a late comeback and you have to expect that our of any team in the playoffs.”

Grumet-Morris, yanked from side-to-side by the swarm of Catamounts dancing around his goalmouth despite the best efforts of Welch, Lannon and senior forward Tim Pettit in front of him, recorded save after brilliant save, holding back the tide for 41 seconds.