The Harvard men’s hockey team began the season sixth in the nation before four frustrating, character-testing months sent it spiraling to sixth in the league. Not even a Zamboni could’ve steamed away the angst that iced over the dressing room.

But there is no better time than the postseason to start playing up to preseason expectations. At long last, the Crimson icemen are playing superb, rugged, five-tool hockey—skating, scoring, hitting, killing penalties and stopping pucks—like they always knew they would.

“I don’t think there was ever a doubt in our minds that we were going to get there,” mused senior assistant captain Tyler Kolarik. “It was more a question of when.”

The answer came this weekend. Harvard summarily swept the overmatched Vermont Catamounts, 3-0 and 5-3, in their best-of-three ECAC first round series at Bright Hockey Center.

Next stop for the revival bus: Providence, and a date with Brown’s puck-smothering maestro, Yann Danis. The Bears won both regular-season meetings, but the Crimson is a new and improved incarnation of the club they saw at the end of January.

“It’s how you’re playing at the end of the season that wins championships,” said junior defenseman Noah Welch. “Our record hasn’t shown it, but we’ve been getting better all year.”

The Harvard ship sprang leaks here and there throughout the season. Sometimes the fissures were too numerous to fix at once. Now, the stopgaps appear firmly in place. The gauges check out. Every lug is lock-tight—especially in its own zone.

Sure, the Crimson tied its season-high for goals in a weekend (eight), but there is no mistaking that this series was won with defense.

Harvard limited Vermont to 19 shots on goal and four scoring chances in Friday’s Game 1, then allowed only two shots on goal in the first period of Game 2. UVM put 22 on net over the final 40 minutes—giving the home crowd a healthy scare with late 6-on-3 and 6-on-4 goals to make it 4-3—but senior Rob Fried punctuated his first career three-point night with a fist-pumping, series-clinching empty-netter.

The Crimson (14-14-3) has won 11 straight postseason home games. Its nine-member senior class has a 12-2 record in ECAC tournament play.

“It’s a long haul over the course of the season, and the biggest thing you want is your team playing its best hockey going into the playoffs,” said Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni. “And we are.”

The Catamounts (9-22-4) saw their season end at Bright for the second straight year.

“The better team this weekend won,” said Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon ’92. “They’re going to be a tough team to play in the next round.”

GAME 2: HARVARD 5, VERMONT 3

Just like Harvard’s season, Saturday’s win didn’t come easily—even though it looked like it would.

The Crimson outshot its guests, 11-2, in the first period and took a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by Brendan Bernakevitch. Fried deftly redirected a point shot from Welch in the final minute of the second for a 3-0 lead, then set up Dennis Packard’s one-timer for a four-goal cushion 4:24 into the third.

Then things got interesting. Very interesting.

Scott Mifsud, UVM’s pesky second-line pivot, scored half a minute later to make it 4-1.

But besides ending Dov Grumet-Morris’ shutout streak at 184:23—the longest for a Harvard goaltender since at least 1987—no one thought much of it.

That changed when Bernakevitch went off for hooking with 4:15 left. Sneddon pulled goaltender Travis Russell to give his team a 6-on-4 advantage, which became a rare 6-on-3 when defenseman Peter Hafner took a seat for cross-checking 45 seconds later.

“That was a little weird,” Harvard captain Kenny Smith admitted. “I’ve only seen that one other time in my career.”

The emotions of Crimson fans may have begun at “weird,” but they quickly reached “worried” and finally “panicked,” as Mifsud and Jaime Sifers scored to make it a one-goal game with 2:20 remaining.

The pessimistic among the 1,830 at Bright flashed back to Nov. 14, when Harvard blew two-goal lead and lost to Princeton.

But there would be no collapse this time. The Crimson clamped down at full strength and exhaled when Fried scored in the final minute.

“Pretty crazy ending,” confirmed Grumet-Morris, who stopped 40 of 43 shots during the series and posted his third shutout of the season in Game 1. “But it’s the playoffs. You can’t take anything for granted.”

“We gave it everything we had,” said Sneddon, reflecting on his first postseason at UVM.

“Our tanks were running low going into the series, and I think [our players] emptied them for the staff and for the program.”

GAME 1: HARVARD 3, VERMONT 0

A perfect penalty kill and continued contributions from the Class of 2007 powered Harvard’s 3-0 victory on Friday.

The Vermont power play was 6-13 against the Crimson during the regular season, but only 2-13 this weekend, including an 0-6 performance in Friday’s Game 1.

A crucial moment of Friday’s game came early, with Harvard facing almost two full minutes of a 5-on-3 Vermont power play early in the first.

Sneddon said his team generates “most” of its offense off the power play, and with Harvard already leading 1-0 on Kevin Du’s early goal, the Catamounts needed to draw even.

Instead, they put only one shot on goal, swinging momentum to the Crimson for the remainder of the game and ultimately the series.

“We didn’t gain confidence off it,” Sneddon said, “and they did.”

Kolarik scored on the power play for a 2-0 lead at 15:03 of the second.

He has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in 14 ECAC tournament games. His team is 6-2-1 this season when he scores, 28-10-4 over his career.

“The kid’s the heart and soul of our program,” Fried said.

Freshman forward Ryan Maki—who hadn’t scored a goal in his first 25 collegiate games—notched his third in as many games on a between-the-circles snipe midway through the final period.

Mazzoleni said Maki is “getting more confident with every game.” And now, after an agonizingly inconsistent regular season, he can comfortably say that about the rest of the players on his team, as well.

No longer can they be branded as wastrels of their superior talent. This prodigal team has repented, reformed and returned.

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.