“[We] were hardworking during the course of the year but struggled to string together wins, especially in the big games,” Smith said. “Every season has a major turning point, and in 2002 and 2004 it was the start of playoffs.”

Building off the momentum of the sweep of Vermont, Harvard traveled to Providence to face a Brown team that had swept the season series and which featured nationally-recognized netminder Yann Danis. Harvard won a close first game 4-2, largely on the strength of solid netminding from Grumet-Morris and then gutted out a tough 3-2 win in overtime.

“I believe that the most exciting win of the year was our OT win at Brown to clinch the second round playoff series on the road,” Grumet-Morris said. 

A FAVORED UNDERDOG

The Crimson entered the ECAC Semifinals in Albany, N.Y. as the third of four seeds, but was considered a favorite by many observers based on its five-game winning streak. The team with the unenviable task of stopping that hot streak was the same team against which it began—Dartmouth.

And so, for the second time in two years, the Crimson met the Big Green in Albany with a spot in the ECAC Championship on the line. Once again, Harvard emerged with a win and advanced to face Clarkson—a surprise entrant in Albany after beating the Big Red on its home ice.

In what might have been the Crimson’s most exciting game of the year, the Golden Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period. Junior center Tom Cavanagh erased that deficit himself in just under five minutes, scoring two quick goals to tie the contest. The score was deadlocked at two for almost 35 minutes until Smith wristed a shot over the shoulder of Clarkson’s Dustin Traylan with 38 seconds left in regulation.

With its 4-2 win in the ECAC Championship came an NCAA automatic bid, and a meeting with No. 1 seed Maine in Albany a week later. The Black Bears fell behind early as Harvard attacked goaltender Jimmy Howard, the nation’s leader between the pipes. Staked to a 4-1 lead early in the third, though, Grumet-Morris and his defense began to unravel. Maine tallied four goals in under 15 minutes as the Crimson watched a seemingly inexorable late-game collapse extend its three-year NCAA losing streak.

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.