“The way you respond to a goal like that is to come out with more intensity, throw the puck until you get shots, and change the momentum of the game—and unfortunately, we didn’t do that.”

At 11:22, freshman Mike Taylor was whistled for checking from behind, and from then until the second intermission, the Crimson skated just 158 even-strength seconds.

For a different Harvard squad that had been carrying play forward, the string of penalties might have only slowed the action—but for a Harvard squad that was already only standing still, the string of penalties spelled the end.

BC struck once more when Stephen Gionta tipped in a left-circle blast on the man-advantage, and the Crimson looked utterly confused.

It took just three shots in the second period, all of which came after the 10-minute mark and none of which was even within the faceoff circles.

“We got outshot 18-3 in the second period,” Grumet-Morris remarked, “and that’s the entire story of the game.”

It was only at 17:29, when Eagles goaltender Cory Schneider caught his skate on the ice and twisted his knee, that the Crimson was granted any sort of reprieve.

In skated Matti Kaltiainen, the netminder whom Harvard had torched for three power-play goals in November for a 3-1 win.

And Harvard did, indeed, enter the final frame with signs of life, notching its first and only goal at 6:01 when a Tom Walsh slapshot hit the post, bounced off Kaltiainen, and trickled over the line, just beyond the netminder’s reach.

But any sort of Crimson energy the score might have generated was quickly quashed less than three minutes later.

Sophomore Ryan Maki was held as he carried the puck towards the net, and an official’s hand shot up for the delayed penalty.

Now, with a goal in hand and something resembling momentum, Harvard was in line for a power play.

But after the whistle had stopped play, a fight broke out, and Maki and teammate Steve Mandes were assessed three penalties between them—three penalties that cancelled out BC’s three penalties and left the game at five-on-five.

“I think it was potentially a big point in the game,” Donato said. “I thought the momentum had turned a little bit, and we were set to go on a second power play with a decent amount of time left.”

Instead, the game continued at even-strength, with no great Harvard comeback in sight.