It was a tight, one-goal game until midway through the final period of Friday night’s game against St. Lawrence. Then, a pair of freshmen put the Crimson up 2-0 for good.

At 13:22, rookie Mike Taylor stole the puck from Saints’ powerhouse T.J. Trevelyan near the wall, and he fed it to teammate Jon Pelle in the left circle, who roofed the puck over goalie Mike McKenna.

It was a pretty play, though perhaps not particularly noteworthy—except for the fact that it probably shouldn’t have happened.

Both Taylor and Pelle rushed onto the ice to relieve Steve Mandes. In retrospect, neither freshman was sure if he should have.

“It’s actually kind of funny,” Taylor said, adding, “I probably shouldn’t have even been out there.”

Pelle’s version of the story? Nearly identical.

“It was actually funny,” Pelle said, adding, “I wasn’t even supposed to be out there.”

But it was too late—both rookies had committed.

“I kind of looked back,” Taylor said, “and I [thought], ‘I’ve gone too far,’ so I just went down there, and I got the puck.”

That, of course, is Taylor’s bare-bones way of saying that he caught Trevelyan unprepared for the forecheck and stripped the puck from St. Lawrence’s most dangerous player.

“Pelle was breaking,” Taylor said, “and he did most of the work. He caught a pass that was kind of behind him and made a beautiful goal.”

The forwards on the ice for the score were Taylor, Pelle, and Charlie Johnson. The latter two are linemates, while Taylor was skating in the stead of left wing Dan Murphy.

“I chuckled with Murph at the end,” Taylor laughed. “[I] kind of took his assist there.”

AN EMPTY NET

With 3:35 remaining on Saturday night, St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh yanked goaltender Mike McKenna in favor of an extra pair of skates on the attack.

“I don’t usually like that,” Marsh admitted, “but it’s desperation time.”

Trailing 3-1 in the game and 1-0 in the best-of-three quarterfinal playoff series, Marsh knew he had to take his chances.

“What we were looking for,” he said simply, “was maybe to get some zone-time with six skaters.”

But 3:35 is more than “some” time—it’s an eternity, both to defend an empty net and to maintain a lead while skating against a man-advantage..

When asked what he was thinking at that point, Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 joked, “I was really thinking, ‘it would be nice if we could get an empty-net goal.’”

“It was a smart move,” he added seriously, “and they were getting some good chances.”

At 18:54, Max Taylor sent the puck past Harvard’s sprawling Dov Grumet-Morris, bringing the contest to 3-2.

“When they scored that first goal,” Donato said, “it really got their bench going.”

The Crimson defense held on for the one-goal win, though not before the Saints saw several good, late looks.

“At that point in time,” Grumet-Morris said, “you try to keep everything simple and continue to work off the things that you’ve been practicing throughout the week.”

MAN DOWN

The Crimson took six penalties for 15 minutes Saturday night, beginning with a five charging major assessed to freshman Dave Watters 9:09 into the first period.

“We seemed to put ourselves behind the eight-ball enough times tonight with the five-minute major and a number of other penalties,” Donato admitted.

But Harvard penalty kill actually looked to have the better of the scoring chances during its five man-down minutes, including a Taylor shot that hit a post and a Steve Mandes shorthanded attempt that was broken up by a diving McKenna.

“Killing off a five-minute major really gives you a little momentum, and it was really big for us” said freshman Tyler Magura, a penalty-kill fixture.

And though Harvard would yield a power-play tally early in the third frame—breaking Grumet-Morris’ streak of more than 129 shutout minutes—the squad would redeem itself just five minutes later, when Magura notched a shorthanded tally to regain Harvard’s two-goal advantage.

Mandes, who has already earned a shorthanded tally this season, stole the puck and fed Magura across the slot.

The rookie centerman’s shot that beat McKenna glove side.

“I think it might have tipped off the defenseman’s stick,” Magura said, “but I’m not positive. All I know is that I saw it go in, and I was pretty happy.”

It was the goal that would win the game.

ALONG THE BOARDS

Brendan Bernakevitch scored the Crimson’s first goal Saturday night. It was the senior’s sixth point in six games, but Bernakevitch had managed only three points in the previous 13 contests…There were 26 penalties called this weekend, 15 of which were assessed during the middle frames of the two nights. Said Donato of Saturday’s second period, “it was roller derby out there”…The Crimson was outshot 33-16 on Friday night and 34-29 on Saturday…Both playoff contests earned an official attendance of 1,730—more than 1,000 people short of the Bright Hockey Center’s capacity.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.