Of course, the Saints didn’t hesitate to provide a little help. Skating with an extra man with less than four minutes remaining in the second, St. Lawrence forward Kyle Rank slashed Grumet-Morris’ pads in frustration, ending the Saints’ power play and handing the Crimson a 5-on-4 of its own.

Harvard converted 1:01 later, with sophomore Kevin Du poking home freshman Jon Pelle’s rebound at the left post, extending the Crimson’s lead to two at 17:47.

“[Rank] is usually not that type of player,” Marsh said. “He’s a pretty disciplined player. And that was a bad penalty.”

Rank was not the only skater to lose his cool, though the uneven officiating in the middle frame allowed several offenders on both sides to go unpunished, despite their egregious infractions, as play spiraled out of control. At times, minor tussles that did not draw a whistle from referee Dan Murphy escalated into all-out wrestling matches, with helmets torn off, headlocks employed, and punches thrown as play continued away from the scuffle.

“I wasn’t concerned for our team physically,” Donato said. “I just thought it was horrible hockey. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was roller derby out there for most of the second.”

Harvard will face Colgate next Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Pepsi Arena in Albany in the second ECAC semifinal. No. 3 Cornell, the tournament’s top seed, will face Vermont, which advanced yesterday with a 2-1 win over Dartmouth in the deciding game of the only quarterfinal series to go the distance.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.