“We had everybody playing tonight, trying to keep kids fresh,” Stone said. “We’ve worked a little bit on our power play, worked on our penalty kill...and it seems to be working for us.”

After its tough 3-1 defeat to Boston College at the Beanpot, Harvard had this final weekend of the regular season to earn its six seniors a win before the ECAC playoffs.

“I think we’re just a lot more hungry now that it’s the end of the season,” Dempsey said. “This home weekend, it’s huge. We hate to see the seniors go, and so everybody is playing a little harder.”

Though the Crimson led the all-time series against Colgate, winning 17 of 20 matchups, its previous contest with the Raiders earlier in the season was much more of a struggle for Harvard. After being down 1-0 at the beginning of the game, the Crimson battled back to a 3-1 victory, with goals from Buesser, Armstrong, and Coskren.

“Last time we played Colgate we just barely won,” Dempsey said. “I think [our progress] shows on the scoreboard.”

The conference win puts Harvard at No. 2 in the ECAC going into the post-season tournament, granting the Crimson guaranteed home ice all the way to the semifinal round of play.

“It’s our ice, we know it inside and out,” Dempsey said, noting the importance of home ice during tournament play. “We’re out here everyday, so it’s going to be nice to really have some pride on the ice.”