The first two times that the Dartmouth and Harvard men’s hockey teams met up this season, the Big Green dominated, clobbering the Crimson, 8-2 and 5-2.

This time around, Harvard kept things much more interesting, but in the end, the result was the same.

Despite its late-season resurgence, the Crimson couldn’t top No. 18 Dartmouth at Thompson Arena this weekend, falling, 2-1, in a best-of-three series in the ECAC quarterfinals.

Harvard started off strong, beating the Big Green on Friday, 3-2. But then the home team mounted a comeback, winning the following two nights to take the series and advance to the ECAC semifinals.

“We were disappointed in the results, but...as a team, [we] could not be more proud of each other for our effort,” said co-captain forward Michael Del Mauro. “We really played well, [but] the last two games just didn’t go our way…[that’s] the way hockey goes.”

DARTMOUTH 4, HARVARD 3

After an overtime loss on Saturday night, the Crimson rebounded quickly yesterday.

Just seven minutes into the contest, sophomore forward Marshall Everson found junior defenseman Ryan Grimshaw. After Grimshaw skated into Dartmouth’s zone, he took two shots, the second of which deflected right to sophomore forward Alex Fallstrom. Fallstrom beat the goaltender from the slot to put Harvard on top early.

Dartmouth evened the score at one apiece early in the second period, and the score remained knotted at one for the remainder of the frame.

With the start of the series’ final period, the game’s low-scoring nature seemed to vanish.

As Del Mauro came onto the ice early in the third frame, sophomore forward Conor Morrison skated down the right side. As Big Green defenders began to charge Morrison, the sophomore dished the puck off to Del Mauro, who found the back of the net to give the Crimson a short-lived 2-1 lead at the 4:54 mark.

“It was a really great effort by Morrison to keep control of the puck and stay on it,” Del Mauro said. “He made a couple really great moves on the defensemen.”

But then the tide began to turn.

Just over two minutes after Del Mauro put Harvard on top, Dartmouth began a goal-scoring onslaught, tallying three unanswered goals in less than a 10-minute period to give the home team a two-goal advantage.

As the game clock wound down, the Crimson earned a power play and pulled Carroll, giving the visitors a 6-on-4 advantage with two minutes left.