As the National Hockey League languished in the final days of a lockout, a cross-town college rivalry took the hockey world’s center stage. NBC Sports had found a replacement for its regular Wednesday night January programming as the Harvard men’s hockey team paid a midseason visit to No. 8 Boston University for an out-of-conference match-up.

Hockey-hungry fans who tuned in were treated to an instant classic. The Crimson erased a three-goal third-period deficit to pull off an upset overtime win on national television.

“I thought our guys showed tremendous character,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “Coming back in a really wild and crazy game, I think beating a very good team like BU in their own building was really quite a tribute to our collective willingness to never give up.”

Early in the third, it appeared that the nationally-ranked home team would cruise to an easy win against a squad mired in a six-game winless streak. The Terriers led the Crimson, 5-2, with less than 15 minutes left in regulation.

But senior Marshall Everson buried a rebound from classmate Alex Fallstrom in the seventh minute of the third. Less than two minutes later, senior Luke Greiner outmaneuvered BU defender Ahti Oksanen before beating goaltender Matt O’Connor glove-side to draw within one on the power play. Suddenly, Harvard was back in business.

“Going into that third period, I feel that the mindset in the locker room was different,” senior forward Alex Fallstrom said. “All of the guys were all on the same page, and us having that mindset we just decided to go out and win it.”

Under four minutes to play in the frame, Colin Blackwell produced the tying goal off one of the prettiest plays of the season. Skating across the Terrier blueline, the senior lobbed the puck toward the goal and crashed the crease. The biscuit bounced off the pads of O’Connor before he could corral it, and Blackwell won the footrace to the net to bury the Crimson’s fifth goal of the game.

Blackwell’s highlight-worthy goal did not make SportsCenter’s Top Ten Plays. Connor Morrison’s did.