Through a difficult year in which local and national media speculated on the nature of his withdrawal, McNally remained his positive self and packed on muscle. When Delia saw Pat for the first time that summer, she noticed that he must have been “working out like crazy.”

“When things happen that would knock normal kids down and make them give up, he just finds the best option from that,” Delia says. “When everything happened with school and stuff, he just found a great job to do; he found a great place to work out. I think that instead of letting it knock him down, he got so much stronger.”

McNally, an academic junior, does not yet know whether he will be eligible to play during his fifth year at Harvard. He will know by the end of this academic year. In the meantime, he’s savoring every shift.

“Right now I’m just enjoying the moment,” McNally says. “Enjoying the fact that we’re in the final four of the ECAC again.”

***

It’s Sunday at Ingalls.

Ten minutes after Vesey’s goal, McNally lumbers over from the visitors’ locker room to speak with the press. Something is off. It’s not the huge bandage on his forehead. Everybody saw McNally’s helmet cut into his forehead after sustaining an illegal hit from behind that sent him into the backboards late in the first overtime period.

No, what is unusual is his attire. Most players dress out of their game equipment before engaging with media. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound McNally is still in his skates and leg pads, towering over the reporters.

Perhaps he is just too caught up in the moment to change. Perhaps he wants to protect his knee from prying eyes.

“Some people were saying you were playing with one leg out there,” a reporter says. “Incredibly effective with one leg.”

“I wouldn’t say one leg,” McNally laughs. “I mean, maybe one a little bit stronger leg….”

The questions continue. Did he ever doubt that he would be able to come back?

“To be honest, I had no idea…. The doctors said at best a certain time, at worst a certain time. There was never really a conclusive date….”

How close was the quarterfinal to that “at best” estimate?

McNally grins and settles on an answer that is both cryptic and matter-of-fact.