Harvard’s extended power play failed to score and struggled to mount pressure, yet the stretch stymied the Bobcats’ momentum and taxed their penalty kill, which was without one of its most important assets in Clifton.

A FRESH FINALE

As Harvard closed in on the win, St. Lawrence fans waiting for the second semifinal game began to cheer for the Crimson. The Saints beat Harvard twice this year by matching scores of 5-1, and their supporters were looking for more.

“I guess it’s good we got a couple fans in the stands,” Kerfoot joked.

After a 4-3 overtime thriller in the second semifinal, St. Lawrence will not get its third crack at Kerfoot’s team. Instead, Harvard will face Colgate, a team that the Crimson swept in the regular season with convincing 6-1 and 4-1 wins.

"It's down to one game for all the marbles," Colgate coach Don Vaughan said. "Even though there's a history there, and there's not a very successful one this year against Harvard, for us, we're not going to be thinking about that. We know what we need to do."

Despite Harvard's dominance against the fourth-seeded Raiders, both finalists have experienced similar journeys this season.

In the middle of the year, both Colgate and Harvard suffered important injuries and struggled to meet early-season expectations.

And in the postseason, both teams have received important boosts from stars who suffered potentially season-ending knee injuries: Fourth-year defenseman Patrick McNally, who returned last weekend from a knee injury, anchored the Crimson’s defense in the first semifinal, and junior forward Mike Borkowski, who returned to the Raider lineup in early February after ACL surgery in November, scored the game-winner in the second semifinal.

Colgate was struck with the injury bug again on Friday, as Raider defensemen Spiro Goulakos and Brendan Corcoran left their game early with injuries. Vaughan cycled four defensemen through overtime.

“We’re going to hit the reset button [tomorrow],” Vaughan said. “We’ll probably have to take a hard look at our [defensive] corps and try to get some fresh legs in there—I think we’ll be forced to do that.”

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @mdledecky.