Harvard's first goal came when catalyst Martins moved the puck back to Halfnight at the point. Halfnight immediately ripped a screaming slapper that Cohagan tipped by Tamburro.

Harvard kept the pressure on the rest of the period, only to be denied time and again by Tamburro, the biggest save coming on a Nielsen chance in close.

Tamburro continued to frustrate the Crimson in the third period, stoning the Crimson on two consecutive power plays. Finally, on its eighth power play of the game, the Crimson nabbed the equalizer in artistic fashion.

The beautiful goal was the result of a dynamic effort by Martins, who circled in from the blue line and moved the puck down to Cohagan at the side of the net. Cohagan wheeled in front and slid the puck across the crease to Brad Konik, who deposited it past the sprawling Tamburro.

Harvard continued to carry the play for the rest of the third period until Jason Karmanos was called for charging the goalie at 17:46, leaving the Crimson shorthanded until only 34 seconds remained. Harvard's penalty killers came up big as they have all season, holding off RPI and gaining some scoring chances of their own, before the horn sounded ending regulation.

Overtime seemed only fitting for the rubber match between two teams that had split their regular season matchups. A goal seemed imminent during a two-minute span that saw Tracy stop Jeff O'Connor on another breakaway, Tamburro rob Martins from the high slot and Tracy again stuff Matthews from in tight.

But the game-breaker was not in the cards for either team, as the contest ended in a 2-2 tie that allows tonight's game--barring another tie--to determine the series winner.

In completing the dramatic comeback, Harvard claimed a moral victory.

"It feels like a win coming back from two goals down," said coach Ronn Tomassoni, a 1980 RPI graduate. "I think we played a real solid hockey game. We're in good shape."

So the Crimson will skate into tonight's do-or-die matchup confident that it will win if it can avoid falling behind early.

"It'll take 60 minutes," said Tomassoni, referring to the necessity of putting together a complete game. "But I think we're going to wear them down."

In other ECAC playoff action last night, Princeton topped host Brown, 4-3, top-seeded Clarkson posted an easy 6-2 win over Cornell, and Vermont won at Colgate, 5-2. TIE, 2-2 at bright hockey Center RPI  0  2  0  0  --  2 Harvard  0  1  1  0  --  2

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period