SCHENECTADY, N.Y--Good weekend. Missed opportunity

Union erased a 2-1 third-period deficit with two goals, 24 seconds apart to pull off a stunning upset of the Crimson at Achilles Rink on Saturday night. The loss spoiled a chance for a Crimson weekend sweep after a magnificent, 27 save performance by senior goaltender Oli Jonas in blanking high powered Rensselaer, 1-0 Friday night.

The failure to defeat the Skating Dutchmen also meant the Harvard lost the opportunity to claim sole possession of third place in the ECAC. The Crimson is currently tied with Cornell at 23 points, but the Big Red holds the tiebreaker meaning Harvard will need to win and get some help from these very same Engineers and Dutchmen next weekend to finish in the top three of the ECAC.

Still, defeating RPI meant a virtual clinch of a top-five finish for the Crimson and home ice for the first round of the playoffs. Harvard is now ahead of the Engineers by three points with two games remaining. A tie will send round one to Bright fro the first time since 1997-98. But third place is important because it will mean avoiding the Thursday play-in game should Harvard win its first round series and advance to Lake Placid.

"We are right where we want to be in the standings," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "But we are going to have to give it a much better effort next weekend than we did this weekend."

Union 3, Harvard 2

Harvard was in a position to win this game, but it had to credit luck more than itself for that honor, and by the end of the game the better team for the night had won.

Union, tied for the last playoff spot entering the night , played a classic desperate hockey game and dictated the flow of the contest from the opening draw. Keeping three men back on defense at almost all times, the Skating Dutchmen successfully slowed the game to a crawl, holding the Crimson to just 21--mostly weak--shots on goal and almost no offensive flow.