The lumps kept on coming as B.C. killed off a 36 second two-man advantage in the second period and freshman Tim Petit took an interference penalty shortly thereafter neutralizing a potentially momentum building powerplay.

Through two periods of play, Eagle netminder Scott Clemmensen could have practically sat in his crease for a spot of tea, assured that Harvard wouldn't score. In fact, the third period, despite trailing only 3-0, seemed more a fight to stave off suffering its second consecutive shutout in the opening round at the Beanpot. Only through an excellent individual effort by Kenny Turano did the Crimson not have that monkey to deal with as well.

"Our decisions with the puck were not wise," Mazzoleni said. "We didn't make creative decisions with the puck and turned it over too much."

B.C. is an excellent hockey team, but quite frankly it is not that much better than Harvard. The Crimson showed in a 3-2 overtime defeat at Bright Hockey Center during Thanksgiving weekend that it can just about skate and hit with the mighty Eagles. B.C. may be considerably more polished, but that shouldn't have been a 4-1 loss.

It was a profoundly disappointing performance for Harvard, which has shown signs all year that it has returned to the big picture in college hockey. The Crimson is tied for second place in the ECAC and has just as good a chance as any for the league crown. After getting shutout at the Beanpot, 4-0, by Boston University last year, a defiant Mazzoleni promised that next year his team would not roll over in the first round.

Based on last night's performance, it's hard to credit him for much improvement, and that's where the disappointment comes in, because this is an immeasurably better Crimson squad. Harvard is ahead of schedule for its resurgence and the recruits in place for next year appear capable of taking more strides.

Harvard has skilled forwards up front, a dynamic line in Dom Moore-Tyler Kolarik-Tim Petit, a potent power play and penalty kill, and gets dynamite goaltending from Jonas. In fact, of the entire Crimson team, it seemed that only Jonas brought his A-game to the Fleet Center. He slid across the crease and robbed Mark McLennan on a slam dunk with his blocker in the second period when the game was still 2-0.