"We are a night-and-day different team from where were last year," Mazzoleni said after the loss back in November. "We're not B.C., yet, but we have our sights on them."

The Eagles went on to win the national championship, but the Crimson built off the momentum of that performance and by the exam break was contending for first place in the conference, even picking up a win at Clarkson, a feat not done in four years. Harvard hit upon some times to start the month of February beginning with a 2-1 heartbreak at home against Cornell, but spiraling into getting swept at the Beanpot and dropping 7-0 at Dartmouth, its worse loss in 20 years.

But on Saturday Feb. 17, Harvard derailed then-first place St. Lawrence, 4-1 with a 35 save performance by Jonas and would lose just one more time until Lake Placid.

Harvard and Yale then squared off in an epic two-game series at Bright Hockey Center, marking the first time that the historic rivals have met in the first round. Harvard took a 5-4 lead into the third period of the first game and somehow held on for dear life to win the opening game.

But the magic was the series clincher. Yale erased a 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead on a goal at 4:48 of the third period. At that point, captain Steve Moore took over the game. He setup sophomore Brett Nowak's tying goal and then battled for a rebound in front of the net to take a 5-4 lead at Harvard never let back, pouring it on for a 7-4 victory.

The game not only marked a watershed moment for the program on the ice, but off of it as well. The school had begun to respond to having a winning hockey team again and the student section at Bright was rocking like it hadn't since, well, 1993-94.

"The Yale series was huge for the program," Capouch said. "We earned home ice for the first time in a few years and really played well for two games. It was a lot of fun to see Bright hopping again."