One of the more creative inventions of the alums present included one obviously put together for junior winger Nicole Corriero, playing off of her Italian heritage.

Their sign read, “The Corriero Family is Coming After You,” and included a hole in the cardboard underneath where an arm could be stuck through to point at someone.

Co-captain Lauren McAuliffe received a warm send-off from her fans with a sign that read “McAuliffe 23 for President.”

Although the sign had made appearances earlier in the season, this one last time was a tribute to the four hard years that the McAuliffe had given the Crimson—much like the send-off devoted fans give their favorite professional players.

But while all of the fanfare and signage reflected the more relaxed, have-fun attitude that imbues collgiate women’s hockey’s ultimate event, even the fans bore down and got serious once the game began.

For the first two periods, every odd-man rush, every body-to-body hit, every amazing display of stick handling was accompanied by gasps or noise from the crowd as deserved.

And when Corriero looked like she had changed the momentum by putting Harvard up 2-1, the crowd exploded in a burst of hugs and applause.

As Minnesota began to put the game away in the third period, their fans quickly took control of the noisemaking.

Even the Harvard Band seemed to feel the pain of the forthcoming loss, being drowned out throughout the period by the arena’s sound system or the ecstatic Gophers band.

With the intensity of the actual game and the tension created in the air by the noise and excitement of the fans, the atmosphere for the Frozen Four championship game was one that is unequaled at any point during the regular season.

Since many of the Crimson’s games this past season featured opponents not on the level of the Golden Gophers, a number of times Harvard played either at home or on the road in front of a low number of die-hard parents or alums.

But when the games matter and are tight—like with the matchup of Harvard and Dartmouth at the Bright earlier in the season which drew a near capacity 2,000 fans—the excitement of experiencing a women’s hockey game, even for a sportswriter up in the pressbox, is unparalleled at Harvard.

And it always beats clicking refresh over and over again to find the latest scores.

Trust me, I know.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.