In an evenly matched series, RPI managed to clog up Harvard's superior attack enough and capitalized on their few scoring chances to 'upset' the Crimson this weekend. Anyone who has watched the ECAC this year would not call this an upset save for the seedings, but many, including myself, did not expect RPI to return to Lake Placid. Saturday's game was a frustrating experience for the Harvard power play as they were 0 for 7 and failed to move the puck cleanly for any good scoring chances. In one of the defining moments of the second period, with RPI up 1-0 and on the power play with Steve Martins in the box for a questionable call, RPI clanged the outside of the right post and soon after had a partial breakaway sail 3 feet over Tripp Tracy's head. Soon after, Martins exited the penalty box, stole the puck in the RPI zone and lifted a soft shot just over Tamburro's glove for a 1-1 tie. Then RPI pulled some very undisplined penalties and found itself down 2 men with about 1 minute to play in the period. I thought at the time that if Harvard converted in this stretch that it would have taken the wind out of RPI, but Harvard's failure to to do so had to give RPI the hope that it could win in the 3rd. Relying on Tamburro's flashy glove to stay in the game, RPI finally got Harvard's defense to break down midway through the 3rd and Wayne Clark wristed a beautiful shot over Tracy's right shoulder for a 2-1 lead. A few minutes later (please don't hate me for lack of times and assists), Kelly Askew slid the puck into the empty side of the net after Tracy overplayed the player behind the net and it was on to Lake Placid for the Engineers. Not to go without mention was the excellent play of Tamburro. He made at least 5 excellent saves, 4 with his glove that kept the Crimson at bay. Askew as well was a star in my book as he was all over the ice and scored an important insurance goal as well. Not having seen RPI play that much this year, I'd honestly say I thought Harvard the better of the two teams, but RPI played patiently, Tamburro held the fort and RPI was extrememly opportunistic. All in all a good series - of course not nearly as nail biting as the Brown/Princeton or Merrimack/BU games of last night but I'll take it. It was also good to see the governor of our commonwealth only 2 rows below me at Saturday night's game. It's nice to know Weld can't get any better tickets than I can. Here's hoping NESN carries the ECAC's tape delayed this coming weekend. steve czuba RPI 86