St. Lawrence University's men's hockey season came to a sudden end in overtime in the ECAC semifinals for the second year in a row Friday night as Harvard's Kyle Criscuolo was credited with the winning goal 2:18 into the extra period in a 2-1 Harvard win.

The Crimson, 19-9-4, move on to play Quinnipiac in Saturday's championship game while the Saint season ends at 19-14-4 in its 11th overtime contest of the season and third straight of the post-season.

ECAC Player of the Year Jimmy Vesey, who scored five goals and assisted on two others among the nine scored by Harvard against the Saints in three games this season, started the winning play when he skated to the center slot on an odd-man rush after Desmond Bergin chipped the puck off the glass, taking it away from a Saint forward at the Harvard blue line as the Saints were pressing to get the puck into the offensive zone. Vesey sent a rising shot toward net which glanced off Criscuolo's shoulder, hit the crossbar and dropped in for the game winner.

"Harvard is a very good team and of course they have Jimmy," said Saint coach Greg Carvel.. "Jimmy is going to make you pay if you don't pay real careful attention to him. He scored their first goal and basically scored the second as well. As much as we tried to prepare for him, we still let him get into areas where he could be dangerous. That was the difference in the game."

The Saints had battled back from a 1-0 deficit after Vesey scored his 24th of the year just 59 seconds into the second period. SLU played an outstanding third period, outshooting Harvard 18-7 and got the tying goal when Gavin Bayreuther's shot from the point was saved by goalie Merrick Madsen, but the rebound bounced into the air and a Harvard defenseman batted it into the net in an attempt to clear the puck. Jacob Pritchard and Brian Ward were given assists on the Saint goal.

"it was a very similar situation for our team this year as it was last year," added Carvel. "We came out the first ten minutes and were on our heels as Harvard was playing very well. I thought as the game wore on we got into the style we wanted to play. The second half of the game and the third period were very strong for us.

"Both goaltenders were outstanding," Carvel added. I thought we did a really good job using our speed and getting pucks to the net. We competed very well and I thought we deserved better tonight. I am very proud of my team. To come back and push the game into overtime

"We learned some lessons here, and hopefully we can get back here again next year. It is really tough to get to Lake Placid because it is such a good league and there are so many good teams. We beat a very good Clarkson team two nights in a row in overtime…eventually those overtimes are going to get you, but I am really proud of my team tonight."