Harvard will play Rensselser Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the opening round of the ECAC hockey playoffs this weekend. The Crimson will host the Engineers from Troy, N.Y., in the two-game series at Bright Arena.

Thanks to its second-place finish in the ECAC regular season, the Crimson was slated to play the seventh seed in the quarterfinals. Going into last night's games, RPI and Boston University were tied for sixth place, but B.U.'s 3-0 victory at B.C.--a 47-save shutout for Cleon Daskalakis--lifted the Terriers to a sixth-place finish.

Surprise!

Reanselar emerged as one of the East's biggest surprises this year, rebounding from last year's 6-12-2 ECAC record to post a 13-7-0 record this season. The Engineers were in third place overall, right behind Harvard, until consecutive losses at St. Lawrence and Clarkson in their final two games dropped them several notches.

Two stars from Canada's junior leagues, George Servinis and Mark Jooris, led RPI to the ECAC's highest-scoring attack in the regular season.

In the two teams only meeting this year. Harvard took a 7-4 decision in Troy.

In other ECAC action last night, Yale, which missed the playoffs on the last day of the season in the last two years, shelled Dartmouth in New Haven, 9-0, to clinch the eighth and final playoff spot. UNH beat Northeastern, 6-4, to finish at 15-5-1 (the same record as Harvard's; the Crimson finishes higher due to its 7-5 win over UNH in December).

Also, in the Battle of the Basement, Brown topped Maine, 5-2

The Quarterfinals

RPI at Harvard

B.U. at New Hampshire

Clarkson at St. Lawrence

Yale at Providence ECAC Final Standings Ivy League Harvard  6--3--1 Cornell  6--3--1 Yale  6--4--0 Princeton  5--3--2 Dartmouth  3--6--1 Brown  1--8--1 Only includes Ivy games.

ECAC Final Standings Ivy Harvard  15-5-1 Yale  12-9-0 Cornell  10-8-3 Princeton  7-12-2 Dartmouth  6-14-1 Brown  2-18-1

ECAC Final Standings East Providence  16-5-0 New Hampshire  15-5-1 Boston University  14-7-0 Boston College  9-10-2 Northeastern  9-11-1 Maine  1-20-0

ECAC Final Standings West St. Lawrence  14-6-0 Clarkson  13-6-1 RPI  13-7-0 Colgate  9-9-2 Vermont  5-16-1

ECAC Final Standings ECAC Scoring   G  A  Pts. Servinis, RPI,  27  22  49 Iselmoe, Colgate  13  26  39 Kleinendorst, Prov.  16  23  39 S. Fusco, Harvard  21  16  37 Patterson, Clarkson  17  20  37

ECAC Final Standings Goaltending   Avg. Blair, Harvard  2.61 Falle, Clarkson  3.14 Tortorella, Yale  3.18 Davidner, Northeastern  3.34 Weicker, St. Lawrence  3.47