Furthermore, the power play allows the fleet Crimson to avoid brawling with bigger and stronger teams and stick to its skating game.

"It's a very, very fast game, a very intelligent game," Benning says. "For me to try to goon someone would be funny. I'm not big enough or mean enough. It's the kind of game I've had to play because of my size."

Playing with Taylor, who has 14 assists already, has helped Benning.

"It's kind of funny," Benning says. "I'm small, my game is passing and moving the puck. He's huge, six-two, at the same time he handles the puck well. He and I surprisingly have clicked very well."

"The forward line has made it easy for us," says a characteristically terse Taylor.

And Taylor and Benning have made it easy for the forward line.

For Benning, the family black sheep, playing at Harvard is a natural.

"In a sense I'm stepping away from it all," he says. "Even guys in western Canada tend to go to west schools, where school is secondary to hockey. At Harvard, academics are number one.

"I have broken away from the mold I am obtaining an education to take me places other than hockey although hockey's done a good job so far."

Benning hopes to play professionally in Europe after he graduates.

"If I can get to Europe dreams would be fulfilled.

Hockey in Europe is a far cry from the NHL and a far cry from his brothers, but Mark Benning would still be playing defense.