Confused over Harvard's invitation to the NCAA's annual eight-team championship tourney?

Grasping at straws to explain why a team many thought had written its own ticket to Ft. Lauderdale with an ECAC semifinal loss to Clarkson Friday instead will find itself in its own rink this weekend against Western Michigan?

Consider the calendar.

And call it the Luck of the Irish for Billy O'Cleary and his Crimson Clover.

After all, it is St. Patrick's Day.

That's the only possible explanation for the bizarre turn of events that ended yesterday with Harvard in the NCAAs. And in its own rink.

For when Cornell beat Clarkson in the finals of the ECAC tourney Saturday, giving the Big Red an automatic invitation to the NCAAs, most assumed the Golden Knights had wrapped up the second ECAC spot in the national tourney. Clarkson had finished second in the tourney and had beaten Harvard twice in three weeks.

Even more shocking that Harvard's appearance in the tourney was the committee's decision to give Harvard home ice.

Furthermore, although Western Michigan is 32-10 and the Central College Hockey Association champion, the Broncos may be the most beatable of the four western teams in the tourney.

O'Cleary, the Crimson mentor, is delighted that his Crimson is rolling in the clover thanks to the committee's decision.

Just how did the Crimson become the second ECAC team selected?

Just how did it get home ice? Playing at Bright means more than just fan support; it means the Crimson will be able to play in a building--and on a huge ice surface--where it is unbeaten in 16 straight and has won 11 in a row.

And just how was it lucky enough to draw Western Michigan, considered by many to be the weakest of the Western teams?

Ten reasons--guesses--why Harvard is sitting pretty today:

1. National Reputation. Although the Crimson was the most unheralded squad at the NCAA Final Four in '83, the icemen's reputation nationally is high. This can be seen in the pre-season attention that the squad garnered and, of course, in four national tourney appearances in five years. No other ECAC team--save RPI, eliminated in the ECAC quarters--has that kind of standing among the national college hockey community.