It was a record-setting evening for the Crimson last night. One 23-year-old record fell and a 50-year-old mark was tied as this year's Harvard men's hockey squad staked its claim to greatness.

The victory over RPI was Harvard's 23rd straight game at Bright Center without a loss, and it was also its 13th consecutive win at the start of the season. The 1936-'37 Crimson also opened its season with 13 straight victories.

The last time that Harvard, now the top-ranked team in the land, lost at home was March 1, 1985, in a 4-3 OT contest with St. Lawrence.

March 1985 was a long time ago. At that time, nobody knew who Oliver North, Cory Aquino, or Roger Clemens were.

The Republicans were in control of the Senate, Ronald Reagan was a popular president, and a gallon of gas cost upwards of $1.60 per gallon.

The space shuttle was flying high, RPI was about to be crowned national champion, and half of today's Harvard undergrads were still in high school.

So what does the Harvard hockey team think of these strings of success?

When Coach Bill Cleary was informed that this year's start equalled a Crimson record, he answered "Is that right? I don't even know what it is, to be honest with you."

"I think the kids are aware of it, and that's okay. It's a pride thing...but I'm not concerned with it," he added.

"They're all right," said Captain Pete Chiarelli, referring to the streaks. "It's something to talk about--the same as being Number One. But it's not that we're going 'Oh, we're losing, we're jeopardizing the streak'."

Defenseman Don Sweeney agreed: "It's just a big hype. This is our home barn, and we just don't like to lose here."

This week marks the first time that Harvard has ever been ranked first in the nation. Does anybody get excited about that?

"The only reason I'm happy to see us number one is that it's very flattering to the boys. It wasn't one of our goals, we just want to keep winning," Cleary said.

As Chiarelli said, "We just want to be number one at the end of the season."

There's still some doubt, though, as to whether this year's squad has the talent to win the national championship. RPI Coach Mike Addesa, whose 1984-'85 squad went 35-2-1 (and won it all) said that his team and this Harvard squad are "non-comparable at this point."

"You're talking about the team that holds a lot of NCAA records, for short-handed goals, power-play goals, consecutive victories...," said Addesa, listing his champion's accomplishments.

"But this club [Harvard] is pretty good. They impress me as a team with a lot of character. We gave them all they could handle tonight, and they handled it," he said.

Cleary said, "I think [this year's Harvard squad] is every bit as good as last year's. But I told the team, it's a lot harder to stay [Number One] than to get there. It gets tougher because everybody wants to be the team to knock off an undefeated team."

Tim Barakett says the ECAC game he fears most is "Yale at Yale, because they'll play on emotion. I don't think they're as good a team as we are, but they're well coached."

This season's Crimson unit, however, is one of the best in Harvard history.