The Harvard men's hockey team is looking to begin the post-season the way it began the regular season: with a victory over Brown.

Nearly four months ago, the Bruins came to Cambridge to square off against a Crimson squad that many coaches in the ECAC and around the country thought could challenge for the NCAA title. Harvard bounced Brown, 5-2, and its quest for the NCAA crown--which had eluded it by a single goal the previous season--began.

Tonight and tomorrow, Harvard and Brown will face off at Bright in the opening round of the ECAC playoffs--the first step toward national glory. The winner of the best-of-two series will advance to the semifinals at Boston Garden next weekend.

If the series is tied after the end of Saturday's game, a 10-minute mini-game will be played immediately afterward to determine the winner.

Harvard (22-4 overall, 20-2 ECAC) has earned a home-ice slot in the ECAC playoffs for the past six years. Brown (11-14 overall, 9-13 ECAC) will be making its first appearance in the tournament since 1978. The Bruins have not defeated the Crimson at Bright since the 1980-'81 season.

The Crimson sports four players who have tallied more than 30 points this season. Brown sports only one. Both Harvard goalies have goals-against averages under 2.50 and save percentages over .900. Brown's goalie--Chris Harvey--has a 4.12 g.a.a. and a .891 save percentage. He also has a losing record (9-12).

Yet the Bruins will be counting on Harvey to stop Harvard's top guns--Lane MacDonald (30 goals, 18 assists for 48 points), Tim Barakett (21-21--42) and Allen Bourbeau (16-24--40)--and lead them to improbable victory.

"Chris is very steady," Brown Coach Herb Hammond said. "He's a hard-working kid. But he's not invincible. Obviously we have to be concerned about MacDonald and Bourbeau, but Barakett has come on real strong."

"You can't worry about any particular player or any particular line, though," Hammond added. "You've got to be concerned about everyone on Harvard's team. We need to slow them down and stay out of the [penalty] box."

The last time the two teams met--on December 10, in Providence--Brown kept the game close but fell, 3-2. Harvey, who wasn't the Bruins' starting goalkeeper at the beginning of the season, was in net.

Before that game, the Crimson was riding an eight-game winning streak. Tonight, Harvard will be playing its first game since slipping to St. Lawrence, 4-3, Saturday--the first time Harvard had lost at Bright in 30 games.

"Maybe getting shaken up a little [by the St. Lawrence loss] isn't that bad," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "We're hoping it will make us work harder. We'd love to win the [ECAC] Tournament, but our first goal is to beat Brown."

"Brown's a very good team," Cleary continued. "Their goaltending has been good. You've always got to be concerned about a team that has a hot goalie."

Brown will attempt to slow down the fleet Crimson skaters in an attempt to limit the scoring. If the game is close near the end of the contest, the Bruins figure they will have a chance.

Brown's top scorers--Mark Rechan (7-24--31), Dan Allen (16-9--25) and Steve Climo (10-13--23)--don't have great numbers in comparison to some Harvard skaters. But the Bruins are a defensive team, relying on Harvey and a couple favorable bounces of the puck.

"They like to stack themselves along the blue line," Harvard defenseman Randy Taylor said. "They try to stop you from breaking into their zone. I think that most of the game will be played between the blue lines."

"They don't have one particular player you have to look out for," Taylor added, "but they always play tough. They have a good coach. He knows what kind of talent they have and he knows how to use it."

If Harvard's scorers are able to get on the board early, Brown will have to abandon its defensive game and attempt to skate with the speedy Crimson. A Harvard blow-out would likely follow.

But if Brown is able to keep the score low, anything could happen.

"They're a hard-working team," Harvard forward Tim Barakett said. "They're going to try to push us off the puck. They haven't made it to the playoffs for awhile and they don't have to travel a long way [to Cambridge.] That works in their favor."

Harvard will be looking to begin the post-season as triumphantly as it did the regular season. The Bruins will be looking for a divine upset.

"To beat Harvard," Hammond said, "you've got to go to church a lot." Harvard Hockey Stats   Penalty

Name  G  Gl  A  Pt  No  M< /B> L. MacDonald  26  30  18  48  10  2 0 Tim Barakett  26  21  21  42  5  10 A. Bourbeau  25  16  24  40  21  42 Randy Taylor  26  3  29  32  8  24 Mark Benning  25  3  24  27  14  28 S. Armstrong  26  10  12  22  15  3 0 C.J. Young  26  8  11  19  11  22 Don Sweeney  26  4  12  16  6  12 P. Chiarelli  26  8  6  14  12  24 Tod Hartje  26  2  9  11  8  24 Ed Krayer  14  2  9  11  2  4 Nick Carone  26  3  6  9  13  26 John Murphy  26  3  5  8  5  10 Rick Haney  10  1  5  6  0  0 Josh Caplan  24  1  4  5  8  16 Chris Biotti  23  0  5  5  7  14 Craig Taucher  14  2  2  4  4  8 Andy Janfaza  23  2  2  4  11  22 Jerry Pawloski  10  1  3  4  8  16 Paul Howley  6  3  0  3  2  4 S. McCormack  6  1  1  2  0  0 Dickie McEvoy  18  0  1  1  0  0 Gerald Green  3  0  1  1  3  6 Butch Cutone  25  0  0  0  4  8 John Devin  8  0  0  0  0  0

Goaltending  W  L  Sv%  GAA Dickie McEvoy  14  4  90.6  2.29 John Devin  8  0  92.2  1.88