The Yale hockey team used to have lofty goals. An ECAC championship. An NCAA Tournament appearance.

This year, the Elis are simply hoping to make the ECAC playoffs. And they've already written off home ice.

Harvard, the Elis' opponent Tuesday night at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Conn., has every reason to dream the highest dreams hockey offers. The Crimson is 13-0 in the league and the top-ranked team in the country. The Elis are 4-7 and eighth in the ECAC.

When Yale dreams, it dreams of a chance to play beyond February 25, when the regular season ends. Just realistic thoughts. Eight teams make the ECAC playoffs. Yale hopes to be one. Even if it is the last one.

"My goal is to get into the playoffs," Yale Coach Tim Taylor said. "If we earn the right to play Harvard in Cambridge in March, that would be great."

Three years ago, Yale had a nationally-ranked team. Two years ago, the Elis finished fourth in the ECAC. Last year, the Elis slipped to 10th in the league with a 6-16 record.

Someone pressed the down button on the Elis' elevator.

"My assessment of what might have happened is this," Taylor said, "we had a great team in 1986. It was a team that could have taken care of itself at the national level. The next year we had a team nobody thought would do well and we finished fourth in the league. Last year we thought it would be automatic that we would do well again."

But the Elis, even with All-ECAC goaltender Mike O'Neill, struggled.

"It was unexpected," Yale Captain Dave Baseggio said. "Everything went right downhill. It's difficult to explain why it happened. I guess it was a combination of attitude, lack of talent, and we had a lot of injuries. Our entire second line was out."

Unlike Harvard, which has appeared in the NCAA Tournament six of the last seven years, the Elis do not have a glorious history. Yale has never won an ECAC championship. Its highest finish in the league was second in 1985-86. Its lone appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 1951.

What Might Have Been

Harvard's success has helped it recruit top-notch players. Yale does not have the same reputation. Had the Elis continued to improve after the 1985-86 season, they might be in the position Harvard is in today.

Might. But aren't.

"The rich get richer," Taylor said. "The fact that Harvard is 15-0 and we're 4-7, that they're first in the ECAC and we're eighth, is important to a recruit."