Outside the visiting locker room at Bright Center, December 4, 1988, around 4:30 p.m., a conversation was overheard between two reporters from Ithaca, N.Y.:

"Harvard's tough, but there's no way they'll beat us up at Lynah."

"It'll be different. The Big Red gets psyched up for home games."

"Sure will. We'll see what happens in February."

February 10 is here, and tonight in the Mardi Gras confines of Lynah Rink, these two reporters--witnesses of Harvard's 9-1 blowout of Cornell earlier in the season--and every other Ithacan will see whether the Big Red turns into the Little Red against the Crimson. Again.

"We have to be sure to play 60 minutes of hockey, instead of just 35 minutes [like we did in the Harvard game]," said Cornell Coach Brian McCutcheon, whose Big Red squad (12-8 overall, 10-6 ECAC) is battling for home-ice in the ECAC playoffs.

But the Red will need more than 60 minutes to give the Crimson--which is already assured of hosting a first round ECAC post-season series--the kind of game that would have Harvard Coach Bill Cleary chewing his nails and pacing frantically behind the bench.

Cornell will need something to help it match up with the Crimson. Some outside force that can sweep over the Harvard bench and blow the Crimson off the ice. All the way to downtown Ithaca.

What the Big Red needs is Lynah Rink.

"If you've never been to Lynah," Cleary said. "they only live for one team to go up there. Harvard-Cornell hockey is an event."

Event is an understatement. A carnival. A three-ring circus. A hoedown. A wild chicken farm. A dead fish emporium. A place not to take the kids. We ain't talking "Bambi Meets Mr. Rogers," folks.

But how much of an advantage will Cornell have tonight? Can the magic of Lynah really raise Cornell's hopes to defeat Harvard in its own sandbox?

Not really, if one checks the records. The Crimson has not lost a game at Lynah since the 1983-84 season. In the last four years, Harvard is 3-0-1.

And Cornell isn't exactly unbeatable at home this year. St. Lawrence blanked the Red, 2-0, last week. Clarkson almost did it the next night, dropping a 3-2 overtime decision. Cornell at home? Not unbeatable, but still extremely difficult to beat.

"We just happened to play so well that first time," Cleary said. "But that doesn't mean anything when you're playing in Ithaca."