The Harvard hockey team has reclaimed first place in the NCAA Division I rankings, according to a poll released by the NCAA yesterday afternoon.

The Crimson (24-2 overall, 20-2 ECAC) shares the top spot with Minnesota (31-8-3). Harvard and the Gophers were tied for second place last week.

Michigan State, ranked number one in last week's poll, fell to third after losing to Lake Superior State, 6-3, over the weekend.

"[The ranking] is not that important to us right now," Captain Lane MacDonald said, "but it's nice to be number one again. And it's important in that it should help us get a firstround bye in the NCAA tournament."

Harvard held the first-place position for three weeks in January, after beating then-top-ranked St. Lawrence, 5-1, right before exam break. But the Crimson slipped in the polls when it lost to Yale in its first game after the two-week layoff, and has hovered in the second and third spots ever since.

"We could get caught up in the rankings, like we did at Yale," sophomore Ted Donato said. "We can't let that happen again."

Harvard, which captured the ECAC regular-season title with its 4-2 win over the Saints last Friday, hosts RPI in the ECAC quarterfinals Friday and Saturday at Bright Center at 7:30 p.m.

"I think everybody's happy that we are number one," Donato said, "but I think we all realize the importance of the playoffs themselves. We need to win the ECAC tournament."

This week's rankings: 1.  HARVARD  24-2-0 Minnesota  31-8-3 3.  Michigan St.  30-7-1 4.  Boston College  20-8-4 5.  Lake Superior St.  24-8-6 6.  N. Michigan  23-15-2 7.  St. Lawrence  22-5-0 Maine  27-11-0 9.  Wisconsin  22-15-5 10.  Illinois-Chicago  21-11-5 11.  North Dakota  22-17-1 12.  Providence  17-14-2 13.  Michigan  21-13-4 14.  Colgate  18-9-1 15.  Bowling Green  22-14-3 Northeastern  16-15-2