Who else will have a shot at a Miracle on Olympic (sized) Ice?

That's the question that six other hopeful coaches are asking themselves on the eve of the ECAC quarterfinals. The Harvard-Cornell tete-a-tete aside, three other mouth-watering matchups begin today, with spots at Lake Placid and dreams of NCAA tournament bids on the line.

For in the ECAC, only one team has locked up an NCAA bid going into this weekend--that would be Harvard. Even with a major collapse at home against eight-seeded Cornell (and we're talking one of Roman Empire proportions, here), the Crimson would almost surely be in without any trouble.

But no other team has that luxury. Clarkson, RPI and Brown are all very much on the national bubble--and given by NCAA's history of shortchanging teams from the East come tourney-time, upset losses this weekend would no doubt ruin their chances.

"I think across the country the ECAC gets an unfair reputation," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "Our league is just as good as any other league, and I think if you looked at it and analyzed it over the last, say, eight years, you'd find that the ECAC has done quite well when it comes down to national competition."

But should one of the under-dogs-Vermont, Union or Colgate-go on a sudden four-game victory binge, they would be assured a spot in the NCAA mix, league reputation or not, for the ECAC tournament winner gets an automatic national bid.

So with all of that tension on the line, we present you with a guide to the other three best-of-three ECAC quarterfinal matchups of this weekend:

#2 Clarkson (17-8-5, 13-5-4 ECAC) vs. #7 Colgate (13-15-2, 10-10-2 ECAC): "A Cheel-ing Thought."

Defending tournament champion Clarkson is riding high, as it always seems to do come February and March, and Colgate will have to get its act together quickly to avoid a little slip-sliding away.

After a 2-4-2 start, Clarkson began to right itself, and since a 3-2 loss to Maine of January 14, the Golden Knights have gone 11-2-2.

Included in that stretch are decisive 3-1 and 5-1 wins over the Red Raiders, and Colgate, which flirted with the top four until a disastrous 2-7 finish to the season, will be hardpressed to come up with some instant defense.

Senior Bruce Gardiner (17-19-36) did finish fourth for the Raiders in the ECAC scoring chase, but when your top goalie (junior Jason Gates) finishes the season with a 4.17 GAA and lets in every sixth shot, you've got a problem, and Coach Don Vaughan knows it only all too well.

Especially against these Golden Kinghts. Nine NHL draftees litter their roster, and two of them--captain Craig Conroy (15-23-35) and junior Brian Mueller (11-24-35)--finished in the top five in league points.

Jason Currie lends Clarkson's strong goaltending, and even if players like Conroy are prone to getting a little out of hand (witness his 10 minute misconduct penalty last weekend against the Crimson for challenging the Harvard bench to a fight--"Don't know what he was thinking," Harvard's own Steve Martins said), Coach Mark Morris knows how to push all the right postseason buttons.

And unless Colgate rediscovers its pre-January form (read: e.g. an upset win over Harvard), this series could be over quicker than you can say "New Kids On The Block."