So who would you rather play if you were the Harvard men's hockey team?

1) A team you have already faced three times this season--with two wins to show for your efforts, or

2)Someone you haven't faced since 1989, a team that has been in the news lately more because its arena is being torn down than for its successes in that rink?

Not that Harvard (23-4-4) has any say in whom it will face, as ECAC foe Rensselaer (21-10-4) will square off against Hokey East's University of New Hampshire (24-11-3) at 8:30 p.m. Friday night in an NCAA first-round match-up at Albany's Kinickerbocker Arena.

The victor will then try to knock off the Crimson Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

"It really doesn't matter," captain Sean McCann said. "We go out there and try to put out a solid effort every time."

In the Red corner, there is the East Region's sixth-seeded team, those same RPI Engineers that the Crimson bumped off in the ECAC tournament final this past Saturday, 3-0.

The Engineers started off the 1993-94 campaign playing very inconsistent hockey (6-5 in their first 11 games), but they then went on a nine-game unbeaten streak to straighten things out.

Much of the credit has to go to Hobey Baker candidate Neil Little, who be-Littled Harvard with a 45-save performance in RPI's 4-3 win on December 4 up at Troy, N.Y. The Engineers' solid streak began shortly thereafter.

However, Harvard took the next two meetings between the two squads. Little was true to his name in a 7-5 barnburner loss the Harvard at the Bright Hockey Center on February 25, and although he played very well in Saturday's ECAC Championship, his performance alone wasn't good enough to knock off Harvard.

"Little played as good a weekend as he had all year long," RPI Coach Buddy Powers said. "You just saw how good a team Harvard is."

The Engineers are led by captain Ron Pasco, who has scored 17 goals and racked up 40 assists in 35 games. But try as he might, Pasco couldn't get the rubber disk past Harvard goalie Aaron Israel Saturday night on any of his numerous scoring opportunities.

Forwards Bryan Richardson (23-29-52) and Craig Hamelin (19-29-48) have also been steady offensive supplies for RPI.

The defense, led by Little, has been stingy, allowing around three goals a game. The Engineers haven't allowed more than three goals against in their last four games, and they allowed four or more goals once during its nine-game unbeaten streak.

The RPI defense plays an aggressive style not only with its backcheck but also its after-the-whistle check, as Cam Cuthbert is known in these parts as one of the best in game at getting away with late hits.