So maybe this wasn't Lake Placid.

I guess this wasn't for the Olympic gold medal.

And glancing around the Bright Hockey Center at the fans' attire, it certainly wasn't 1980.

"Do you believe in miracles?"

Maybe not Monday night.

Jim Craig, Herb Brooks and Mike Eruzione (he's an assistant at B.U.--just in case you care) were nowhere to be found.

But Harvard hockey took on Torpedo Yaroslavl anyway, one of the best teams in Russia's premier hockey league.

This team was like no other--just watch them warm up! Their uniforms look like a Blue-Gray football helmet, patched with red, white and blue in interlocking patterns.

Names on the back? In Russian script, looking more like a bowl of alphabet soup.

Their size? Torpedo has one player over 190 pounds--its goalie! Without any size, Torpedo Yaroslavl had to be precise with passing, exquisite with its breakouts, and more than perfect in its shot selection.

You know what? It's the Russians! Of course they would be just that!

You want diversity--Torpedo's got it. At any given time you could see a 17-year-old paired with a 34-year old on the ice. And who knows, maybe even some playing time for a teenage goalie, a mite at 5'8", 155 pounds.

But still, does this game mean anything for Harvard?

A chance to play against a team with a completely different style?

An opportunity to show good will in the continuing spirit of East/West relations?