"We were all disappointed with the lack of support, especially at the end of last year." Tracy said. "We're not sure what kind of showing we'll get on Saturday. But it would mean so much to the team for students to show up and be vocal."

"Last year, we had a subpar year, and I don't blame fans from jumping off the bandwagon," Konik said.

Midnight Madness has traditionally been reserved for NCAA basketball powers like Duke and Kentucky, but Tomassoni and a host of other hockey coaches have brought the practice to the ECAC in recent years.

B.U. and Maine have had very successful "Madnesses" in the last week. More than 2000 fans crowded into Walter Brown Arena cheered on the national champion B.U. Terriers for more than an hour.

"I went to the B.U. Midnight Madness," Harvard Assistant Sports Information Director Mike Jackman said. "Even I got excited, and I wasn't even for B.U."

The team has some skepticism about the first Midnight Madness in Harvard history.

I'm not sure how fired up the students will be," Konik said. "I'm not sure that the students really know what it means. Maybe down the road it will lead to bigger and better things."

If Harvard's version of Midnight Madness enjoys anything near the success of its B.U. counterpart, however, Tomassoni, Konik, Tracy and company will have accomplished their goal.

"We're excited to start anew and to get back to winning," Tracy said. "We want to bring that winning tradition back to Harvard, where it belongs."