"Everyone on our team can score and put the puck in the net," Craigen said after the game. "We've just got so much depth this year."

They would not be prepared, however, for what was to come in the next five months. A roller coaster simply could not describe the ride which the Crimson endured. For every step forward there would be a step back, and for every high there would be a devastating low. Still, with each setback the team remained hopeful, knowing that the postseason had the power to erase all regular-season lapses.

Look no further than the team's first and only set of consecutive wins. After posting solid victories against eventual ECAC regular-season champion Clarkson 5-4, and then the Skating Dutchmen of Union 3-0 in mid-December, Harvard was flying high.

Nine days later, the team flew to Duluth, Minnesota.

In a physical two-game series which included one contest in which the teams amassed over 52 minutes of penalties, the Crimson was unable to ward off the Bulldog attack and its modest winning streak came to an abrupt end.

And once again, the team suffered a blow after appearing consistent with a 5-1 loss at Vermont and a 7-1 embarrassment at the Beanpot against Boston University. In each case, Harvard played over two periods of even, competitive hockey only to fall apart at the end.

"Today I just don't know what happened. It just all of a sudden fell apart...It's a tough one because that was embarrassing," Craigen said after the B.U. disaster. "That wasn't just a loss, and everyone [in the locker-room] feels that. It's going to be a tough one to get over."

The Beanpot debacle was perhaps the most telling of the entire season. For 40 minutes, the FleetCenter crowd was stunned, almost silent as the Crimson manhandled the Terriers. Then, just three minutes into the third period, Mike Silvia dumped in B.U.'s second tally of the game and the six goal carnage began.

The rest of the season saw much of the same inconsistency. A solid 5-2 win on the road against Colgate was quickly followed by two disturbing losses against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Those late-season miscues officially knocked Harvard out of the top seven in the league and thus assured the team of a Tuesday preliminary round game--the first ever for the program.

When asked about looking past the final regular- season games, Craigen admitted, "Consciously, not at all. Subconsciously, maybe. Yeah. But we are really trying to focus on one game at a time."

Even when presented with a do-or-die situation, the Crimson displayed its most dismal performance in recent memory when it squeaked through the preliminary round with a 4-2 win over St. Lawrence and quickly packed its bags for the quarterfinals at Cornell. Once again Harvard was unfazed by its play, knowing full well that the playoffs are an entirely different game.

"Now it is a whole new season, and everyone starts off with a clean slate," Millar said after the Tuesday night win. "Right now we are one of only two teams that are 1-0, so we have the momentum."

With the quarterfinals on the horizon, it was like last season all over again, and the Harvard players knew that. In their minds, the stage was set for an upset.

And after playing the Big Red tough, the Crimson left Lynah Rink after the first night with a 2-2 tie and appeared ready to stun the ECAC for the second straight year.

Harvard, however, was too young and too tired to ward off the bigger Cornell squad. After 60 minutes of physical, emotional play, the Big Red walked away with a 4-2 victory the next night and a ticket to the ECAC semifinals in Lake Placid.