The Crimson was left wondering what went wrong, where had its season gone and why was there no tomorrow?

"When you have a season like we had, you try and put your focus on the playoffs," Tomassoni said. "I don't think that our mentality was fixed on the end, but as the season goes along, you have to shift your focus."

Anchored by its strong defense and goaltending, Harvard's pre-season focus was simple--control the score and hope that the young offense could come through.

Halfnight, Ferrari and captain-elect Jeremiah McCarthy patrolled the blue line, while Prestifilippo's 3.18 goals against average kept Harvard in games and on numerous occasions was the team's saving grace.

What proved to cause the Crimson's collapse was its lack of offensive production. Line changes became habit as Tomassoni desperately tried to find cohesive units. The power-play was nothing short of horrific with only a 10.8-percent success rate, at one point embarking on an historic 0-for-55 scoreless streak.

Only Millar (13 tallies) reached double digits in goal production, While no Harvard forwards were nominated for either the First or Second All-Ivy teams. How telling that the only Crimson representation came from Halfnight and Prestifilippo--both second teamers.

The senior leadership was perhaps the one welcome surprise of the year. Halfnight and Ferrari led one of the most solid defensive units in the league.

Craigen in his own right was one of the few offensive guns. After amassing only 19 goals and 30 assists through three years, he exploded for 21 points this past season.

"They were leaders both on and off the ice," Tomassoni said of his three seniors. "They showed a tremendous amount of courage, conviction and work ethic and they left everything on the ice."

But it was unfortunately not enough. The offensive woes and inconsistent play persisted as the team averaged 2.35 goals per game (compared to 3.56 by its opponents).

With only three seniors graduating, and a year of experience and physical growth for the underclassmen which include 17 freshman and sophomores, next season has the potential to be a break-out year for a struggling hockey program.

Unfortunately, however, this past season has proven that despite the underlying talent within the Crimson ranks, the team could still be a year away.

One thing is for sure: in order to break out of ECAC mediocrity and establish itself as a major contender on both the regional and national scale, the players must stop relying on post-season miracles.

Dreams just don't happen every day