In 1998-99, Adams, Bala and Moore will try to lead Harvard to the next level of play. The Crimson should improve in every on-ice category. Harvard has lofty expectations; these are the personnel who hope to take them there:

Offense

With a year under their belt, Bala and Moore should further blossom as elite players. Both are extremely dangerous with the puck, combining quickness and stickhandling ability to break defensemen down in one-on-one situations. Both players' styles complement each other well and the pair developed great chemistry last season.

"Bala and Moore perform at a very high level," Tomassoni said. "They are very special players with the beat people one-on-one. They make things happen."

Moore sees the ice remarkably well and has the ability to deliver the puck to the open man. He became the first rookie to lead Harvard in scoring since peter Ciavaglia '91 posted the same 10 goals and 23 assists back in 1987-88. For his phenomenal season, he was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and garnered ECAC All-Rookie honors.

However, Moore may suffer from mild rust through the first few games. He has missed the final two weeks of preseason training with a shoulder injury, though is expected to play in tomorrow's opener against Brown.

"I'm looking forward to playing with Chris and building off last year," Moore said. "I just want to contribute."

Moore's contributions last season largely ended on Bala's stick. A natural goal scorer, Bala led the team in goals and plus-minus with a plus-14 rating. In the final weekend of the regular season, Bala set a Harvard record by scoring four goals in the first period against Vermont. Bala fittingly joined Moore on the ECAC All-Rookie team.

"I have been looking forward to playing withStevie all summer," Bala said. "I hope to pick upwhere we left off. We will see tighter checkingthis year, but we will just have to play throughit."

Adams rounds out the top scoring line forHarvard. With six goals and six assists through 12games last season, he was on pace for the bestseason of his Harvard career before gettinginjured. Over the past year, Adams has worked hardon adding finesse to complement his hard-nosed,crash-the-net-style of attack. Teamed with Balaand Moore, Adams, hungry to rebound from lastyear, should produce the finest season of hiscareer.

"I feel great as far as I can tell," Adamssaid. "It will have to wait until the game, but sofar the shoulder is fine."

Of course, Adams' production hinges on hisshoulder, which he worked hard to rehabilitateduring the offseason. By all preseason accounts,it is fully healed.

Even if he is 100 percent healthy, however, Adamsmay require a few games to recover his timing,especially since Harvard played a limitedpreseason schedule of one scrimmage againstDartmouth and no exhibition games.

Anchoring the second line, senior winger RobMillar (7 g, 19 a) will be relied upon to finishhis Harvard career with a breakthrough season.Millar, one of the more enigmatic players on theteam, posted a personal best 26 points lastseason. He has shown prodigious offensive talent,but also an inability to bury the golden chanceshis skills create.

"I think as a team if you want to jump up, youneed to average around four goals per game,"Tomassoni said. "Millar is one player whohopefully will improve."

Last year, a late-season drop-off from Millartransformed the Crimson into a one-line team. TheHarvard offense should be more balanced thisseason, and Tomassoni is experimenting with anintriguing line combination of junior Scott Turco,sophomore Harry Schwefel and freshman Kyle Clark.