AMHERST--The Harvard men's hockey team expects this to be a dream season.

After finishing fifth last season, the Crimson (1-1-0, 0-1-0 ECAC) feels ready to contend for first place in the East Coast Athletic Conference.

Last weekend was supposed to be the first step to securing that crown. Instead of making a huge statement, the Crimson went out and split two games, beating UMass-Amherst 3-1, but dropping the more critical divisional game 4-1 against Brown. It was not the most ideal beginning, but one successful enough not to discourage anyone.

Brown 4, Harvard 1

The first period of Friday night's opener must have unfurled just as Harvard imagined. The Crimson swarmed the Brown goal, peppering junior goaltender Scott Stirling with 15 shots, most of them high-quality.

A dream beginning--except nobody scored.

Only Bear captain Paul Giblin found the back of the net in the first period and Stirling did his part to turn the Crimson's dream into a nightmare. Brown (1-0-0, 1-0-0 ECAC) renewed college hockey's oldest active rivalry with a stunning 4-1 victory at Bright Hockey Center. By late in the third period, Harvard simply was sleepwalking.

"We played pretty well, especially in the first period." said Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni. "You have to tip your hat to their goaltender, he stood on his head."

Despite the Crimson's best efforts, Stirling would not accept silver Friday night, stopping 28 of 29 Crimson shots. He single-handedly kept the Bears in the game during the first period. With a little under five minutes remaining in the period, the Crimson sent a flurry of shots on goal from just outside the crease. Stirling robbed each rebound attempt, including a tricky backhand flip by senior Rob Millar. HARVARD  3 UMASS-AMHERST  1 BROWN  4 HARVARD  1

"Harvard came out strong and got a lot of shots," Stirling said. "It's good for me to see a lot of shots, it gets me into the game right away."

Especially in the opening frame, the top line of sophomore Chris Bala, freshman Jared Cantanucci and captain Craig Adams flew all over the ice. Bala dipsy-doodled past a Bear defenseman for a breakaway in the first that failed. Later, he threaded a pass through the crease to Adams's waiting backhand. Stirling slid across the goal mouth, stacking the pads to deny Harvard's captain. Estes said. "They made big plays, creatingturnovers, getting to the quarterback, raisinghavoc, and they put the ball in the offense'shands. I thought we played a complete game today."

Things looked good for the Crimson at the startof the third quarter. Two second-quarter MikeGiampaolo field goals had cut the Brown lead toone point, and the Crimson defense had held Bearquarterback James Perry, No. 1 in total offensefor Division I-AA, to one touchdown in the firsthalf. But things went south for Harvard on thefirst play from scrimmage of the second half.

On first down at the Harvard 26-yard line,junior quarterback Rich Linden dropped back topass. Senior linebacker Ernest Dean broke throughthe Harvard line and laid his shoulder on Linden,who had raised his right arm and was ready topass. The ball popped out of Linden's hand, thereferees ruled the play a fumble rather than anincomplete pass and Brown defensive tackle FryWernick pounced on the ball at the Harvard 16-yardline.

"I'll have to look at the film," Linden said ofthe call. "I was trying to throw the ball and Ithought I got rid of it. But the ball bouncedbehind me and it was a tough call."

That was the first of a series of keythird-quarter plays that turned the game inBrown's favor. Dean's forced fumble was one of ateam-high 10 tackles for him, and it marked aquick departure from Linden's productivefirst-half performance, in which he completed 11of 14 passes for 84 yards.

More importantly, Brown increased its lead toseven points 1:57 after the fumble. After anillegal procedure penalty drove the Bears back tothe Harvard 18-yard line, Perry found sophomorereceiver Steve Campbell for a 15-yard completion.Junior tailback Kevin Coyne walked into the endzone untouched on the next play.

But Harvard was still in the game. Seniorlinebacker Joe Weidle blocked the point-afterattempt by Brown freshman Sean Jensen, and theCrimson trailed by only seven with 12:48 left inthe third quarter. Sophomore Chuck Nwokocha's31-yard kickoff return gave Harvard a first downat its 43-yard line, and the Crimson was back inbusiness.

Linden drove Harvard to the Brown 11-yard linethanks to a 22-yard pass to senior receiver JakeHeller and a 10-yard personal foul against theBears. But a Brown sack pushed Harvard back to the16-yard line. Two plays later, Heller had a stepon his man in the end zone and Linden deliveredthe pass, but the Brown defensive back recoveredto turn away Harvard's best chance of the game atscoring a touchdown.

"I was hoping there would not be a letdownafter that play but it seemed like we lost anychance we had at building momentum," Murphy said."We had a couple of opportunities early on that wejust didn't take advantage of."

That play set up a 32-yard field goal try forGiampaolo, who was perfect in his first fiveattempts of the season. But the junior missed wideleft and the Bears took over on their own 20-yardline. Perry then directed a textbook Brownoffensive drive that put the game out of reach.

In 15 plays that chewed up a valuable 3:41 theCrimson needed to tie the game, Brown put its leadout of reach. Perry threw 10 times on the drive tohis entire array of talented receivers, findingCampbell once for 4 yards, senior tight end ZachBurns twice for 16 yards, and senior receivers AlLairson and Sean Morey twice each for 23 and 15yards, respectively. Coyne capped off the drivewith his second score of the game on a four-yardTD run.

Coyne finished with 42 yards on the day, as didsophomore running back Michael Powell. But thebulk of Brown's offense came from the arm ofPerry, who completed 30 of 43 pass attempts for281 yards and two touchdowns.

Perry's favorite target was Morey, who caughtboth touchdowns and improved his 8.86 receptionsper game average by hauling in 11 passes for 116yards. Lairson and Burns chipped in with sixcatches each for 69 and 45 yards, respectively.

"It seems like Perry is a 15-year NFL veteran,"Murphy said. "He's got an outstandingly quickrelease, he knows exactly who he wants to get itto and it's very frustrating because it's nearimpossible to sack him. They are the most talentedoffensive group that I've seen in the league inthe five years I've been here."

"I have an incredible amount of confidence inSean [Morey] because I've seen him make so manyplays by now," Perry said. "He is probably thebest security blanket in the world. If my throwsare a little bit off I will get still getcompletions. Sean is on the next level, but wehave so many receivers who make plays that, on anyother team, would be an incompletion."

Typically, Brown closed out the scoring halfwaythrough the fourth quarter with a 15-yard passfrom Perry to Morey. The senior tandem had openedup the scoring the same way, when Perry foundMorey for a 16-yard touchdown pass at the end ofthe first quarter. Harvard's only scoring came inthe second quarter, with field goals of 25 and 36yards off the foot of Giampaolo.

After its first two drives of the second half,however, Harvard never regained its offensivepoise, which had netted 174 total yards in thefirst half. Junior running back Chris Menick, whoran 13 times for 38 yards, reinjured his leftankle midway through the third quarter. Withoutits star tailback and trailing by 13 points, theCrimson could not rely on the running game.

Linden led the team in rushing with 55 yards,all of which came in the first half. He spent mostof the second half on his back; he was sacked fivetimes for a loss of 34 yards. Nwokocha had a10-yard run but netted one yard on his three othercarries. Senior running back Troy Jones made hisfirst appearance of the year after a preseasoninjury and rushed twice for one yard. Juniorfullback Damon Jones also returned from apreseason injury for limited action, but he didnot touch the ball.

In addition to leading the Crimson rushingattack, Linden had a respectable afternoon throughthe air. He completed 16 of 26 passes for 147yards and no interceptions. In three trips intothe Brown red zone, however, Linden and theoffense could not reach the end zone against theaggressive Bear defense.

"We definitely had our chances but we missedsome opportunities," Linden said. "We had goodplays called and we just didn't execute, and whenwe couldn't get in the end zone early on thatchanged the complexion of the game."

Heller and sophomore receiver Matt Mitchell,who combined for 13 catches and 119 yards in placeof injured sophomore Josh Wilske, led thereceiving corps. Junior receiver Terence Pattersonhauled in three catches for 37 yards, but none ofHarvard's receivers made it into the end zone,which is unacceptable when trying to compete withBrown's high-scoring offense.

Harvard's next opponent, the Ivy League-leadingPennsylvania Quakers (6-2, 4-1), spent plenty oftime in the end zone against Brown, scoring 51points in a losing cause. Penn also scored oftenagainst Princeton Saturday, defeating the Tigers,27-14. The Crimson needs to win both of itsremaining games to claim a share of the Ivy title,which means it must be at the top of its game inPhiladelphia this Saturday.

"I'm confident that we can bounce back," Lindensaid. "I think there would be something wrong withus if we didn't. We started out 0-3 but we wonfour games straight, so we've done it before."

"Obviously we have to win against Penn," Murphysaid. "The two best teams in the league at themoment are Penn and Brown. We are going to have tojust rebound and play our best game of the yearagainst a very physical football team."

BROWN, 27-6at Harvard StadiumBrown  7  0  13  7  --  27Harvard  0  6  0  0  --  6

First Quarter

Bro--Morey 13 pass fr. Perry (Jensen kick),1:45.

Second Quarter

Har--Giampaolo 25 FG, 7:49.

Har--Giampaolo 36 FG, 7:49.

Third Quarter

Bro--Coyne 3 run (Jensen kick blocked), 12:48.

Bro--Coyne 4 run (Jensen kick), 3:41.

Fourth Quarter

Bro--Morey 15 pass fr. Perry (Jensen kick),5:40.

Rushing: Bro--Powell 12-38, Coyne 16-34,Morey 1-6, Wall 2-3, Perry 2-(-3); Har--Menick13-38, Linden 12-21,

Nwokocha 4-11, Jones, T. 2-1, Alford 1-(-3).

Passing: Bro--Perry 43-30-2 (281),Powell 1-0-0 (0);

Har--Linden 26-26-0 (147), Wilford 8-1-0 (14).

Receiving: Bro--Morey 11-116, Burns6-45, Lairson 6-69, Wall 2-24, Coyne 2-5, Campbell2-19; Har--Mitchell 8-62, Heller 5-57, Patterson,T. 3-37, Belczyk 1-5.

Interceptions: Bro--Pittz; Har--Waller.

FG Missed: Har--Giampaolo 32.

Time of Possession: Bro--32:54,Har--27:06.

Attendance: 8,150.CrimsonSeth H. PerlmanROUGHED UP: ARTIE JONES (97) foundBrown quarterback JAMES PERRY (9) an elusivetarget.