The Harvard men's hockey team has one last chance to distance itself from its 11-16-2 regular season record tonight at Bright Hockey Center.

After a whirlwind weekend sweep of Vermont and Dartmouth one week ago, the Crimson was able to sneak past Princeton and Colgate into the league's fifth-place slot, gaining home ice for the first round of the ECAC playoffs.

And as luck would have it, Harvard will be facing, not the first or second place teams, but the sixth-seeded Red Raiders.

After starting the season as a nationally ranked powerhouse, Colgate has since sputtered throughout the latter part of the season and has dropped five of its last six games.

Not a bad draw for a Harvard team that finished the regular season with a sub-.500 record.

It wasn't just Colgate's late season fall that helped the Crimson's cause, however .

Heading into the final weekend of play, seven teams were separated by a mere four points, and all were battling for the final six playoff spots.

Harvard was stuck right in the heart of the struggle, and considering that it held the tie-breaker advantage over only one of those teams (Colgate), the Crimson faced the distinct possibility of not making the playoffs at all.

Harvard's sweep over Vermont and Dartmouth, in addition to key wins by Clarkson, St. Lawrence and Union, which surprisingly tied, assured the Crimson of home ice.

It was a statistical nightmare for league officials down to the final minute of regular season play, but in the end the math favored Harvard.

"This is a completely new season for us where anything can happen in the playoffs," said freshman defenseman Graham Morrell.

"The one thing that we will take away from the past was that we did have a great last weekend. We gained a lot of confidence from that."

Not only does the Crimson possess the momentum from the weekend sweep, but it is also facing a Colgate team that is ice cold.

In addition, the Red Raiders are one of only two teams that Harvard has posted two wins against this season. The first victory came back in November when Colgate was considered the tenth best team in the land.

Harvard jumped out to an early 3-0 lead at Starr Rink and held off a four-goal second period comeback by the Red Raiders to hold on for the 6-5 win.