For two days in February they were kings. The other 139 days they were paupers.

In the heart of yet another losing season, the Harvard men's hockey team drove 15 minutes into Boston and escaped into the confines of the Fleet Center. The annual Beanpot Tournament takes place over the first two Mondays of the month, and it is the only time of the season when records, streaks, rankings and reputation are put aside and the four Boston hockey powers--Harvard, Northeastern, Boston University and Boston College--play for nothing save pride.

Record: 14-17-2, 10-11-1 ECAC

Coach: Ronn Tomassoni

Highlights: Defeats No. 8 B.C. in Beanpot; makes ECAC semi-finals.

Seniors: Henry Higdon, Geordie Hyland, Jeremiah McCarthy, Doug Sproule

Harvard entered this year's Beanpot with a lot to forget. Its record was 6-9-2. It was coming off two disturbing losses to league fodder Vermont and Rensselaer. Sophomore goaltender J.R. Prestifilippo--last year's ECAC Rookie of the Year--was still feeling the effects of a month-long bout with mononucleosis and was far from 100 percent. Junior Craig Adams, the team's leading scorer to that point, remained sidelined with a sore shoulder.

There was little for the Harvard players to smile about after three months of play, and perhaps that is why the Beanpot became their only refuge.

"We think that this is our chance, we just have to go out and grab it," declared senior Henry Higdon on the eve of the team's first round game against the No. 8 Eagles.

It was a bold statement considering that Harvard was the only competing team not ranked in the top 10 at least once during the season and the only one with a sub-.500 record.

But then again it was the Beanpot, so maybe it was not such a shock when the Crimson stormed back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat B.C. in overtime, and then pushed the second-ranked Terriers to the brink before losing at the 5:51 mark of overtime in the championship game.

For those two magical nights, there was no mention of the ECAC or of the Crimson's continual struggle through its rebuilding period. No, for those precious moments Harvard was the king of the hill.

"I think that there was no question in anyone's mind that we could have won the whole thing," said freshman Harry Schwefel. "We knew that we could beat them, and I think that we showed everyone else that we could have done it, that we could be contenders."

Those two games, however, overshadowed what was yet another frustrating and fruitless run through league play for Harvard, who finished the regular season in fifth place. Aside from the two-game Beanpot reprieve, the Crimson struggled consistently, as its longest regular-season winning streak was three games.

The youngest team in all of Division I hockey, Harvard predictably struggled in the early part of the season. After an impressive 6-5 victory over then-No. 10 Colgate, the Crimson was winless in its next four games. Nonetheless, despite an unimpressive 4-6-1 overall record, Harvard was still in the league hunt heading into the holiday break thanks to a win over St. Lawrence and two wins over Brown.