With one victory already under its belt, the Harvard men's hockey team is in a prime position to notch two more in the win column against perennial foes Dartmouth and Vermont in this weekend's home opener at Bright Arena.

Last Saturday the Crimson unveiled its new and improved system as it posted a gritty 1-0 shutout over Brown.

"The way we won last weekend was great and it will definitely give us some momentum this weekend," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "We're going to face a lot like that over the course of the season and we need to be ready."

Boosted by this winning momentum, Harvard (1-0-0, 1-0 ECAC) is in an excellent position to sweep the Big Green (0-0-0, 0-0 ECAC) and Catamounts (1-1-0, 0-0 ECAC) for the third consecutive time.

Last season, the Crimson swept the pair on the road, coming away from that weekend with a 4-2 victory over Dartmouth, and a 7-6 shootout over Vermont. The Big Green and the Catamounts again fell prey to Harvard at home in the final weekend of the regular season. The Crimson used its sweep to secure the eighth seed for the playoffs.

This year may not be as easy. Dartmouth has been hailed by many pre-season polls as the big sleeper of the ECAC after four straight years of missing the playoffs. And Vermont has the offensive potential to be one of the top-scoring teams in the league.

The Big Green will make its first official appearance on the frozen pond this year. It dropped its only other action, a 3-2 come-from-behind win over McGill.

Laden with blossoming young talent, sophomore Jamie Herrington will pilot the Big Green attack that graduated its two leading scorers from last year, Ryan Chaytors and Curtis Wilgosh.