After a season of playing catch-up with the ECAC leaders, the Harvard men's hockey team is finally back on level ground. Sort of.

With post-season play underway this weekend, the Crimson (13-14-2, 8-12-2 ECAC) is no longer vying for a playoff position.

Thanks to the pair of home wins that Harvard notched last weekend against Vermont and Dartmouth, the Crimson has avoided the dreaded seven-hour bus ride up to the North Country.

However, eighth-place Harvard is still heading to Troy, N.Y. to face off tonight against third-place Rensselaer (20-10-2, 13-7-2 ECAC) in the first round of the ECAC playoffs.

In the first-round format, the first team to total three points advances. The Crimson will skate tonight and Saturday, and in the event that the series is tied 2-2, on Sunday.

The Crimson has a great deal of confidence coming off last weekend's effort, when it swept two games at home. Harvard, with six flawless finishes at Bright Hockey Arena to end the home-ice advantage for the season, will use that momentum to its advantage.

"We're riding a high wave of confidence right now," said sophomore defenseman Liam McCarthy. "It's great to sweep our last home games of the season. It's definitely a nice boost to our morale."

The momentum that Harvard has to build off from last weekend should prove to be to the Crimson's advantage. RPI, always a dangerous force in the ECAC, had a rough weekend on the road.

Overtime hurt RPI badly last Friday night, as it fell to Princeton in a 4-3 loss. The Engineers' star scorer Danny Riva netted two goals on the night, but it wasn't enough to propel RPI over the Tigers.