A gaze at the banners hanging from the rafters of Bright Hockey Center reminds everyone of the storied tradition of the 101-year history of the Harvard men's hockey program. The most prominent one commemorates the 1989 national championship.

In this 10th anniversary season of that title, sophomore forwards Harry Schwefel and Steve Moore, along with sophomore defenseman Liam McCarthy, spent the seven-hour bus ride home from No. 6 Clarkson devising their own addition to that tradition.

Perhaps not exactly in the spirit of "Old Time Harvard Hockey", the trio VERMONT  3 HARVARD  5 DARTMOUTH  2 HARVARD  4

proposed bleached blond hair.

Though Vermont (13-16-2, 7-13-2 ECAC) and Dartmouth (10-17-2, 6-14-2) only caught fleeting glimpses of the Crimson's new fluorescent locks, they certainly felt the team unity and pride it was supposed to represent. On the last weekend of the regular season, Harvard (13-14-2, 8-12-2) finally clinched a playoff spot--eighth place--defeating the Catamounts 5-3 on Friday and the Big Green 4-2 on Saturday at the Bright Hockey Center.

"It's like throwing the first punch in a game, taking off your helmet," said junior forward Scott Turco. "It puts us in a position where we have to play better."

Harvard unveiled more than a new hairstyle Friday night. Coach Ronn Tomassoni reshuffled his lines, swapping SteveMoore and freshman Jeff Stonehouse as centers forthe top two scoring lines.

More surprising, Harvard showed off a potentpower play, hitherto struggling along at a 13.9percent clip. The Crimson struck five times withthe man-advantage, converting nearly half of itsopportunities. Both game winners came in man-upsituations.

The sweep elevated Harvard into eighth placeand a first round match-up with Rensselaer. TheCrimson has yet to defeat the Engineers this year,losing 7-4 in Troy, N.Y. and 1-0 at home.

The two victories also evened Harvard's homerecord at 6-6, with the Crimson winning its lastsix games at Bright.

"We have been competing well over the pastcouple months," said captain Craig Adams. "[In theplayoffs], we are going to have to face moreadversity, but you either want it or you don't andI think we do."

Harvard 4, Dartmouth 2

Continuing a tradition considerably older thanblond hair, Saturday was Senior Night at Bright.Adams, defenseman Ben Storey and forwards RobMillar and Clayton Rodgers-who did not play-wereall honored in pre-game ceremonies.

However, the only proper send-off for anysenior class is a victory. And a freshman andsophomore started a three-goal first period thatguaranteed a final home win for the seniors andeighth place-the best scenario the Crimson couldhave asked for coming into the weekend.

Just 49 seconds into the game, Stonehousecleanly won a draw to the right of Dartmouthjunior goaltender Eric Almon. On the left wing,Schwefel picked up the loose puck and walkedunmolested into the slot where he wristed one overAlmon's blocker for an early 1-0 Crimson lead.

"The seniors have put it all on the line forfour years," Stonehouse said. "It was reallyimportant to go out and get this one for them."

Dartmouth tied up the score at 2:51 as freshmanforward Chris Taliercio accelerated over theCrimson blueline and sailed a shot past awell-screened J.R. Prestifilippo, Harvard's juniorgoaltender.

Despite spurts of sloppy passing andmiscommunication, Harvard basically controlledthe play for the rest of the period. The Crimsonbombarded Almon with 20 shots on goal and regainedthe lead at 13:23 off a wrists hot from Turco.

A foolish too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty at16:01 gave the Crimson a chance to show off itsrecharged power play. The eventual game-winninggoal found the back of the net 34 seconds into thefive-on-four.

Moore attempted a cross-ice pass to sophomoreforward Chris Bala down low. The puck deflectedoff Bala and a Dartmouth defender to the front ofthe goal, where Millar had positioned himself fora possible rebound.

The team's No. 2 scorer easily bagged his ninthof the year, snapping a six-game streak without agoal.

"I scored a bit of a garbage goal," Millarsaid. "Moore was trying to pass it and the puckjust popped to me."

The second period became mired in the BigGreen's clutch-and-grab style, creating few chancefor either team. After some shaky moments in thefirst period, Prestifilippo did not have to makeany spectacular saves in the game.

"They do a lot of ugly holding andinterfering," Tomassoni said. "It was nice gettingall those shots in the first. There were a lotmore penalties in the second period and that madeit a bit more ragged."

Stonehouse iced the game at 4:32 of the thirdperiod-on the power play. Junior defenseman MattScorsune blazed down the right wing and fired aperfect pass to Stonehouse on the doorstep that hebanged home.

The freshman played an excellent all aroundgame for the Crimson. Most impressively, he wasdominant on face-offs, an element that Harvard hasstruggled with in almost every game. He lost justone through the first two periods.

"Some nights you have a feel for theface-offs," Stonehouse said. "I got a good readearly on how much the linesmen would let us cheat,and you have to cheat as much as possible."

Freshman Jamie Herrington tacked on a late goalin a loss that eliminated Dartmouth from thepostseason.

"It was really nice to win this one at home,"Adams said. "We haven't won as many here as Iwould have liked but to win the last six wassomething really special."

Harvard 5, Vermont 3

As the old Schoolhouse Rocks song goes, threewas the magic number.

For that elusive playoff spot, Harvard neededits third straight victory over Vermont Friday.

With the score tied 3-3 at 9:02 of the thirdperiod, Steve Moore gave his team the lead forgood with its third power play goal of the night.

Schwefel received the puck down low just insidethe left faceoff circle. He attempted to slip across-ice pass to an open Stonehouse. A Vermontdefender deflected the feed, but it came right toMoore, who buried it from in front of the net.

That was the climax of one of Moore's bestgames of the year-two goals and two assists.

"It was a great win," Tomassoni said. "We cameup with three [man-advantage goals]. The powerplay was real big for us tonight."

The goal vindicated a persistent Crimson teamwho had trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 through the firsthalf of the game.

The momentum really began shifting Harvard'sway at 16:16 of the second when Turco moved in onVermont sophomore goaltender Andrew Allen off acollapsed off-man rush. Turco deked to hisbackhand and rung it topshelf.

"We were never smart enough to put it away,"Vermont Coach Mike Gilligan said. "As soon as[Harvard] tied it up, they had the momentum andour guys heads went down."

Turco's goal erased some personal demons. Overthe past couple of weeks, he had numerous goldenchances but had struggled to even hit the net.

However, the goal's flashy style seemed out ofcharacter for his line with fellow juniors TrevorAllman and Brett Chodorow. The unit prides itselfon establishing a presence along the boards,banging and cycling its way to create chances andwas highly effective all weekend long.

"I've had a lot of opportunities lately, it'snice to finally bury one," Turco said. "Our linereally enjoys playing together. We try and get itdown there and get things going."

Vermont pressed in the closing minutes of theperiod for its fourth lead of the game. ButPrestifilippo stood on his head, diving everywhereto keep the game tied.

In a wild last twenty seconds, sophomoredefenseman Graham Morrell failed to convert on abreakaway and the Catamounts swarmed down the ice.Prestifilippo came out of his goal to cut down theangle of sophomore defenseman Martin Wilde's shotfrom the center point.

The rebound popped to the Catamounts' leadingscorer, Stephane Piche, at the right of the juniornetminder. Piche seemed to have an empty net, but"Presto" lunged and batted the shot away with hisstick as time expired. Prestifilippo stopped 29 of32 Vermont shots on the evening.

The sequence sent the evenly divided crowd of2,677 to its feet.

"They were big saves and they were also timelysaves," Tomassoni said. "It's a real big boostwhen your goaltender makes saves like that. Andit's just as big a momentum swing for the otherteam as well."

The Crimson rolled for most of the thirdperiod, grinding along the boards and out-workingthe Catmounts for most loose pucks. The Stonehouseline set the tone with a dominant shift threeminutes into the final period, followed by theusual effort from the Allman unit.

With five minutes left in the game, Vermontstarted to pin Harvard in its own zone, butPrestifilippo proved equal to the task.

The Crimson iced the game at the two-minutewarning. Adams pushed a Vermont player off thepuck along the right boards and found freshmanforward Derek Nowak, whom Tomassoni had moved upto the top line for defensive purposes. Nowakone-timed the feed past Allen for his first careergoal.

The top line for Vermont grabbed the first twogoals. Freshman Graham Mink scored both of them onassists from sophomores Phlippe Choiniere andKevin Karlander. The second goal at 17:31 came ona five-on-three power play. Ryan Cox bagged thethird Vermont goal at 3:11 of the second period.

Moore deflected a shot from Storey with 33seconds left in the first for a critical goal todraw Harvard within one. Scorsune boomed a shot onthe power play for Harvard's second goal.

"This was a time when it was on the line,"Moore said. "We had to put up or we were done. Itwas an impressive show of the character of theteam."CrimsonSeth H. PerlmanTHE PUCK STOPS HERE:Junior goalieJ.R. PRESTIFILIPPO had a good weekend, stopping 56shots in Harvard's two home wins over Dartmouthand Vermont. The opposition was only 2-of-11 onpower plays.

HARVARD, 5-3at Bright Hockey CenterVermont  2  1  0  -  3Harvard  1  2  2  -  5

First PeriodVer-Mink (Choiniere, Karlander) 7:50.Ver-Mink (Choiniere, Karlander) 17:31 (PPG)Har-S. Moore (Storey, Scorsune) 19:27.(PPG)

Second PeriodVer-Cox 3:11.Har-Scorsune (S. Moore, Bala) 7:37.Har-Truco (Allman, Morrell) 16:16.

Third PeriodHar-S. Moore (Schwefel, Storey) 9:02 (PPG)Har-Nowak (Adams. S. Moore) 18:00.Saves:Ver-Allen 7-9-9 25; Har-Prestifilippo12-12-5 29.Power Play:Ver-1/6; Har-2/6.Attendance:2, 677

HARVARD, 4-2at Bright Hockey CenterHarvard  3  0  1  -  4Dartmouth  1  0  1  -  2

First PeriodHar-Schwefel (Stonehouse) 0:49.Dar-Taliercio (Casella) 2:51.Har-Turco (Chodorow, Allman) 13:23.Har-Millar (Bala, S. Moore) 16:35. (PPG)

Third PeriodHar-Stonehouse (Scorsune) 4:32. (PPG)Dar-Herrington (Maturo, Byrne) 18:35. (PPG)Saves:Dar-Almon 17-12-6 35;Har-Prestifilippo 11-8-8 27.Power Play:Dar-1/5; Har-2/5.Attendance:2, 281