"The players want to learn how things are done. [But] once they're on the ice, I don't control them."

According to current Crimson captain Trevor G. Allman '00, Mazzoleni's strategy will gel with Harvard's players.

"We're pleased and excited," Allman said. "We have a really offensive team and I think it will work well with [Mazzoleni's] open style."

Allman and the nine other senior players will return this fall to a Harvard squad that has not had a winning season since its 1994 NCAA tournament appearance.

"I think change is always positive," Allman said. "It's a new beginning for everyone. A lot of people have said this and that about our team, and now it's up to us to go out and win some games."

"It's their team," Mazzoleni added of the players. "They are the ones who have agonized these past few years."

Mazzoleni has not yet decided who to name as assistant coaches for the team. He plans to meet this Sunday with players, trainers and other support staff.

"Right now I need to assess the present," he said. "My feeling is that there have been many positives over the past few years--it hasn't been all negatives. It's now my job to figure out what those positives are."

About thirty administrators, alumni and former players attended Wednesday's press conference to welcome the new coach, including Hobey Baker winner B. Lane MacDonald '88-'89, who captained the 1989 NCAA championship team, and NHL player Ted E. Drury, class of 1993.

A native of Green Bay, Wisc., Mazzoleni and his wife Karen have four children: Paul, 16, Ann, 10, Tom, 7 and Mike, 5