The Harvard women's hockey season got off to a disappointing start, but it also began with a bang.

The No. 5 Crimson (0-1-0) dropped the season opener at Bright Hockey Center against No. 7 Wisconsin (6-1-0) on Saturday, 3-1, and then never got a chance to play No. 2 Minnesota (5-2-0) yesterday because both of the Bright Zambonis apparently caught fire during pregame ice-surfacing.

There is an outside chance that Harvard and Minnesota will play today. If not, it is unlikely that they will be able to reschedule the game for later in the season.

However, Harvard was not able to reschedule the Wisconsin game, which it played without its two most dangerous offensive threats. The result was that the Badgers came away with the victory, turning the tables on last season's 3-1 loss to the Crimson in Madison.

Harvard's star forwards, senior winger Tammy Shewchuk, the conference's leading scorer last year, and junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill, last season's ECAC Player of the Year, were both absent from the game because of commitments with Team Canada, which is playing in the Four Nations Cup. Botterill and Shewchuk will not rejoin the team until after this weekend's two-game series at No. 10 Niagara.

The game- winning goal for Wisconsin came at 11:40 of the second period. At 9:57, Crimson sophomore forward Tracy Catlin received a checking penalty. Thirty seconds before that penalty expired, sophomore defenseman Jamie Hagerman was called for high-sticking.

This set up a two-man advantage for the Badgers, who quickly made good use of it.

Thirteen seconds into the advantage, Wisconsin left winger Kelly Kegley set up just in front of the crease and blasted one past Crimson goaltender Alison Kuusisto's right side for a 2-0 lead.