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.

Kegley's goal was Wisconsin28th goal of the season. While Harvard was playing its season opener, the Badgers were playing their seventh game in three weeks.

"We put forth a great effort," said Harvard Head Coach Katey Stone. "Even though they had a few more games under their belt, it could hardly be noticed out there."

Wisconsin opened the scoring in the first, just after Hagerman received a holding penalty at 15:19.

Twenty-four seconds later, Badger defenseman Kerry Weiland took advantage of a huge pile-up in front of Kuusisto and squeezed one into the net for a 1-0 lead.

In the third period, with Wisconsin up 2-0, Harvard went to the attack.

At 11:40, sophomore forward Kalen Ingram broke loose from the Badger defense and approached from the left side. With two other teammates flying down the middle, Ingram faked the pass, which drew Wisconsin junior goalie Jackie MacMillan away from the left post, and went five-hole on her, slicing the Wisconsin lead to 2-1.

However, this was all the scoring the Crimson would muster. Later in the third, seeking the game-tying goal, Harvard pulled the goalie to gain the man advantage.

It was of no use, as the Wisconsin defense held its ground, pushed the Crimson back and finally Badger defenseman Nicole Uliasz stole the puck with 55 seconds left to record the empty-net goal for the final score of 3-1.

"We played a solid sixty minutes," said Crimson co-captain Angie Francisco. "We battled but came away with a tough loss."

A large part of Wisconsin's victory was a result of the outstanding play of MacMillan. MacMillan faced 19 shots and stopped 18 of them, many of them in crucial situations.

Her presence was strongly felt in the second period, when the Crimson was trying to claw back into the game.

At 4:18, Harvard received a power play when Weiland was called for a penalty. With the Crimson firing a barrage of shots in an attempt to dent the scoreboard, MacMillan came up big between the pipes, stopping every single one of them.

Later, with one minute left in the period, Crimson senior forward Kiirsten Suurkask broke lose from the crowd and went head- to- head against MacMillan. MacMillan was undaunted and made a sprawling save to keep Harvard off the scoreboard.

"They have a real good goaltender," Stone said.

The Badgers enjoyed a good game from Weiland, who recorded one goal and two assists. Freshman forward Meghan Hunter, the nation's leading scorer, recorded two assists for Wisconsin.

Ingram's unassisted goal provided the only offense for the Crimson, which managed 20 shots against MacMillan. On the other end, Kuusisto faced 17 shots and stopped all but two of them.

"We're still working things out," Ingram said. " There is a lot of good stuff we can take from this game and that's what we have to focus on."

Barring a makeup game against Minnesota later today, the Crimson's next opponent will be the Purple Eagles of Niagara next weekend.