After a successful weekend in the northern reaches of New York state, the Harvard Crimson are back skating on the friendly ice of Bright Hockey Center in preparation for tonight's game against Brown.

The Crimson split their weekend series, dropping the game against Saint Lawrence 6-3 before rebounding against Clarkson 3-1. Harvard (5-3-1, 4-2-1 ECAC) currently has nine points in ECAC play, enough to tie the Crimson for first place with rival Cornell.

Harvard is still present in the national hockey rankings, despite the weekend split. The USA Today Men's Division I hockey poll found the Crimson holding the No. 13 spot in the top 15. Yale falls two below the Crimson with a No. 15 ranking, while Union, the only ECAC team ahead of Harvard, is sitting pretty at No. 11.

Harvard last played Brown in the season opener on November 3, a game the Crimson won 3-0. In that game, sophomore forward Dominic Moore scored the game-winning goal and added an assist to lead the Crimson. Captain Steve Moore and senior forward Chris Bala also tallied goals in the season opening win.

In that game against Brown, senior goalie Oliver Jonas recorded 28 saves and shutout Brown for the full sixty minutes. The shutout was the first of Jonas' career.

"Brown is a dangerous team because they are playing well, and they are still looking for their first (ECAC) win of the season," said junior defenseman Peter Capouch.

The game against Brown (1-6-2, 0-5-2 ECAC) will be the first in net for freshman back-up netminder Will Crothers. Crothers, a highly touted recruit, has yet to see action for the Crimson due to the near-stellar play of starting goalie Jonas.

"You need to give Will the opportunity," Capouch said. "Ollie has been playing great, but Will needs to step in and get experience in the net."

Crothers, despite starting against a relatively weak Brown squad, may face significant offensive pressure. Jonas was forced to make 77 saves over the weekend, and Crothers may encounter difficulty if the Crimson's defense allows so many shots tonight.

"We are gonna play hard in front of Will," Capouch said. "Will has got to be confident enough to step in if he's needed."

Crothers did not seem at all fazed by the possibility of facing a barrage of shots.

"I am very confident in my defense," Crothers said. "I'm certainly looking forward to playing tonight; the nerves haven't set in yet."

The game starts tonight at 7. The Crimson will then face Vermont on Saturday in Burlington. Vermont (6-4-0, 4-0-0 ECAC) beat Harvard 5-3 early this season.

Notes

Sophomore forward Brett Nowak was named to the 2001 US National Junior team on Tuesday. The National Junior team will compete at the International Ice Hockey Championships in Russia later this month. Nowak was also named to last year's Junior National team that competed in Sweden.