"When you have traditional rivals, you expect something extra," Mazzoleni said. "But we have eight conference games left and Division I athletes shouldn't need the extra motivation to get up for anything."

Hoping to derail Harvard's hopes of breaking the losing streak is the senior pair of forwards Ryan Moynihan and Mike Rutter.

Moynihan leads the Big Red with eight goals and 10 assists, while Rutter is hot on his classmate's heels after snaring seven goals and 11assists through 18 games this season.

Cornell, who has fallen far since its days as a hockey powerhouse, slides into Cambridge on the tail end of a three-game losing streak after dropping both match-ups in a home-and-home series with Colgate.

In the second game of the home-and-home series, a 4-2 win for Colgate, 10 players were booted from the game with misconducts for fighting, including Colgate senior netminder Shep Harder.

After Harvard bids farewell to Cornell, the Crimson will see if it can fare better than the Big Red did against Colgate on Saturday night.

However, the Crimson will have all it can handle against Colgate, who sports the second-best record in the ECAC.

The showdown with Colgate comes at a bad time for Harvard, who was atop the ECAC standings itself just a month ago.