Three games, two sold-out venues, and one ticket to the Beanpot finals await this weekend in a critical litmus test for the men's hockey.

"It is an important part of our ECAC schedule," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "We have to win if we want home ice advantage for the playoffs."

A frantic February for Harvard (7-10-1, 6-6-1) starts off with a bang tonight when Cornell (7-10-1, 4-7-0) hits the ice to battle the Crimson in front of a sold-out crowd at the Bright Hockey Center.

The crucial weekend for Harvard continues Saturday against Colgate (15-6-0, 8-3-0) and concludes Monday at the Fleet Center in a Beanpot contest with cross-town rival No.4 Boston University (15-6-6).

"The game is sold out," Mazzoleni said. "And we're sure that Cornell will have their fans, but I know we'll have our own share of Harvard fans as well."

In one of the bitterest rivalries in Collegiate Hockey, the Big Red has owned the Crimson at Bright Hockey Center. Harvard has not beaten Cornell in Cambridge since 1994.

After a strong start to the season, however, the Crimson and its fans are poised to turn the tables on their foes from Ithaca.

In the team's only trip of the season into the wildernesses of upstate New York, Harvard held on for a close 2-1 victory over the Big Red in one of the Crimson's most well-rounded games this season.

If Harvard is hoping for a repeat performance, however, it may have to do it without two of its best players in the lineup.

Junior center Steve Moore, who is second on the team in scoring with four goals and nine assists, is injured and will likely not dress Friday, although he is hopeful that he will return to the lineup for Saturday's match up with Colgate. Captain Trevor Allman is questionable after suffering a similar injury.

"We're not healthy at the moment," Mazzoleni said. "Allman will be a game time decision and Stevie most likely is out. We've taken Stevie to all kinds of doctors and have done everything for him."

With the absence of Allman and Moore, there will be even more pressure on the freshmen contingent to step up and fill the void.

Specifically, the pressure will be on freshman forward Dominic Moore, Steve 's younger brother, to fill the void along with fellow freshman winger Brett Nowak.

The youngest Moore leads the team in scoring with nine goals and five assists. While Nowak, with four goals and six assists, has fallen slightly behind the team leaders after missing four games with US National team at the World Junior Hockey Championships.

Along with the two freshmen, the Crimson will be looking for a strong performance from junior winger Chris Bala, who has snared four goals and eight assists on the Crimson's top line with the two Moore brothers.

"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.

Since falling to Princeton the first weekend of January, however, the Crimson has lost five of its last seven and has dropped its last three against conference opponents.

Not an auspicious beginning to the millennium for the Crimson, who will be in search of an upset victory against BU in the opening game of the Beanpot tournament Monday night at the sold out Fleet Center.

After winning the tournament for the last five consecutive years, BU is the clear favorite to meet the winner of the Boston College/Northeastern match-up in the final.

However, Harvard does have a chance against BU. Earlier this season, the Crimson gave the Terriers a scare in a narrow 2-1 loss.

"The Beanpot means so much to the whole Harvard hockey community," Mazzoleni said. "From the alumni on down to the community. I know it's a cliche, but you can't place more emphasis on one game than another."