Harvard has had difficulty over the course of the season with bigger opponents.

In response, the Crimson will play a run-and-chip style game, alternating between skating up the middle and shooting the puck hard up the boards and fighting for it in the neutral zone. Because the Big Red's system presses four players forward, should the Crimson solve it, it will result in numerous odd-man rushes.

"If we can get into a transition game, we can be successful," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "But we're not going to be overly creative in breaking the puck out of the zone."

Even if the Big Red forecheck proves effective, it should find goals much harder to come by than it did at Bright. Despite scoring the third most goals in the ECAC, Cornell has one of the lowest shooting percentages in the conference. Moreover, Prestifilippo has been playing some of the best hockey of his career down the stretch, giving up just seven goals in Harvard's last four games. He will probably have to steal at least one game for the Crimson to advance.

Cornell will look to a trio of seniors to actually convert on whatever chances it receives. Mike Rutter, Doug Stienstra, and Ryan Moynihan lead the Big Red in scoring with 27, 26 and 24 points, respectively.

For the Crimson, the offense is led by its top line of junior center Steve Moore, senior winger Scott Turco and junior winger Harry Schwefel. Moore--who led the Crimson in scoring during the regular season for the third straight year--has found his offensive game down the stretch. He will have to be a menacing force, especially because he absorbs body checks better than any player on the team.

Harvard, though, will need contributions from its other lines as well. Junior winger Chris Bala and freshman winger Brett Nowak have each showed signs of bursting out of their January and February slumps over the past four games. Nowak scored his first goal since Nov. 27 last Friday against Union.