The Crimson's countless offensive weapons are going to produce scoring opportunities. To win in the conference semifinals and championship game, however, Harvard will need to convert those opportunities and not allow its opponents to score in transition. Against Dartmouth, that means overcoming an aggressive forecheck in the defensive zone and controlling the tempo on offense.

Bottom line: one dominant period of hockey won't bring home a conference championship. A fast start is great, but the Crimson must sustain a high level of play for the entire game to defend its title.

The good news is that Harvard has been coming closer and closer to 60 minutes of dominant hockey in the last month. Since defeating Northeastern in overtime in the Beanpot championship game Feb. 15, the Crimson has won all six of its games, and only two of those victories were by less than three goals. Although it struggled to a 2-2-1 record in the first five games after intercession, Harvard appears to be peaking at the right time for a conference title.

"We have had our ups and downs this season, but that happened early on," said sophomore defenseman Angela Ruggiero, who turned the hat trick Saturday and is as hot as any blueliner in the country right now. "But we have momentum now and we are building confidence game by game. Our team knows what it feels like to win it all, and we want to have that feeling again."

Harvard has not felt the joy of beating Dartmouth since it smeared the Big Green, 7-1, in last year's conference semifinal.

If the Crimson takes advantage of its superior talent for all 60 minutes on Saturday, it should coast into the conference championships and secure an invitation to the AWCHA national championship tournament the following weekend.