What this means is that there are a glut of equally-ranked teams above the Crimson. This confusing system also means that, for Harvard, there are (apologies to "The Three Amigos") a plethora of playoff possibilities.

There is good news, though, for Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. The logjam means that the Crimson still controls its own destiny to get home-ice advantage in the first round, despite being in seventh with two games to play.

Without getting bogged down in an NFL-playoff style description of each and every nuance, several situations will let Harvard get the coveted home ice. A weekend sweep puts the Crimson at 10-9-2 for a winning percentage of .524. The win over RPI would place the Engineers at best with a .500 percentage, giving Harvard at least sixth place.

The results of other ECAC action, including Dartmouth's (9-13-4, 8-8-3) weekend at St. Lawrence and Clarkson and Princeton's games against Cornell (11-12-2,8-9-1) and Colgate (20-7-1,13-4-1), ensure that some teams ahead of Harvard must lose and therefore move backwards in the standings.

The Crimson, then, would move up at least one more place, to fifth, good for home ice for the best-of-three first round series against the sixth-place team.

The key for the Crimson is sweeping the weekend, as losses could send Harvard as low ninth place. Finishing in eighth or ninth would potentially mean a long road trip to upstate New York, significantly decreasing the team's chances of advancing to Lake Placid for the next round.

Not too long ago, things weren't looking that good for the Crimson. A spectacular weekend against Yale and Princeton, along with a possible weekend sweep, has given Harvard the kind of momentum that Bill Bradley can only pray for.