When Harvard men’s hockey coach Mark Mazzoleni refers to his team as a “work in progress,” he probably has

weekends like this past one in mind.

After dropping a 4-2 decision on Saturday night to a Brown team picked by many to finish near the bottom of the ECAC, the Crimson, ranked 11th in the nation going into the weekend, rebounded against No. 15 Dartmouth with a 5-2 win last night to complete its first series of the 2001-02 season.

Call it the first lesson this season for a young Harvard team that includes 18 freshmen and sophomores.

Whereas the Crimson tried to force things to the middle against Brown, they played a much more patient game last night.

“We got to [Dartmouth’s] net and utilized our points. We didn’t force it down low and got good second chance

opportunities,” Mazzoleni said. “Last night we lost our poise, but tonight we stuck with what we had to do.”

Brown 4, Harvard 2

The Crimson drew first blood on Saturday night.

As the Crimson skated with a five-on-three advantage midway through the first period, junior Dominic Moore worked his position on the point to perfection. He collected a pass from freshman defenseman Noah Welch a few feet inside the blue line and beat Brown goaltender Brian Eklund with a blast low to his glove side for a 1-0 lead 12:04 into Harvard’s season.

And while the remainder of the first frame saw several hard hits and a five-on-three power play for the Bears, it

didn’t include any more scoring, but the second period did.

Just a couple of minutes in, Brown winger Keith Kirley found linemate Tye Korbl wide open in the slot. Korbl

then put a one-timer past Harvard goaltender Will Crothers to tie the game at the 2:20 mark of the period.