Friday night's matchup against Dartmouth at Thompson Arena was an all too familiar repeat of the Crimson's performance against Boston College in the first round of the annual Beanpot Tournament.

But the Big Green (10-10-2, 7-6-2 ECAC) are not ranked No. 2 in the country.

The Harvard men's hockey team suffered its worst defeat in over twenty years this weekend, falling 7-0 to a surging Dartmouth squad. The last time the Crimson (10-11-1, 9-6-1 ECAC) fared so poorly was an 11-3 loss to Cornell during the 1978-79 season.

"We played a very good hockey team tonight, and we played well." Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said. "We got the puck to bounce our way, we got some key goals and some great stops early in that game. The score is definitely not indicative of the Harvard team, so they'll be back."

Perhaps the most improved squad in the ECAC, Dartmouth has continued to rack up bragging rights throughout the league and in non-conference action.

The Big Green had not gotten a win over Harvard since the 1995-96 season, when Dartmouth picked up a pair of victories over the Crimson.

"Coach Mazzoleni would probably say that they lost to a good team," Gaudet said. "It probably stings to lose to Dartmouth but we're trying to change that."

"You have to give credit to them," Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "They out-played us, out-coached us, out-everythinged us. They were on every loose puck and they beat us to every loose puck.