Years ago, hordes of Crimson hockey faithful streamed across the Charles River, making Harvard's Bright Hockey Center one of the most feared rinks in the ECAC. Even without the fish and the newspapers, the Crimson crazies of decades past easily rivaled the hundreds of dedicated Cornell fans who make the annual pilgrimage to Cambridge religiously.

Of course, the fans had more than enough reason to make the trip to Bright. With former head coach and athletic director William Cleary '56 at the helm during that decade, Harvard picked up a pair of ECAC championships at Lake Placid, advanced to the NCAA tournament seven times and earned the Crimson's only national championship during the 1988-89 campaign.

Those years were the pinnacle of Harvard hockey greatness. The Crimson inspired as much awe and respect in college hockey circles during the 1980's as Wisconsin, Minnesota and local rivals Boston College and Boston University.

Unfortunately, the program hit a few stumbling blocks after its decade of glory, and the overwhelming fan support from the college and community began to taper off. Gaps in the student section were common, and a sellout of Bright's 2,776 seats became a rare and disheartening phenomenon.

But for the first time in years, it appears that Harvard Hockey--and its core of fan support--is making a comeback.

"We're having a winning year right now, and we're in contention for the league championship. I hope people would give us a look," said Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni. "We appreciate the support and understand that it takes time to win people's support back."

We saw a taste of it back in November, when a raucous crowd packed into Bright for the Crimson's Thanksgiving weekend contest against B.C. With a 4-3 win over B.U. under its belt, Harvard almost extended its streak to the Eagles, falling to B.C. 3-2 in extra minutes.

And, in what would be a welcome trend, we saw it again last weekend in the Crimson's homestand against Colgate and Cornell. Over 2,400 fans packed the house Friday night to witness Harvard skate to a 4-1 victory over the Red Raiders. Not even an inch of standing room was available on Saturday, as a sellout crowd watched the Crimson battle to 2-1 loss to the Big Red.