As it prepares for this weekend's ECAC playoff shodown with Cornell, the Harvard men's hockey team (15-14-2, 14-8-2 ECAC) can scarce afford to bask in the glory of its postseason accolades. It is a luxury the team will gladly do without.

College hockey's awards week began yesterday as the Ivy League recognized five Crimson skaters. Freshman Tim Pettit was named Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Year, while sophomore Dominic Moore was named to the All-Ivy First Team. Senior goaltender Oli Jonas and junior defenseman Pete Capouch came away with Second-Team honors. Assistant captain Chris Bala received Honorable Mention All-Ivy status..

"It's great anytime when you get an award like this," Bala said. "It reflects on the guys who play around you everyday, on the team as a whole."

Although the performance of Moore, last year's prized rookie, this season was hardly surprising, Pettit's emergence this season was unexpected by many Harvard hockey followers.

The freshman came out of nowhere to notch three goals and three assists in Ivy play this year, despite missing two games against Princeton and Yale due to a knee injury.

Although the Ivy League recognized Pettit today, the freshman phenom's chief contributions came in critical non-Ivy ECAC games where he made the most of increased ice-time to help pull the slumping Crimson out of its scoring drought.

Pettit was named ECAC Rookie of the Week twice this season.

"The first word a lot of people use when talking about Tim is surprise,'" Bala said. "But he's just done his job from day one, and it's been a treat to play with him. He makes other players around him better."