"This is routine for them, and sometimes that gives a certain team an advantage," Mazzoleni said. "A team that hasn't been there gets caught up in all the hoopla and all the extracurricular things."

This will not be the Crimson's first huge game against Cornell. The Big Red defeated Harvard, 2-1, in a battle first place in the ECAC at Bright last month. That loss sent Harvard into a tailspin, as it would go on to lose four more games in a row.

"We didn't have one of our better nights that night," said Harvard captain Steve Moore. "We've gotten a lot better as a team since then."

The Big Red features a stifling, physical defense that allows only two goals a game in conference play. All-Ivy selection Doug Murray leads the blueliners, with five goals and ten assists on the year.

Cornell's last line of defense is no less stingy. All-Ivy Goaltender Matt Underhill has stopped over 92% of shots this season, allowing a paltry 1.80 goals a game.

After a twelve-goal bonanza in last weekend's sweep of Yale, the Crimson figures to have a tough time scoring in today's game. To beat the Big Red, Harvard will have to create traffic in front of the net and hope to convert on some rebounds.

"We're going to need to get some pucks to the net and get people away from the puck onto the net," Moore said. "We didn't do that as much as we planned in the last two games against them."