"I think the only people who believed we could finish in third were the team and the coaches," Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "I give credit to the kids because they've been resilient and continue to get better over the past three weeks."

With the dust finally settling around the league and the regular season standings in the books, the pairings for the ECAC Quarterfinals are official: the Crimson plays host to the Elis for the second straight week, as Yale returns to Cambridge for its first-round matchup against Harvard.

"I think it's nice for us to be in the driver's seat a little bit," Moore said. "It's difficult to win the playoffs but it's extremely difficult to win on the road. We went to R.P.I. my sophomore year and played extremely well, but ended up losing. We played really well last year at Cornell but we still ended up losing. Hopefully having it at home this year will make a difference for us."

Since the conference's inception back in the 1960s, the Crimson has never drawn Yale in the quarterfinals. However, the Ivy foes have gone head-to-head in later playoff rounds, including most recently a 4-1 Crimson victory in the 1997-98 ECAC consolation game.

Few post-season pairings would leave Harvard in a better position heading into the quarterfinals. Most of Harvard's realistic playoff possibilities, including Princeton and Union, are well-known for playing physically and disrupting fast-paced teams.

Even though Princeton could not pull out a win over Harvard, the Tigers battled back both physically and mentally from a 2-0 deficit early in the game to pull within striking distance by equalizing the score in the final frame.

"Hitting is the trademark of our team," Princeton Coach Len Quesnelle said. "Hitting people and playing in their faces is our best chance to compete. Tonight was a very physical game from both sides."