This is not the first chapter in a new start for Harvard hockey. Overtimes willing, it won’t be the last chapter in this team’s season, either. This is simply another step in a master plan which is unfolding quite nicely for men’s hockey coach Mark Mazzoleni.

Harvard is back in the NCAA tournament and it appears it may be there for a while.

It has been eight years since the Crimson last advanced past the ECAC Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. to the NCAA bracket. That was the final year of a run that saw Harvard qualify for the tournament in nine of 11 seasons, advance four times to the Frozen Four and win a national championship in 1989.

Every Crimson hockey fan hopes the future looks a lot like its past. This newest NCAA splash is not expected to be a one-shot deal, but part of a rekindled Harvard hockey dynasty.

“From ’84 to ’95, Harvard was always one of those teams that was in it,” Mazzoleni says. “If we can get this thing rolling again, we can be one of those teams that is in it every year, and when you’re knocking every year it shows.”

With eight freshmen, nine sophomores, three juniors and three seniors, this is a young team.

It also happens to be talented, with back-to-back deep recruiting classes around which the nucleus of the team is built.

Mazzoleni, who came to Harvard at the start of the 1999-2000 season, has been the catalyst for this rebirth.

Upon his arrival, he brought a new staff and new attitude to this team. That has made all the difference.

“We changed the whole culture of the hockey program,” Mazzoleni says. “We brought in winners...and we sold that to our kids.”

With a new coaching staff and a fresh direction, Mazzoleni was able to pitch his vision for the Crimson to potential recruits. They have wholeheartedly bought into the plan.

His recruiting efforts have already started to reap rewards. Freshman center Tom Cavanagh was the hero in the ECAC semifinal against Clarkson. A night later, it was sophomore winger Tyler Kolarik who potted the overtime winner to claim the ECAC title over Cornell.

Nevertheless, the seniors and juniors recruited prior to Mazzoleni’s tenure have been just as important a part of this team’s success.

“I made the decision in [my] first year to give the older kids every opportunity,” Mazzoleni says. “It is a mistake to give it to a freshman who hasn’t done squat to deserve it against a guy who’s worked for it.”

Mazzoleni’s approach stems from his days as a goaltender at Michigan State.