“We’ve been in the tournament both years I’ve been here. We have so much experience.”

But that experience has included too few wins in crucial games, says team captain Kenny Smith.

“We know how to play the big games, but we haven’t won them,” he said. “We’ve been to a lot of them now, so it’s time to start converting them into wins.”

All the pieces are present to produce wins in key situations—the oft-stated experience, the collected talent (a dozen NHL draft picks), depth at all positions and a challenging nonconference schedule.

Harvard’s schedule, through a quirk of fate, likely includes six teams that are ranked amongst the top 15 in the country, but they are scheduled in a manner that is very beneficial to the Crimson.

The team’s first real test will come just before Thanksgiving when BU makes its way to Bright. A win in the team’s first nonconference game, and against a cross-town rival no less, would set a strong tone for the month of December, when the Crimson will travel to Ithaca, skate at BC and at home against UMass, and in Providence for a holiday tournament against St. Cloud State and (likely) Providence.

All that awaits the Crimson in its first 15 games, and a solid mid-season indicator of the team’s success is the number of wins it has by Jan. 1st. Anything less than a dozen wins from the first 15 will have to be considered a disappointment.

For Harvard to be successful, the loss of Dominic Moore ’03 and Brett Nowak ’03 must be mitigated and the defense must continue to play solidly in front of goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris. The two players on which the burden for the Crimson’s success most heavily falls is junior center Tom Cavanagh and Welch.

While Brendan Bernakevitch and Charlie Johnson adapt to the move from wing to center, Cavanagh must elevate his game. He certainly has the ability; Mazzoleni has heralded him as having “50-point potential,” and he has centered Harvard’s most effective playoff scoring line the last two seasons.

In addition to Cavanagh, Welch must improve upon his performance from a year ago, a year in which he was named an all-American. He garners accolades from opposing coaches wherever he plays. Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet has credited Welch as that rare kind of player who makes all those on the ice with him better, and BC coach Jerry York has labeled him as one of the best rear-guards in the country. But there were times last season when Welch’s youth showed through, primarily when taking a bad penalty. He has, and has shown, the ability to contribute offensively and to dominate his end of the ice. The question now becomes, how consistently can he control a game?

That’s a lot of hypotheticals—if Harvard can win 12 of its first 15 games, if an all-American can improve on his performance from a year ago, if a junior can replace two of the best centers the Crimson has seen in the last decade. If, if, if. Lots of hypotheticals, but lots of possibilities as well. The foremost among those possibilities—the chance to succeed where the last two Harvard hockey teams have not, in the crucial season-making-or-breaking games.

It is, of course, uncertain whether the team will succeed where others have failed, but to be put in that position to succeed, whether it be the ECAC finals or the NCAA tournament, is why players come to Harvard, according to Smith.

“[The senior class] has one chance left, one more Beanpot and one more shot at a national championship,” he said. “We didn’t come here to challenge for the league title and then bow out in the first round of the [NCAA] tournament.

“We came here to win a national championship.”

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.