“Now we just have to get on the ice and do that,” he said.

And yet, there’s even more on the agenda. Namely, making some improvements on the Crimson’s 0-7-1 mark last season against NCAA tournament teams.

As a team that has reasserted its place in college hockey’s upper echelon, it’s fair to judge Harvard by its performance against the nation’s elite. So until those near misses turn into big wins, the Crimson will have difficulty claiming supremacy, within the ECAC or in Boston’s hallowed hockey circles.

The solution? Take the ECAC regular season and tournament titles, and go .500-or-better against the likes of BC, BU, and Cornell. A win or two in the NCAA tournament is a must. And it’s about time for a Beanpot, last won by Harvard in 1993.

Accomplish all of that, and you can strip the “Can’t Win the Big One” label off Bright Hockey Center and chuck it into the dirty Charles.

And as for the Frozen Four…Well, BC is loaded, and two teams that played in one of last year’s national semifinals—Michigan and two-time defending champ Minnesota—both return several key players. Three spots might be locked up already.

But who’s to say that Harvard can’t take the last one? It will have its best defense in years, a third-year starter in underrated goalie Dov Grumet-Morris and a deep well of forwards that can ease the loss of big scorers Dominic Moore ’03 and Brett Nowak ’03.

Plus, the Frozen Four is at the FleetCenter this year. Perfect.

But when asked Monday how far his team has to go in order for this to be a “successful” season, Mazzoleni said, “I don’t think you can always base that statement on how far you go…We definitely have enough challenges to deal with. As crazy as it sounds, you really have to take it one by one.”

And as far as the first one, the ECAC title, Mazzoleni’s team has received a ringing endorsement—or burden—from among its peers. It came in the form of a poll released on a gray Monday in September. At election time this spring, Harvard will try to turn that into a mandate.

So, let the stumping begin. With any luck, it will end in April at the same place where one of 10 Democrats will get a big boost three months later.

—Staff writer Jon P. Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.