Never does this contrast become clearer for the Crimson than during its annual trip to the North Country, a seven-hour sojourn that takes the team’s 22-member travel squad from the heart of Greater Boston to within a stone’s throw of the St. Lawrence River.

These are two entirely different places in every possible way. In Cambridge, drivers become angry when the Ford Focus in front of them tries to turn left onto JFK during rush hour. In the North Country, drivers seem surprisingly patient while stuck behind an Amish buggy in the no-passing zone of a winding, two-lane road.

In Cambridge, you eat at pizzerias where the guy behind the counter asks what you want by yelling, “Who’s-a-next!” In the North Country, the big-haired waitress who takes your order snaps her gum and asks, “And what can I getchas ta eat?”

Even after you’re through with the culture shock, you still have to play two hockey games in packed, partisan rinks. It’s no wonder Harvard has swept Clarkson and St. Lawrence on the road exactly once since the 1992-1993 season.

“Everyone knows this is not an easy road trip,” Mazzoleni said.

And, given the way the ECAC standings look, it’s probably a good thing the Crimson endured it when it did. Harvard figures to be playing more important road games quite soon.

The Crimson has been mathematically eliminated from receiving one of the four first-round byes, meaning it will need to win two best-of-three series—at least one of which will be on the road—in order to reach the ECAC semifinals for the fourth straight year.

That will not be easy. If Harvard gets past its first-round opponent—and that is a big if, given how well the league’s bottom teams have played in recent weeks—it will play its next series at one of five schools: Colgate, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth or Rensselaer.

The Crimson is 1-3-1 at those road sites this season, the lone win coming at Colgate—the unlikeliest quarterfinal opponent of the bunch.

CLEAN SLATE

This is the time of year when folks can see how benevolent ECAC hockey is in comparison to, say, Ivy League basketball.

You’re an Ivy hoops team with five league losses? Kiss your postseason hopes goodbye.

You’re a winless ECAC hockey team? Come on in. We’ve got room for all 12.

Say what you will about what that does to the competitiveness of the ECAC regular season for teams not in the running for an at-large NCAA bid, but this much is clear: Right now, a dozen teams know that if they win the tournament, they’ll play in the NCAAs.

One of them is Harvard, whose regular season has been a disappointment in virtually every way possible. But, as of one week from now, that won’t matter. Everyone on the team—every coach, every player—will gladly wipe clean what has become a cluttered blackboard.