Junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris (30) and junior defenseman Ryan Lannon (20) reach to stop a puck during Saturday's Game 2 win over Brown, while freshman forward Ryan Maki (14) looks on.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Now can we make the comparison?

For over a month, since the Harvard men’s hockey team regained its pulse with a five-goal third period at Yale, players and coaches have successfully weaved their way through the questions.

“Think you guys can do it again?”

“Notice any similarities between this and two years ago?”

“Does it feel the same in the locker room?”

The answer has been the same each time: “Sure, it helps the confidence, but this is a different team.”

Different team? Definitely. Different circumstances? Debatable.

The Crimson is Albany-bound after bouncing the defensive-minded Brown Bears and expert puckstopper Yann Danis from the ECAC playoffs in a 4-2, 3-2 overtime quarterfinal sweep at Meehan Auditorium this weekend. Harvard has won seven of its last nine and five straight heading into Friday’s ECAC semifinal against Dartmouth.

The Big Green is 14-9-9 after a three-game series win over Rensselaer but winless (0-6-2) in its last eight against the Crimson.

This makes four straight ECAC semifinal berths for the current seniors. The last class to do that didn’t stop until they won a fairly important piece of hardware in St. Paul—the 1989 NCAA Championship.

But that, of course, isn’t the piece of Harvard hockey lore these guys have been hearing about for weeks. They’re being asked if they can duplicate the magical 2002 ECAC championship, won on three overtime thrillers, including the two longest games in school history.

That year, the Crimson stumbled to an 11-14-4 regular season and swept Brown in the playoffs (Game 2 in double-overtime) to reach the semis.

This year, the Crimson stumbled to a 12-14-3 regular season and swept Brown in the playoffs (Game 2 in overtime) to reach the semis.

It’s getting harder and harder to resist the comparison.

“Well, this one went one overtime, and the other one went two overtimes,” pointed out junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris.