For the Harvard men’s hockey team, returning to the Bright Hockey Center this weekend after four straight road games without a win means that there’s no better place than home.

Yet, facing off against the Crimson (4-4-2, 4-3-1 ECAC) on both Friday and Saturday nights is none another than North Dakota (5-8-1, 4-5-1 WCHA), a team that is much stronger than its losing record suggest. The Fighting Sioux began the season ranked No. 5 in the nation, garnering a first-place vote.

“This weekend is big for us,” co-captain Jimmy Fraser said. “We’re a .500 team right now, and in terms of national rankings it could be huge for us.”

Thanks to the Crimson’s 4-0-0 home record this season, recent history would suggest that conditions are favorable for Harvard as it enters this critical series against an opponent that is tied for seventh in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Building on that strong home record is especially important given that the road-trip losing streak has left the momentum of the Crimson’s season uncertain.

The team begins the second of five straight non-conference games in preparation for the heart of its ECAC schedule, which begins in January and February.

“We feel comfortable at home, and we’ve put together some good games,” senior Ian Tallett said. “We have a young team, and we’ve been going through some growing pains and learning about how hard it is to win on the road.”

The Fighting Sioux are coming into the game after skating against another ECAC foe, Cornell, in a two-game series at Grand Forks.

North Dakota took the first game 7-3, only to fall to Cornell by a score of 2-1 the next night.

North Dakota, which averages 2.57 goals per game compared with a 3.57 goals-against average, is entering Cambridge determined to make its physicality and size a hassle for Harvard, but the Crimson’s players are determined to make this game about their strengths.

“There are definitely systems that every team runs, and you can always talk X’s and O’s in terms of how to defend and get goals,” Fraser said. “But at this point in the season, it’s more about us than our opponent.”

For Harvard, establishing a steady presence in the offensive zone from the opening faceoff is critical to success, and the team hopes that its speed can give it the edge in maintaining a strong forecheck.

“Its not just three guys [playing forward],” junior Alex Biega said. “[The forecheck] starts from our goalie and works up to our D and our forwards. It comes back again to everyone has to do their job.”

This will be the first time that Fraser and the seniors have faced North Dakota since their freshman year, when the Crimson split a pair of games—a 1-0 victory followed by a 3-2 loss—with the Fighting Sioux at Grand Forks in December of 2005.

“Everyone knows they have to perform,” Biega said. “If we can execute and win individually every battle all over the ice, we’re going to make a statement to the nation what kind of team we’re going to be down the road.”

Generating that momentum is critical for the Crimson, especially given that last year’s mid-season losing streak began with a loss to Boston College and a tough stretch of games against non-conference opponents.

“I think it’s just a good opportunity for us to come together as a team against a traditionally powerhouse program,” Tallett said. “We have the opportunity to show to ourselves as well as everybody else that we are going to be a force to reckon with down the stretch, and that’s what this game can really do for us.”

So when the puck drops at 7 p.m. tonight at the Bright, Harvard is determined to ensure that the perfect record at home remains that way.

—Staff writer Robert T. Hamlin can be reached at rhamlin@fas.harvard.edu.