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What a difference a goal makes.

A year ago, Jimmy Vesey lifted a deflected puck over the right pad of Yale goaltender Alex Lyon in New Haven. The double-overtime strike clinched the ECAC quarterfinal series for the Harvard men’s hockey team and set up the Crimson’s conference title in Lake Placid the very next week.

In a Players’ Tribune article last week, Vesey identified the quarterfinal victory as the tipping point in his decision to forgo a pro deal with the Nashville Predators and return to Cambridge for his senior season. The column, an emotional ode to Harvard and college hockey, conveniently coincided with the NHL trade deadline, in which Nashville General Manager David Poile avoided any major acquisitions to preserve an open roster spot for his team’s prized draft pick.

Vesey’s admission might have prompted some particularly passionate (or neurotic) Predators fans to ponder an alternate reality—one in which Vesey never scored that goal. One in which Vesey signed with Nashville last March, slid into the Predators’ top-six forward rotation in April, bridged the difference in those overtime losses to Chicago, and boosted Nashville to a Stanley Cup championship in June.

While the Music City can only dream, the goal’s impact on Vesey’s present team is clear. As Harvard prepares to host Rensselaer in Game 1 of the 2016 edition of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals later today, Vesey and company are no longer frustrated underachievers. They’re defending champions.

The role change comes with new expectations and opportunities. A series win this weekend would all but assure Harvard a spot in the NCAA regionals, earning the program its first tournament berths in consecutive years since 2006. Meanwhile, a sweep of the next two weekends would place this Crimson squad among Harvard’s best. In the 53-year history of the ECAC tournament, Harvard has yet to win back-to-back postseason titles.

For Vesey in particular, the next two weekends offer an opportunity to cement a special legacy.

Last year, the Charlestown native scored an ECAC tournament-record nine goals over seven games in perhaps the most dominant individual performance of the entire NCAA postseason. This year, Vesey again finds himself in the national player of the year conversation after a consistent regular season punctuated by flashes of brilliance, but the co-captain has yet to string together a stretch of play that quite matches his effort from last March.

Harvard men’s hockey has churned out a long line of all-time great alumni. If I had to rank them, I’d place the national players of the year and Olympic gold medalists—Lane MacDonald ’89, the Fusco Brothers and the Cleary Brothers—firmly in a top tier of greatness. Joe Cavanagh ’71, C.J. Young ’90, Dominic Moore ’03, and Alex Killorn ’12 are among other stars of yesteryear who could factor into a first- or second-tier conversation.

Vesey already ranks among the greats. He currently sits tied for fifth with Dan DeMichele ’71 on the Crimson’s all-time goal list at 77 scores, seven behind Young and 34 behind MacDonald. It’s just a question of what tier. Another title would go a long way, but that will require besting a deep ECAC headed by the nation’s No. 1 team.

The final measure of Harvard’s season—and Vesey’s collegiate career—will be taken sometime over the next four weekends. A single goal might make all the difference.

Let’s take a look at this weekend’s quarterfinal match-ups:

CORNELL AT QUINNIPIAC

In a clash between old-hockey snobs and new-hockey snobs, Cornell will need to double Quinnipiac’s season loss total to get out of Hamden alive. Meanwhile the nation’s top-ranked Bobcats are still in search of their first ECAC postseason win after collecting their third regular season title in four years.

Last year, Quinnipiac sniper Sam Anas missed the conference final four after a lower-body injury in the previous round. Harvard took advantage in Lake Placid, opening up an early three-goal lead and not letting go despite a Bobcat surge in the second period.

Expect Anas to have better luck this time. The Bobcats arguably wound up with the toughest draw this weekend, but their speed and finesse should be too much for the hard-hitting Big Red.

Pick: Quinnipiac in two.

DARTMOUTH AT YALE

Remember when Harvard beat Dartmouth 7-0 in Hanover on Halloween? You probably don’t because you were out doing the Monster Mash in your “sexy Donald Trump” costume.

Since then, the inconceivable has become conceivable. Trump is on track to clinch the nomination, and Dartmouth has a shot at the NCAA tournament.

But just as Trump can’t risk a brokered convention, Dartmouth can’t count on an at-large bid. This Big Green team has shown resilience, but its season ends in New Haven.

Pick: Yale in three.

CLARKSON AT ST. LAWRENCE

The Clarskon Golden Knights will bus 10 miles down U.S. route 11 today to write another chapter in the greatest hockey rivalry that 300 people care about.

In all seriousness, this series is going to be a big deal in North Country, but consider this: if every resident of Canton and Potsdam, N.Y. showed up for a game at TD Garden, there would still be about 1,000 empty seats left.

Instead, the Saints and Golden Knights will meet today at St. Lawrence’s Appleton Arena, the greatest fire hazard in the ECAC. According to Clarkson’s Office of Student Life, Clarkson-SLU games usually follow university-organized “Spirit Days,” which often involve large bonfires. Thankfully, the university feeds the flames miles away from the wood-paneled, 65-year-old home of its cross-highway rival.

While all four of the weekend’s series could go either way, this one’s the most unpredictable. Clarkson needed three overtime periods over two games to dispatch of last-place Princeton last weekend, but the wins speak to the Golden Knights’ grit. Clarkson does not have one star who can take over a game like St. Lawrence has with sophomore goaltender Kyle Hayton, but the Pride of Potsdam enter this weekend with the momentum on its side.

Pick: Clarkson in three.

RENSSELAER AT HARVARD

Over his last two contests against the Crimson, RPI goaltender Jason Kasdorf has stopped 92 of 93 shots, handing Harvard a 0-0 tie and 2-1 loss in the process. In the latter game, the hosting Crimson outshot the Engineers, 50-22, forcing Kasdorf to make a career-high 49 saves. Harvard’s sole win against RPI this season, a 4-0 victory in the final of the Shillelagh Tournament in South Bend, came with Engineer freshman Cam Hackett in net.

While it might be easy to anoint Kasdorf as the Crimson Killer heading into this weekend, there’s something that feels fluky about these teams’ last two meetings. The scoreless tie came just a week after the Shillelagh. Meanwhile, the shot chart from Harvard’s losing effort suggests that game was less about Kasdorf’s brilliance than it was about a sputtering Crimson offense’s struggle to get grade-A opportunities in the slot.

In that respect, I have to give RPI’s defensive unit some credit for forcing Harvard to the outside, but as I’m sure Coach Donato would, I expect the hosts to find an extra “compete-level” around the net this weekend. The postseason always comes with an extra side-order of scrappiness. With that, the Engineers’ demonstrated puck-possession problems should come back to bite them.

Pick: Harvard in two.

Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com.