Harvard's women's ice hockey team will beat Boston University in its opening-round Beanpot contest at 7 p.m. on February 8. Two hours later, Northeastern will beat Boston College, setting up a Harvard-Northeastern showdown February 17.

Without question.

Mortgage the car, mortgage the house, mortgage the wife and kids, because the Sixth Annual Women's Beanpot has got Harvard and Northeastern written all over it.

Again.

For the last two years, the Crimson has felled Northeastern in a pair of the most exciting women's hockey games ever--including a five-overtime 2-1 win in 1982--to earn upset victories and bring the Pot of Beans across the Charles.

Both years, the Huskies entered the 'Pot a far better team than the Cantabs. And both years, the Harvard squad boasted a secret weapon. Cheryl Tate--Beanpot goalie extraordinary--has claimed two consecutive Beanpot MVP awards after recording big victories over N.U.

Cheryl Tate is a good goalie, an All-Ivy goalie. But throw the Fitchburg, Mass., native in the Beanpot pressure cooker and she becomes all-world.

Although Harvard has Tate, Northeastern has just about everything else. The Huskie squad is anchored by its four defensemen and sophomore goalie Patti Hunt, who has four of Northeastern's six shutouts. The two top blueliners are freshman Stephanie Kelly and sophomore Sharon Stidsen.

Up front, the Huskies are not as strong. Relatively, that is. Sophomore center Lisa Silvia leads the Northeastern attack with 21 points on 10 goals and 11 assists. Left wing Jill Toney is second on the scoring list with 20 points on eight goals and 12 assists. Toney scored three goals in 56 seconds against Colby in January.

So how does Harvard beat these presumably unstoppable prodigies in the Beanpot?

Guts.

It may be a cliche to say that one team wanted it more than the other, but Harvard has wanted it more than Northeastern the past two years. If they couldn't compete physically, they could at least win the emotional battle.

The leader of the Crimson psyche unit is Tate.

"She's the key," says Northeastern Coach Dan MacLeod. "If she's on one of her wicked highs, it is going to be tough. Our goalie is as skilled but she can't get up like Cheryl can."

But Tate is hardly the only one on the Crimson squad who seems to find her best game in the tournament. After all, over the past three seasons the squad has picked up the tag of "February's team." Fresh from exams, their skills peaking after a grueling early-season campaign, the pieces fall into place come the second month.