The first time Princeton visited RPI this season, the hosts managed to escape the Tigers' wrath with a 12-4 triumph, so don't be surprised if the Engineers post double figures again.

In fact, the only real question is whether the guy who operates the scoreboard will survive the ordeal.

Harvard-Colgate is the other first-round mismatch.

Although it took the Crimson an overtime effort to gain its first victory over Colgate, the icemen, polished off the Red Raiders, 3-0, when they visited Cambridge.

Further the Red Raiders looked wear and inexperienced in that showing. At one point, freshman Mark Holmes tied the puck up against the board, and held it there, without anyone pressuring him, for long enough to draw a race delay-of-game penalty.

Colgate goalie Jeff Cooper is very much for real, however, and if he gets hot, as he often does against Harvard, the Crimson may have some trouble filling the net.

Other than Cooper and three forwards with decent scoring totals--Gerard Waslin, Rejean Boivin and Lowell MacDonald, brother of the Crimson's Lane--the Red Raiders shouldn't offer much resistance, if the Crimson plays at full speed.

But Harvard has had trouble getting up for weaker opponents of late.

The first close series should be the Clarkson-St. Lawrence match-up. The Golden Knights are the third seed and the Larries the sixth, but look for a possible upset here.

Clarkson's usually strong goalie. Jamie Falle, looked terrible in the Knights season ender against Harvard Saturday, and SIU netminder Yearwood played well against the Crimson the night before, pacing his team to a 4-3 upset of Harvard.

More important, however, is the rivalry aspect of this matchup. Clarkson is in Potsdam, 40 minutes south of Canada in upstate New York and about a million miles from anywhere.

St. Lawrence is in Canton, 10 minutes from Potsdam, but also an eternity from civilization. The nearest major city to either of these places is Ottawa.

So, frozen out of the human race five months a year, the Larries and the Knights live out an incestuous but intense rivalry.

The Clarkson-St. Lawrence tradition is no less than the Hatfield-McCoy rivalry of the Great White North.

So throw out everything but your long underwear and count on a pair of close ones in this series.