A year ago Saturday, the Harvard men's hockey team travelled to Troy, N.Y., to battle RPI, then the nation's number one ranked team.

The Engineers, riding a 29-game winning streak, were in first place in the ECAC and needed to knock off the Crimson to clinch the regular season title.

Harvard, then in second place, was looking for an upset to keep its hopes for the ECAC crown alive.

But those hopes died after 60 minutes of play in front of over 5000 partisan spectators in Houston Field House, as RPI stormed past the icemen, 4-1.

This year the two teams have traded places

The Crimson (16-5-1 overall, 15-2 ECAC) is in first place in the ECAC and need only win two of its remaining four games to claim the regular season title. It currently boasts a modest four-game winning streak and has gone unbeaten in 12 straight home contest.

The Engineers (19-6-1 overall, 12-4-1 ECAC)--who visit Bright Center Saturday at 7:30 p.m.--are in the same spot as the Cantabs were last year.

Namely, second. With only a slim chance of winning it all.

To take home the ECAC regular season crown for the second straight year, RPI must win its remaining four games--including its showdown with Harvard in front what promises to be a loud sellout crowd at Bright. Meanwhile, the Crimson must lose two of its remaining three games against Vermont, St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

Harvard, a 4-2 winner over RPI earlier in the season, could take a giant step toward a first place finish by beating Vermont (15-10 overall, 9-8 ECAC) Friday night at Bright.

The Catamounts defeated the Crimson, 3-2, earlier in the year and have an outside chance of snagging home-ice advantage for the ECAC playoffs, which begin March 7.

Harvard, which earned home-ice rights after its 5-1 pounding of Colgate Saturday, is looking for revenge.

"We shouldn't have lost that first game," Crimson Caption Scott Fusco says. "We owe them one."

Vermont is in sixth place in the league, a game in front of the Red Raiders (14-10-2 overall, 8-8-1 ECAC). Another upset over Harvard would give the Catamounts an outside chance of catching fourth-place Cornell (13-5-3 overall, 10-5-2 ECAC) and sending one of the first round playoff matches to Burlington, Vt., instead of to Ithaca, N.Y.

How likely is a Vermont victory?