A smoky arena. Two fighters in their respective corners. One, in crimson shorts, is the young challenger. The other, in white, is the aging former champion making an implausible--but so far successful--comeback.

Up-and-coming versus down-but-running.

Before the bell rings, the manager of the former champ--a big man with white hair--turns up to look past the blurry lights. The gods of sports are looking down.

"If you don't believe in miracles," RPI Coach Mike Addesa said, "they should just throw dirt on you now."

If Addesa thinks that his team--which won both the ECAC and NCAA championships two years ago, but has been on a tail-spin since--needs divine help to beat Harvard in tonight's 9 p.m. ECAC semifinal at Boston Garden, he's overlooking two important facts.

Harvard 5, RPI 2. Harvard 4, RPI 1. Harvard (24-4 overall) beat RPI (13-17-1) twice during the year, but both games were close.

Too close if you ask Harvard Coach Bill Cleary.

"I tell you those were two of the toughest games of the year," Cleary said.

RPI, which finished seventh in the league this year, took Harvard to the final bell two times this season. And in the second game--played before a bazooka blowing horde in Troy, N.Y.--Harvard goalie John Devin was forced to make 27 saves, a high number for a team known for its stingy defense.

"We had two great games against Harvard," Addesa said, "but the character and poise of great Harvard teams took over."

It remains to be seen whether this year's Crimson edition--which strolled to a first-place regular season finish in the league--can be included on the list of great Harvard clubs. Harvard can take a firm step in that direction with a victory over RPI tonight.

Harvard made its way to the semifinals with a pair of quarterfinal wins over a rugged but rough-edged Brown team. RPI took a harder road, tying Colgate, 1-1, in the two-game quarterfinal series and then beating the Raiders, 2-0, in the 10-minute mini-game that followed the end of the second contest.

RPI is the first ECAC team ever to win a mini-game on the road.

The Crimson, which many coaches around the nation think has a good chance of winning the NCAA Championship, has few superstars. Lane MacDonald, who is one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award (college hockey's MVP), leads the Crimson in scoring with 34 goals and 22 assists for 56 points. Tim Barakett (22-24--46) and Allen Bourbeau (18-28--46) follow MacDonald in scoring and appear with him on Harvard's fearsome power-play.

Harvard's power-play--which has clicked at an impressive 35.7 percent--has sent opposing coaches searching through their defensive medicine chests for penalty-killing potions.