If you're Mike Sertich, you've seen the best of the East and West. Easterly winds, westerly winds, it didn't matter--you were blown away.

Sertich coaches the University of Minnesota-Duluth, traditionally one of the powerhouses in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). This year, Sertich and his club had the privilege of playing both North Dakota and Harvard--tonight's NCAA Tournament semifinal opponents. This year, Sertich and his club had the distinction of falling to North Dakota six time and to Harvard twice.

"If I knew how to beat either of them," Sertich said, "I wouldn't be sitting on my butt right now--I'd have been in the tournament."

The WCHA champion Fighting Sioux (38-8) and ECAC champion Crimson (28-4) will battle in Joe Louis Arena in Detroit tonight at 8 p.m. for the right to advance to the NCAA final. Harvard, which features seven seniors and eight juniors, made it to the championship game last year in Providence, R.I., but fell to Michigan State, 6-5.

Minnesota and Michigan St. will face-off in the other consolation match tomorrow. The title game will be played Saturday evening. All contests can be seen live on the ESPN cable network.

Both Harvard and North Dakota were ranked first in the nation at points this year. The Fighting Sioux carry that top ranking into tonight's game, and it is obvious why.

North Dakota, a young team, sports the nation's leading scorer, Tony Hrkac, which rhymes with circus, which is the type of show he usually put on. The sophomore center set a new NCAA single-season scoring record by recording 45 goals and 66 assists for 111 points.

"He's the one who makes everything happen," Sertich said. "His presence is very obvious. He's very explosive. You've got to be an idiot not to notice him out there."

By way of comparison, only four present Harvard skaters have over 100 points--in their careers. Senior Lane MacDonald leads the current squad in career points (164) and points this season (66). MacDonald and Hrkac are finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which honors college hockey's most valuable player.

"Hrkac is obviously one of the premier skaters in college hockey," Sioux Coach John Gasparini said.

"Nobody does it better than Lane," said Harvard Coach Bill Cleary.

Hrkac and MacDonald may be superstars, but both have excellent supporting casts as well. Hrkac's linemate, Bob Joyce, is second on the team in scoring with 50 goals and 35 assists. Joyce is followed by Steve Johnson (25-42--67) and Ian Kidd (12-45--57).

MacDonald gets help from Allen Bourbeau (22-33--55) and Tim Barakett (24-28--52). Along with Mark Benning and Randy Taylor, this group makes up Harvard's tremendous power-play unit, which has clicked at an impressive 36.2 percent rate.

Equally impressive is Harvard's pair of penalty killing units--featuring those five, plus Steve Armstrong--which has stopped opponents 85 percent of the time.

"We hear Harvard has excellent special teams," Gasparini said. "We'll have to make some necessary adjustments for Harvard's quickness."