April Fools' Day, 1989, the NCAA men's ice hockey championship, St. Paul, Minn.

The moment Ed Krayer's backhanded shot crawled past Minnesota goalie Robb Stauber in the overtime period of the title game, I thought that it was all some cruel joke.

Harvard hadn't won the game, 4-3. (Just kidding.) Krayer didn't score the game-winning goal (Ha, ha, made you look.) The Crimson didn't capture the NCAA crown. (April Fools.)

But the joke was on the 15,000 screaming Minnesotans and their beloved Golden Gophers. Peter Ciavaglia mugged Krayer by the far boards. Coach Bill Cleary leaped on to the ice looking for the first player in a Harvard jersey. ESPN's cameras caught him first, conducted its post-game interview and then let Cleary dance all over the ice.

Allen Bourbeau called it "pure madness." Stauber and his dazed mates leaned against the boards, buried their helmets in the ice and watched the Crimson celebrate. For the Gophers, it was pure sadness.

The Crimson players grabbed a banner from the stands that read "Harvard Crimson, 1989 NCAA Champions." They skated over to the small section of Harvard fans, a group of about 1000, the only noisy people in the St. Paul Civic Arena.

A couple of fans raised a sign that read "Cleary Country," usually reserved for Boston Garden, the place where two months earlier Harvard captured the Beanpot for the first time since 1981. But for just one brief moment in the Land of the Golden Gophers, those fans were right.

It was no cruel joke.

Earlier that day, April Fools' Day, 1989, Harvard swimmer David Berkoff was racing in the final meets of his career at the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships in Indianapolis, Ind.

Berkoff would end the day with another gold medal and another national record in 100-yd. backstroke. The record-breaking journey that had taken him from Cambridge to the 1988 Seoul Olympics and finally to Indianapolis had ended.

That day, Berkoff led the Crimson to a 17th place finish in the national championships, the best finish by a non-scholarship school as well as an Eastern team.

October 15, 1988, Dartmouth's Homecoming Day, Hanover, N.H. A cruel day for Harvard sports.

It began around 11:30 a.m. when the Dartmouth field hockey team blanked Harvard, 1-0.

On to the soccer fields.

The women's soccer team was shutout by the Green, 1-0, despite a brilliant 20-save debut performance by Harvard goalie Beth Reilly.