With less than a third of its season complete, the Harvard men's hockey team has the NCAA tournament on its mind.

The Crimson (4-1-2 overall, 4-1-2 ECAC) travels to Detroit, Mich. over Christmas break to participate in the Great Lakes Invitational, an annual shoot-out between Michigan area schools.

"I think it's a great challenge," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "A win there could do wonders for our confidence, especially since we're such a young team."

True enough. But isn't there something else to Harvard's aspirations?

"It's also important as part of the NCAA [tournament] later on," Tomassoni added. "We understand that it's a chance to make a statement."

Ah, yes. The NCAA tournament. It has been three years since the Crimson has enjoyed post-ECAC tournament action. More significantly, the Crimson has yet to break into the top 10 this year.

The Great Lakes games give Harvard--currently in fourth place in the ECAC--a much needed opportunity to prove to the pollsters that the Crimson is a nationally competitive hockey team.

Harvard opens up the tournament on December 27 against fifth-ranked Michigan (9-3-3). The other game pits Michigan Tech (7-8-1) against eighth-ranked Michigan State (7-2-4).

Whether the Crimson can pull off an upset depends largely on Harvard's confidence, its ability to maintain its uptempo, skillful brand of hockey against the more bruising style of the western teams.

The conventional wisdom is that the way to beat Harvard is to play physical, to hit hard and often.

Harvard--which has traditionally emphasized speed over size--is even smaller this year than it has been in the past, and, so far, the Crimson has struggled in games dominated by rough play. Cornell and both Brown contests exposed that weakness vividly.

Tomassoni, however, isn't worried about Harvard's obvious size disadvantage. Effective forechecking and quick skating, he said, are the keys to the Crimson's success.

"It's still a game of quickness," Tomassoni said. "They might be bigger and stronger. But they can't hit us, if they can't catch us."

Harvard will look to its fleet-footed forwards, notably Matt Mallgrave, Brian Farrell and Cory Gustafson, to step up the tempo.

The Crimson's main challenge will be defense. Michigan boasts an explosive offense, led by forward Denny Felsner (13-24-37) and David Oliver (16-4-20).