It's only fitting, Harvard being Harvard, that the men's hockey team's nemesis would be a great white whale.

The `Yale Whale' (officially Ingalls Rink) has been the Crimson's hell away from home for much of the past decade. Harvard's win total at Yale since 1982 is equal to the number of AFC Super Bowl champions since 1982--one.

Harvard has won national championships, Beanpots, ECAC titles and All-America trophies, but it hasn't beaten Yale on the road. The Crimson is 1-8-3 in its last 12 games at The Whale and hasn't won there in five years--although the last two meetings have produced 5-5 draws.

It's becoming an allegorical search for the team's inner soul.

"I don't know what it is," senior forward Chris Baird says. "We are hoping to change things this year."

So even though the Crimson (5-2-1 overall, 5-2-1 ECAC) is a much better team than the Bulldogs (2-5-0, 2-5-0), be on guard for a strange finish when the takes on Yale tonight at 7 p.m. in New Haven.

Still, a win is expected, and the Crimson should be able to accomplish this goal because Yale's offense makes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look like a scoring machine. The Bulldogs have scored only 15 goals in seven games (2.14 average), including just one goal each in its last two games. Last year's team had accumulated 32 goals in first seven games, more than double this year's total.

"We won't treat Yale fans to 7-2 victories [this year]," Yale interim Head Coach Dan Poliziani said before this season began. "We have a chance to win if we're in 3-2 hockey games."

The Bulldogs have proven Poliziani to be correct so far, as his squad has not scored more than four goals in any game, while its only two wins have been by 3-2 (at Princeton) and 4-2 (against Clarkson) scores.

In the first Harvard-Yale match this season, the Crimson jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead, winning by the same score. Yale mustered only 19 shots despite having seven power play opportunities.

Sophomore Aaron Israel, who is the ECAC's top goaltender so far with a 3-0-1 record and 1.71 goals against average, was in goal for that contest and will tend the nets again tonight, so Yale's anemic offense should continue to struggle.

Troubles of Its Own

However, Harvard has had its own scoring troubles of late, tallying only eight goals in its last three games.

In addition, the Crimson is 1-2-1 over the last four games.

"Our production is down from what it had been," Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni says. "But I'd be concerned if we weren't getting the opportunities."