There's no place like home--at least for the Harvard men's hockey team, which hasn't played a game at the Bright Hockey Center since November 26.

After six consecutive road games which took the Crimson to such exotic places as Duluth, Minn., Troy, N.Y. and New Haven, Conn., Harvard (8-3-1 overall, 6-2-1 ECAC) finally returns home for two games this weekend against St. Lawrence (6-6-0, 4-2-0) tonight at 7:30 and Clarkson (6-4-2, 3-2-1) tomorrow at 7.

"Anytime you come home there is an extra comfort, and extra day of practice and the fans," sophomore Kirk Nielsen said.

Not that these two games will be a piece of cake.

The Saints and Golden Knights were two of only three teams (Princeton was the third) to deny Harvard a win at home last year--Clarkson and Harvard tied, 4-4, and St. Lawrence handed the Crimson its only home ice defeat, 3-1.

However, the Crimson is coming into the weekend with momentum and motivation. Winners of two straight non-league games, including Monday night's 7-6 victory over defending NCAA champion Maine (see box score), Harvard is only two points ahead of Brown and three points in front of Colgate in the ECAC standings.

Two victories for Harvard would mean a lot for a team that is struggling for consistency, sporting a mediocre 2-2-1 record in its last five ECAC games, although the last one was a 12-1 shellacking of Yale.

The Crimson is still taking far too many penalties, many of them retaliation and plainly dumb fouls.

Harvard allowed Maine nine power-play opportunities, and the Black Bears scored four times. Maine had a long five-on-three in the closing minutes that could have tied or won them the game, but the penalty killing came through at the end.

"[Harvard Head Coach Ronn Tomassoni] is stressing more discipline," Nielsen said. But "the win at Maine gives us a big boost."

Clarkson and St. Lawrence are separated by only one point in the ECAC standings, although they play vastly different styles of games and are going in completely different directions.

St. Lawrence has dropped four in a row, while Clarkson has won four straight.

The Saints don't give up many goals (three a game), but they don't score very many either, as they have lit the lamp three times or less in four of their six league games.

The Saints are returning only 13 players from last year's squad, and this lack of experience has shown up in the offensive production department.

The team's leading scorer is sophomore Burke Murphy, the first Saint to win the ECAC Rookie of the Year (in 1992). He has 15 points on 10 goals and 5 assists, while senior Mike Allain is the leading assists-man with 11.