"I don't have any preferences," senior forward Chris Baird said. "Whoever it's going to be, our coaches will have us prepared."

Should the Crimson win tomorrow, it would fly out to St. Paul, Minn. for a national semifinal on Thursday against either the West's number-one seed--Michigan--or the victor of the Lake Superior St./Northeastern match, if that team should knock off Michigan.

The brand of hockey played in the CCHA and WCHA is a much more clutch-and-grab, physical style than the ECAC version, as Harvard saw in its 3-0 loss at Minnesota-Duluth in December.

Harvard has had its problems against these pesky teams, most recently in the first ECAC quarterfinal game against Cornell, where Harvard had to come back twice and saw its three-goal lead cut to one with 10 minutes to play.

But should Harvard win the semifinal, it would face one of six teams from the other half of the draw. The top two teams are Boston University (the East's top seed and the nation's top-ranked team) and the West's second seed, Minnesota.

The Terriers haven't lost a game since February 7, but that 4-2 loss was to Harvard in the Beanpot. However, Harvard has won the last two meetings between these two teams.

And who could forget Harvard's 4-3 overtime victory over the Golden Gophers in the 1989 national championship match? That tournament, too, finished in St. Paul, Minn.

But back to the facial hair thing.

The players really do look funny with the sprouts coming out, but if that's the team unity or the superstition that will get the Crimson a national championship, then not too many people in Cambridge should complain.

As sophomore Aaron Israel said, "I've gotten a lot of comments about [the beard], but..."