The usual answer to the question, "When was the last time the Harvard men's hockey team did......" has been 1993-94. That year the Crimson advanced to the Frozen Four, dropping to eventual champion Lake Superior State in overtime in the semifinals.

This past season Harvard finally changed some of the correct answers.

The Crimson (16-15-2, 12-8-2 ECAC) had its most wins, best conference record, and first winning season overall since that final season of glory. Harvard finished third in the ECAC and swept Yale in the first round of the playoffs before losing in the semifinals against Cornell at Lake Placid.

In just his second season at the helm, Coach Mark Mazzoleni has made great strides to restore the program to its former greatness of the 1980s when it made three trips to the NCAA finals, ultimately winning in 1989. Yet, few expected Harvard to be as good as it was this year. With three freshmen defensemen and five rookie forwards all playing significant minutes, the Crimson should have had a lot more growing pains this year.

But the ultimate equalizer was the surprise stardom of senior goaltender Oliver Jonas. A German native, Jonas dutifully served as a back-up to J.R. Prestifilippo '00 for his first three years. Given the chance to start this year, Jonas dominated from the first game of the season, blanking Brown, 3-0. He would go on to become the team's MVP and set the school record for most saves in a single season, shattering Prestifilippo's mark of 844 with 1011.

The number of games Jonas stole this season earned him the Ken Dryden Award as the ECAC's best goaltender.

"We're definitely going to miss Oliver, said junior Pete Capouch, last year's assistant captain and the captain-elect for next year. "He was the backstop of our team this past year and he won a lot of games for us."

Jonas and Harvard announced to the country that the program had regained some of its former stature in a two-game stretch during Thanksgiving week when it defeated Boston University, 4-3, and came within 42 seconds of upsetting then-No. 2 Boston College before the Eagles tied up the game and won in overtime, 3-2.