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Maybe Harvard treated the pollsters to a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Or maybe Harvard's win over Brown Saturday really impressed them.

In any case, despite garnering its first loss Tuesday against BU, the Crimson (5-1-1 overall, 5-0-1 ECAC) retained the fifth spot in the national rankings this week, making Harvard the highest-ranked team in the ECAC.

St. Lawrence, the only other ECAC team in the top 10, moved to the number nine spot, replacing earlyseason surprise (or, more appropriately, early-season fluke) Vermont.

Although the Catamounts defeated midget Dartmouth twice in the last week, Vermont stumbled in its most recent contest against giantkiller Lowell.

Harvard nemesis BU also dropped out of the top 10, anchored by its 3-2 loss to Princeton Saturday.

Harvard's victory over Brown not only helped the team in the rankings, but also boosted the Crimson's lead in the ECAC. Harvard's 11 points puts it way out in front of the pack, with Vermont (eight points) and Yale (seven points) its closest competitors.

Mallgrave Honored: Senior right wing Matt Mallgrave was named the ECAC Player of the Week for his three-goal performance Saturday.

The Silver Spring, MD., native registered his first career hat trick when he tallied three straight to lift the Crimson over Brown.

Mallgrave is Harvard's leading goal scorer with eight tallies through seven games, but the Leverett resident (9 points) trails his roommate, Captain Ted Drury, in overall scoring.

Drury (six goals, six assists) notched his 12th point of the season against Brown when he put the game out of reach with an open-net goal in the third. The Trumbull, Conn., native in the ECAC's fourth leading scorer.

Yale boasts the top three scorers in the league. In only four ECAC games, seniors Mark Kaufmann and James Lavish and junior Martin Leroux have combined for 14 goals and 20 assists.

Home is Where the Wins Are: Harvard's contest at Bright Hockey Center Saturday began a string of six home games for the Crimson.

Harvard continues its home stand when it hosts Colgate and Cornell this weekend. Then Vermont and Dartmouth come to Cambridge, and the Crimson finishes up its games before the holidays when it plays host to Boston College December 3.

The ECAC teams Harvard must face in the coming weeks all look to give the Crimson its first league loss of the season.

Good luck. Not only does the Crimson face some of the weakest team's in the league (Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth), but the team boasts a .769 win percentage at home since the rink opened its doors in 1979.

Merry Christmas, Harvard.

NCAA Poll 1.  Maine (25)  9-0-1  250 2.  Lake Sup St.  6-1-2  216 3.  Michigan  7-2-2  203 4.  Miami, Ohio  9-2-1  143 5.  HARVARD  5-1-1  137 6.  Denver  7-2-1  126 7.  Minn.-Duluth  5-3-0  79 8.  Wisconsin  7-4-1  59 9.  St. Lawrence  6-1-1  48 10.  Minnesota  5-4-4  44

Compiled by the Albany Times-Union, with first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points.