Boston sports fans have grown accustomed to the New England Patriots going to the Super Bowl every year. It’s just supposed to happen. But after an early exit by the hometown football team, sports junkies will have to settle for another February Boston tradition: the Beanpot.

A staple of intercollegiate rivalry, the Beanpot features four Boston-area men’s hockey teams: Boston College, Harvard, Boston University, and Northeastern. Historically, Boston University has dominated, winning 29 times since the annual tournament began in 1952.

(Continued)

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team’s quest for an Ivy League championship kicked off Tuesday afternoon with the Crimson’s first practice of the 2011 season.

After its young squad posted a fifth-place conference finish and an 8-7 overall record in 2010, Harvard has reason to be optimistic heading into the upcoming season.

But the Crimson’s road to the top of the conference will be a difficult one.

This season, Harvard is slated to go up against seven opponents ranked in Inside Lacrosse Magazine’s Women’s Top 20—No. 7 Virginia, No. 8 Penn, No. 12 Dartmouth, No. 14 Stanford, No. 17 Boston College, No. 18 Princeton, and No. 19 Johns Hopkins.

In fact, the Crimson will take on four ranked opponents in its first five matchups.

While last season’s squad went 0-4 against opponents that finished in the top 20, there is reason to believe that this year’s Harvard team will fare better.

For one, the Crimson returns 89 percent of its scoring, including its top four goal scorers—sophomores Jennifer VanderMeulen, Danielle Tetreault, and Micaela Cyr, and junior co-captain Melanie Baskind.

VanderMeulen led the pack, tallying a league-high 56 goals while finishing third in the nation in goals per game.

But this season, Harvard should add even more firepower to its offense thanks to the return of Jessica Halpern.

Halpern—the 2008 Ivy League Rookie of the Year—suffered a season-ending injury two games into the 2010 season. But Halpern is expected to be back in uniform for the Crimson’s opener at Stanford on Feb. 27.

In her first two seasons with Harvard, Halpern combined for 80 goals and 21 assists.

Along with the heaps of snow, this winter has brought the 50th anniversary of ECAC Hockey.

And, joining in the celebrations after being named one of the top-50 players in league history is former Olympian and Harvard athlete Lane MacDonald ’88-’89.

The seventh installment of the list made its debut this past Wednesday, and MacDonald made the cut from a pool of no fewer than 145 nominees. His achievement marks the fourth time a Crimson player has nabbed a spot on the list, after Mark Fusco ’83, Joe Cavanagh ’71, and Gene Kinasewich ’64.

During his years donning a Harvard jersey, MacDonald led his squad to a 31-1 record and an NCAA title—the first in Crimson Athletics history. He also racked up numerous accolades, including the Bingham Award (awarded to one Harvard senior male), the Hobey Baker Award (for the honor of college hockey’s top player), and the title of Beanpot MVP, among numerous others.

Outside the college circuit, MacDonald made waves on the U.S. National Team and the Olympic Team in 1988, for which he took a year off from school.

Now, MacDonald sits atop the Crimson leader board for all-time scorers with 111 goals, and he ranks second all-time in points with 225.

Hopefully, the exciting news will breathe some fresh inspiration into the men’s hockey program, which is 1-8 in its last nine games. The crew will need it for its next game against No. 3 Yale—the Bulldogs have only four losses, which match the number of wins for Harvard this season.

It's time for the Weekend Preview! Here's a rundown of the action:

The men and women’s basketball teams face off against Princeton and Penn, with the women taking on the Tigers and the Quakers at home while the men are on the road. The women play at the Lavietes Pavilion tonight and tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Both Harvard and Princeton are 3-0 in the Ivy League and will battle for first place in the conference, while Penn heads into the weekend with a 1-2 conference record.

The men’s basketball team has clearly looked like a contender for the top spot of the Ivy League. The men are 15-3 for the season, including a current eight-game win streak, and have bested their conference rivals in all four Ivy contests. However, the Tigers have taken down the Crimson in the teams’ last four meetings, which will prove a challenge for Harvard to maintain its streak. The last time the Crimson faced off against the Quakers, Harvard earned an 80-66 victory.

(Continued)

Each Thursday, The Crimson will compile a series of unique statistics about Harvard's sports scene. Welcome to the Magic of Numbers—without the problem sets. We'll do the math for you.

HARVARD HOOPS TO FACE PRINCETON AND PENN

450 – Number of wins for women’s basketball head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith after the Crimson’s victory over Cornell on January 29th.

6 – Number of combined conference wins for the top two women’s basketball teams in the Ancient Eight. Harvard (11-6, 3-0 Ivy) and Princeton (14-3, 3-0) face off on Friday night to determine which team gains sole possession of first place in the Ivy League standings.

2 – Number of top-ten lists for the Crimson that senior forward Emma Markley is now on, claiming tenth place on both the all-time rebounds list, with 580 boards, and the all-time scoring list with 1,148 career points.

55 – Number of years since the Harvard men’s basketball team went on a nine-game win streak. The Crimson (15-3, 4-0 Ivy) is on an eight-game win streak, the seventh longest in the country, as it enters Friday night’s contest against the Tigers (14-4, 2-0 Ivy).

1991 – The last year that the Harvard men began the conference season at 5-0. Going into a critical Ivy League weekend against Princeton and Penn, the Crimson hopes to pick up wins against both teams and post a 6-0 Ivy League record for the first time in school history.