COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO., March 16--The varsity hockey team missed its golden opportunity tonight. It lost 6 to 1 to Michigan, a team weakened far below its normal peak by NCAA ineligibilities and injuries suffered in tonight's game. The fact is that the Crimson could have won this game.

Harvard lost, then, because at no point during the game did it approach the level of play that earned it a 21-3 record this season. The passing and playmaking of the three lines was off, the defense allowed the Wolverine forward's to get around them, and even Jim Bailey, the Crimson captain and goalie, looked slow on two of the Michigan goals.

What was left of the Wolverine team, however, did not play very well. They are all Canadians, all fast, rough skaters, and all are thoroughly hardened to tournament play. The star of tonight's game was a little Michigan forward, Tommy Rendall who scored three beautiful goals on Bailey after skating around the Crimson defense.

Michigan had lost three of its best players; Wally Maxwell, Neil Buchanan, and John Rendell, through ineligabilities ruling by the NCAA before the game started. In the course of the evening Tommy Rendell, Neil McDonald, Barry Hayton, and Wolverine captain Bob Pitt were all injured in collisions with varsity defensemen or varsity shots. Pitt was hit in the nose by a deflected drive off John Copeland's stick and had to have 25 stitches taken.

All this will prove very beneficial to Colorado College tomorrow night when it meets Michigan for the championship, but tonight the varsity just could not capitalize on these handicaps. It could never really crack through the unexpectedly tough Wolverine defense until 15:17 of the final period when Bob McVey saved the Crimson from a shutout with a blazing shot that Michigan goalie Ross Childs never saw.

McVey was the best player on the ice for the Crimson tonight and his line of Dick Fischer, Dave Vietze (who both had assists on the lone varsity tally) and himself set up several other plays that almost beat Child.

The big Crimson defensemen did as much body work as they have all season and although they held off the Wolverine forward in the first period, the inevitable penalties that must follow this style of play cost the varsity three goals.

Moreover, for the first time this year, the Crimson came up against a team that was a little faster than it was. The Wolverine linemen that were left were all extremely fast and often beat the varsity defensemen to a stray puck in the Crimson zone.

Both teams tired toward the end of the game, but Michigan was still able to control the puck by virtue of its superior passing. The Wolverines scored only once in the final period, but at this point they had a 5-0 lead and were quite willing to coast and conserve their energy for tonight's game.

Eight penalties were called in the first period when both sides looked clumsy on defense. The especially close contact between the two teams produced several minor disturbances on the ice which gave the pro-Harvard crowd ample opportunity to boo Michigan.

The Wolverines got their first goal at 14:30 when Ed Switzer scored on the rebound off Pitt's slap shot. Only fine play by Bailey kept Michigan to this slight margin.

The Crimson started the second period with two men off on penalties and immediately suffered the consequences as Rendall scored the first of his three goals.

The varsity will be a definite underdog this afternoon when it meets Clarkson in the consolation game for third place in the tournament. As the Broadmoor triumphantly bills it, this will be for the "Championship of the East." The unfortunate fact is that the champion of the East is a long way from the champion of the U.S