Paul Kelley broke the Crimson hockey team out of a 3-3 tie with Middlebury last night, and the varsity went on to win its first game of the season, 8 to 6, in a battle of weak defenses.

With a slightly shuffled skating arrangement finally bringing out the sextet's latent offensive power, Coach Cooney Weiland's skaters remedied the lack of scoring punch which they showed against Boston College. The new first line of Bud Higginbottom centering between Dick Fischer and Dave Vietze, accounted for five of the varsity scores, three going to Vietze and one each to Higginbottom and Fischer, and the second line of Mo Balboni, Paul Kelley, and Dick Reilly tallied twice.

Difficulty With Speedy Wings

However, the Crimson defense had some difficulty in coping with the speedy Middlebury wings, especially Mike Karens and Phil LaTreille, who accounted for half of the Vermonters' goals. Most of the Middlebury scoring came on defensive lapses, and throughout the contest the Crimson defense was hard pressed to keep up with their opponents' attacking force.

Fortunately, the Middlebury defenders were even more unsuccessful. They managed to stav off the Crimson attack for two periods, holding the varsity to first period goals by Higginbottom and Kelley, and a second period tally by Vietze. After Kelley's effort at the opening of the third period, however, the Crimson broke down all resistance and poured four goals past the Middlebury netminder.

Spurt Yields Three Goals

Vietze got his second goal of the evening, and then Crocker Snow raced the length of the rink to score unassisted and give Harvard a 6-3 lead. Middlebury made it 6 to 4, but then Vietze and Fischer put the Crimson out of reach with a pair of goals near the 15 minute mark.

If Williams College can freeze its melted outdoor rink by 3 p.m. today, the varsity will play the Ephmen at that time. If not, the sextet's next contest will be against Boston University at the Arena on Monday.