The Crimson hockey team opened its 964-65 season with a hard-fought, 3-1 loss to the St. Nicholas Hockey Club at Watson Rink Saturday night. Despite the defeat, the season is still much too young for the pundits to forget about the Crimson skaters.

The team died hard before St. Nick's, a group of former college stars from the New York area, and the Harvard defense, led by captain John Daly, played well. The Crimson's weak point in the game--its offense--is something which always improves as the season progresses; the teamwork gets better and the passing gets sharper.

Harvard jumped off to an early lead, scoring its only goal late in the first period. Junior center Pete Miller picked up the goal unassisted on a pretty backhand slap shot from the right-hand side of the rink. The puck slipped past the St. Nick's goalie into the upper left-hand corner of the net.

But the New Yorkers came back in the second and third periods to eke out the win.

A former All-American goalie from Princeton, Barry von Gerbig, held the sputtering Crimson offense at bay with some spectacular work in the net, making 33 saves. Another former Princeton ace, John Cook, scored twice, once in the second period to tie the game and then, with minutes left in the last period, to put the game on ice with a desperation shot.

Saturday's game will not count in the official season standings, so the loss was not serious. One portent of things to come, however, is that Brown beat St. Nicholas a week ago by a 4-2 score. To be consid- ered a contender for the Ivy League title, the Crimson will have to come up with a much more potent offense.

Coach Cooney Weiland will probably try a few experiments with his offense when the Crimson plays Northeastern here Wednesday night. That game, against a club Harvard beat twice last year, may give a better indication of what to expect from this year's squad