This is the year that virtually every Eastern college hockey team but Harvard has radically improved. And tonight is the night that the Crimson will find this out.

Northeastern, which will face off against Harvard at 8 p.m. in Watson Rink, has lost only one of the stars who led it to road victories over powerful R.P.I. and Dartmouth at the end of last season. With added experience plus some impressive sophomores, the Huskies should finally emerge as an Eastern power this year.

Juggling Since Saturday

The Crimson meanwhile, having lost five of its six top scorers, its best defenseman, and its goalie through graduation, can hardly have improved. But Coach Cooney Weiland has been juggling his lines since Saturday's 3-1 loss in an unofficial game with the St. Nicholas Hockey Club.

Pete Waldinger has replaced Jorge Gonzales as the left wing for Baldy Smith and Pete Miller. Pete Sahlin has moved to center, flanked by Gonzales and Kenny Burnes. Several sophomores and juniors will rotate as Gordie Price's wings on the third line.

Welch Will Start

As in the St. Nicholas game, Wade Welch will start in the goal, and John Daly, Bob Clark, Chip Scammon, and Red Coleman will form the basic two defensive units. But if Weiland needs some extra scoring punch, he will probably move Daly and Clark to Price's line.

Although the Huskies gave Harvard little trouble last season in absorbing 4-2 and 7-5 defeats, this year's squad has already torn apart Colby 8-4 and pathetic Bowdoin 13-1. Leading its speedy but sometimes sloppy offense are Bill Seabury, Larry Bone, and Bob DeBlois. The formerly weak Northeastern defense has been bolstered by sophomores Don Turcotte and Ron Jeanneault.

This Husky squad is typical of the general improvement in Eastern college hockey. Boston University, Cornell, and Yale are other former Harvard patsies who threaten to reverse the trend of past years.

Surrounded by such skill, Harvard's hockey pundits are beginning to predict a long cold winter. But this Crimson squad is not one to give up; as Coach Weiland put it last week, "We might surprise."