The Cornell hockey team dealt Harvard's Ivy League title hopes a possibly fatal blow last night, scoring twice in the first period and hanging on to beat the Crimson 2-1.

It was the second straight upset loss for Harvard, and once again it was a stubborn goalie and a stiff defense that turned the trick. The Big Red's Earl McGibbon turned back 33 shots with a variety of acrobatic saves. Eight times during the game penalties left Cornell a man short, but McGibbon stopped every Harvard power play except one.

Cornell jumped into the lead when high-scoring wing Jerry Kostandoff pumped a rebound past Brandy Sweitzer at 9:11. Four minutes later, Ron Lampman made it 2-0 for the Ithacans when the Crimson defense left him all alone in front of Sweitzer for Charley Luther's pass.

Not until 17:32 of the second period did the Crimson get on the scoreboard; then it was third-liner John Stevens who flicked a shot past McGibbon while Kostandoff was in the penalty box.

A sloppy Harvard passing game came to life in the third period, and aided by two Cornell penalties, the Crimson launched a sustained attack on McGibbon. While Sweitzer was almost unoccupied--he had just three saves in the period--the Cornell goalie had to stop 16 shots. The loss dropped Harvard (2-2) into fourth place in the Ivy League behind surprising Dartmouth (3-1), Brown (2-1), and Cornell (3-2). The Crimson should still be able to recover from the setback--Dartmouth has yet to play Cornell or Brown, and Harvard defeated them previously. Brown has lost its first-string goalie for the year. And Cornell has lost as many League games as Harvard. But another league setback would effectively eliminate the Crimson from a shot at the title.