The fifth-seeded Harvard hockey varsity opens this year's Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament with fourth ranked Clarkson at 8 p.m. tonight at Potsdam, N.Y. The quarter-final contest will be broadcast by WHRB and WCOP.

With a victory tonight in Potsdam, the Crimson could go on to win the Eastern championship for the second straight year. With a loss, it's wait till next year.

In their lone meeting during the regular season, the Golden Knights edged the Crimson 4-3 in an overtime at Watson Rink three weeks ago. It was probably on the basis of this game that the ECAC seeding committee ranked Clarkson above Harvard, thereby awarding the Knights the advantage of home ice tonight.

February's Clarkson game was about as even as the result indicates. Neither team dominated during regulation time, and Clarkson only scored in the over-time because of a Crimson defensive lapse.

Stiffer Opposition

Harvard's 15-6 record against Eastern opposition is considerably better than Clarkson's 10-5-1, but the Knights have had consistently stiffer opposition. While the Crimson has skated twice each against Ivy patsies Princeton and Yale, Clarkson has faced the likes of ECAC contenders Providence, R.P.I. and Colgate.

Both squads figure to be in peak physical condition. Last week a report out of Potsdam had it that captain Roger Purdy was in the infirmary recuperating from pneumonia, but the latest news has him taking part in the last few practices. They recover fast in Northland.

Visiting Clubs

Home ice could spell the difference between two such evenly matched squads. In the two year history of the tournament, no visiting club has ever won a quarter-final game.

The Clarkson rink, shorter than Watson, has squared-off corners which are foreign to the Crimson. In addition, the natural ice is cleaned with shovels rather than with a machine, so it tends to be come choppy as a game progresses.

Although Harvard has never won at Clarkson's rink, it has never been routed there either. The Knights twice have trimmed the Crimson by one goal, while the third match ended in a tie.

This year, Clarkson's only home loss came at the hands of top-seeded Providence. St. Lawrence has managed a draw at Potsdam.

Providence faces Colgate

In other ECAC quarter-final action, Providence, whose 16-3 mark is tops in the East, will host eighth-ranked Colgate. The Red Raiders have upset Clarkson, and Army this season and can't be counted out.

St. Lawrence will play on the huge West Point rink, where second-seeded Army is just about invincible. The choice of the Larries, only 3-7-1 this season, over both strong-finishing Northeastern and Ivy champion Dartmouth, came as a shock to many Bostonians.

In the final game, Boston College meets R.P.I. at nearby McHugh Forum. If it weren't for the fact that B.C.'s athletic director was chairman of the seeding committee, the Eagles third rank would be a surprise.

None of these eight teams has dominated the East this year, and all of the lower-ranked squads have knocked off teams above them. As Baaron Pittenger, Harvard Director of Sports Information put it, "the team that wins it will be the team that's hot."