Harvard's sophomore scoring punch ushered an exciting Crimson dark horse into the Eastern hockey race last night with a 3-1 victory over Northeastern. Down, 1 to 0, after the first period, the icemen scored their dramatic comeback win in the Arena on goals by sophomores Bob Fredo, Don Grimble, and Kent Parrot.

Play was fast, furious, and rough, right from the start. The puck moved from one end of the ice to the other as fast and consistently as a tennis ball. Northeastern's goalie Gary Thornton looked unbeatable, and when Husky defenseman George Campbell scored from the point at 14:50 of the first period, few Harvard fans could see where a triumph could come from.

The second period started off with the powerful Huskies stronger than over. Harvard was sloppy in its defensive zone and Bill Seabury, Dean McGranahan, and Paul Bloch, centering the three Northeastern lines, kept the pressure on Harvard goalie Bill Fitzsimmons with steal after steal.

But seven minutes into the frame, second-line right wing Bob Fredo came up with a steal of his own. He took the puck down the right side and flipped it past a suddenly empty-handed Thornton from about eight feet. The score was none too beautiful, but for Harvard at that moment, there was nothing prettier than the bright red light behind the cage.

The magic had mysteriously gone out of Thornton's glove, and two-and-a-half minutes later Grimble scored the winning tally.

The red-headed right winger, who was elevated to the varsity when Ben Smith was shifted to defense last week, took a long lead pass from Ed Zellner at mid-ice. Before the defense could catch up, Grimble fired a slap shot from the blue line which found the nets between Thornton and the far post.

Harvard dominated the third period, but Thornton was equal to the assault. He turned aside 22 Crimson shots, many off the sticks of Eric Rosenberger and Jack Garrity, who led the offensive harassment all night.

With seven minutes to go, the Crimson locked up the hard-fought win. Parrot stickhandled through the tough Husky defense and passed neatly across to Bobby Clark on the right point.

Clark's shot was weak, but Pete Waldinger picked it up in front of the cage and poked a dribbler through Thornton's legs. As the puck lay between the goalie and the goal Parrot swooped in from the left and made the kill.

In all, Thornton made 42 saves, but his performance was overshadowed by Harvard's Bill Fitzsimmons, who made 24 stops and looked impressive under heavy pressure.