The Harvard hockey team sank before the challenge of the Beanpot with an 8-3 loss to Boston University every bit as humiliating as last year's similar defeat.

The Terriers' poor play kept the Crimson in the game for two periods, but B.U. is too good a team to lose its first Eastern contest with no help from the opposition.

Defenseless Harvard tried to outscore the defending champions and raced to a 3-3 first-period draw. But goalie Bill Fitzsimmons, who had an unfortunate off night, resembled a turnstyle in the final period, with each click adding to B.U.'s final margin.

Harvard started slowly and B.U. started fast, and the disparity resulted in a Terrier goal at 1:55. Serge Boily shot from outside the blue line, and nervous goalie Fitzsimmons turned the bomb in with his stick.

Jack Garrity, who responds to pressure like a barometer, stole the puck at the blue line two minutes later and skated in with his streaking line. Garrity's center went through Pete Mueller in the middle to Bob Fredo, and the winger lifted the puck over Wayne Ryan's left shoulder from six feet out.

Boily slipped through blue-line check attempts by Harvard defensemen Bob Carr and Charlie Scammon. He then shot a 15-footer which beat Fitzsimmons cleanly to his right at 7.06.

Four minutes later, Ben Smith garnered Scammon's blocked shot and passed sharply across to Parrot, who connected inside the near right post from 15 feet.

The Crimson broke into the lead at 13:33. Garrity intercepted a defenseman's pass at center ice, skated in alone, and rifled a perfectly timed shot into the upper rightcorner.

The lead didn't last the period. At 18:37 Jimmy Quinn beat Fitzsimmons' glove to the upper rightcorner on a quick shot following a faceoff in Harvard ice.

The second period was 20 minutes of sloppy, spiritless hockey punctuated only by a fluke goal awarded to B.U.'s Pete McLachlan at 18:15. Fitzsimmons and Crimson defenseman Don Grimble both dived to cover the Terrier co-captain's shot, but they only succeeded in knocking the puck over the goal line.

B.U. ran away with the game as soon as the third period began. Boily completed his hat trick at 1:42, taking a pass from Herb Wakabayashi at the crease after a series of scrambles.

At 7:21 Mike Sobeski clipped the upper-right corner of the net with an unfiscreened shot from inside the blue line. Two minutes later McLachlan registered a similar goal, with Wakabayashi getting his fourth assist of the night to set a B.U. season record of 34.

At 15:29 Mickey Gray consummated the rout, with another assist to Wakabayashi.

In a thrilling opening to the evening, Northeastern upset Boston College, 6-5, in overtime to gain the other final berth with B.U.