Harvard's resurgent hockey team disposed of sloppy St. Lawrence with relative case last night at Watson Rink to strengthen its hold on fifth place in the ECAC standings. The victory will also keep Harvard's hopes alive for a fourth place finish and home ice for next month's playoffs.

The 6-2 Crimson triumph. Harvard's fourth straight, was secured fairly early over a Larry squad that had dropped a bumbling 7-3 decision at New Hampshire the night before, and it featured an offensive barrage that is rapidly becoming part of the Harvard style again.

Hat Trick

Senior center George McManama, who turned the hat trick with a pair of beautiful goals in the final period, tallied his first after less than five minutes of play in the opening session, and junior Dan Demichele stuffed in a rebound of a Joe Cavanagh point shot at 9:14 to put Harvard safely in front.

Junior Tom Paul added a third at 15:02 into the open right side of the St. Lawrence net to apparently open the gates for a rout, but less than a minute later, with Harvard's Steve Owen off the ice, St. Lawrence right wing Alex Campbell beat Crimson goalie Bruce Durno to put the Larries back in contention.

Harvard, momentarily, seemed to be on the brink of the same mid-game slump that wasted a 4-1 lead at Canton last winter and forced the Crimson into an overtime tie. But at 2:13 of the second period. DeMichele beat Larry goalie Allen Howes on a breakaway to reopen the margin.

But St. Lawrence, one of the most, dangerously rallying Easteru squads, was still not entirely downtrodden. At 7:39, left wing Bob Wanamaker beat Durno for another Larry goal, and at the 15-minute mark. St. Lawrence was given a two-man advantage when both Cavanagh and Chris Gurry were penalized.

The Crimson, however, produced one of Its most crafty penalty-killing sequences of the season to nullify the Larry edge, and the Larries were done in.

McManama added two more goals, assisted by defenseman Skip Freeman on the first and Freeman and Ron Mark on the second, in the final period, to thrust the Crimson far out of reach.

But ironically, as Harvard continues to win, it may be doing more harm to its chances of an NCAA berth than it is strengthening them.

Unless fourth-ranked Clarkson drops several of its remaining games, all against difficult competition. Harvard will probably face the Golden Knights at Potsdam in the playoffs, and if it wins there... Cornell!