PROVIDENCE, R.I.--It was a tight hockey game for two periods, but the Crimson icemen will go home for Christmas vacation undefeated as they exploded for three goals in the third period to defeat a scrappy Brown team here, 5-1, Saturday night.

Coach Bill Cleary was more than pleased with the outcome. "We played a steady, consistent brand of hockey," he said after the game. "We didn't shoot as much as we might have, but played very well on defense. They came out hitting hard, but the only way to really hurt a team is on the scoreboard."

Harvard jumped out to a one-to-nothing lead on their first power play opportunity of the game at 9:05 of the opening period, as Dave Hynes upped his goal total to five on a slap shot from just inside the point Kevin Hampe's slapper at 16:16 gave the Crimson some breathing room momentarily.

With both Hynes and Hampe in the penalty box at 17:52, Rich Heimbath took advantage of Brown's five-on-three situation, deflecting a shot past Bertagna to close the gap to one. Harvard only got one player back after the score, but managed to hold off the Bruins' advantage.

The second period went scoreless, with each team getting only eight shots apiece on net. Harvard's best chance came when Dave Gauthier's-shot at an open net caught the crossbar and glanced behind the goal.

Brown gave the Crimson a tough time for the first two stanzas, playing a physical, close checking game that limited Harvard to just 18 shots on Bruin netminder Dave Sagzser. Twelve of the game's 13 penalties were called during the first and second periods, including a five minute accidental high sticking penalty on Bob McManama at 0:16 of the second, that gave Brown's Doug Smith a bloody nose.

Although Harvard was short-handed for only three minutes, due to an interference call on Bruin defenseman Gary Fatyniuk, the Crimson had to stave off considerable pressure during that span to preserve their 2.1 lead

"Killing that five-minute penalty was one of the turning points of the game," Cleary said. "They did a great job." Crimson goalie Joe Bertagna had some help from the penalty-killing team, especially Bob Muse, who was up and down blocking shots and centering passes.

Though Brown didn't get that many shots on goal, Bertagna came up with some big saves. "Joey played one of his best games Saturday," Cleary said. "Coming up with the big ones like he did can really lift a team." Bertagna held off two break-away bids in the first period, and was equal to the task during some excellent Brown power play opportunities.

The third period was all Harvard as the Crimson limited Brown to Just five shots on Bertagna, and put the game on ice with three goals. Muse scored at 5:24 from Doug Elliot and Dave Corkers on a booming shot that Sagzser didn't see until it was in the net. Corkers got one from Hynes and Mark Noonan at 10:25 and has Riley, playing his first game this season poked one between Sagzser's legs at 14:46 to cap the scoring.

"I was really pleased with the way we played," Cleary said. "It's a tough place to play it takes time to adjust to the higher ice area. Historically Harvard has never played well down there but Saturday's game way one of the finest I've seen; we did a lot of things right."

Brown coach Al Soares was also impressed with the Crimson squad. I don't want to give them swelled heads or anything, but I thought they were a lot better than B.U. or Cornell." he said. "Cornell didn't dominate us like they did Cornell beat Brown 8.2 Harvard was too fast, too quick for us."

Harvard's depth was again a big factor in the win. "It's great to have a fourth line you have real confidence in." Cleary said "you really need them to give the others a rest especially after power plays and penalty killing situations." The fourth line of senior Jay Riley, and sophomores Steve Dagdigian and Jim McMahon accounted for four points in Saturday's contest.

Dave Gauthier, who normally plays with Dagdigian and McMahon, was moved up to the play with Ted Thorndike and Larry Desmond in place of the injured Harry Reynolds. Harry suffered a broken nose and several stitches in the B.C. game and had to sit out the Brown game.