Harvard's varsity hockey team will face its first opponent of a strenuous weekend road trip tonight when the Crimson travels to Canton, N.Y., to meet St. Lawrence.

Tomorrow Harvard will make the ten-mile trip from Canton to Potsdam, N.Y., where the team will seek to repay Clarkson for last year's 7-4 loss to the Golden Knights in the ECAC quarterfinals.

St. Lawrence currently stands 0-7-1 overall, with an 0-3-1 ECAC Division I record. Clarkson and Penn downed the Larries by scores of 4-1 and 5-3, respectively, while Princeton, which posted a 5-18 record last year, edged St. Lawrence, 4-3.

Despite these losses, the Larries played an impressive game against Cornell last Wednesday, tying the Big Red, 5-5, in an overtime contest. Junior goalie Tom O'Conner made a phenomenal 67 saves against Cornell, setting a school record, while the Big Red netminder, Brian Rainey, blocked 45 shots.

Ice At Home

"I think we have a good chance of beating Harvard if we play as well as we did against Cornell," O'Conner said yesterday. "The home ice advantage should help us considerably."

Either O'Conner, who holds a 3.9 goals-against average, or junior Jacques Martin will start tonight. Martin earned a 4.1 goals-against average last season.

Three experienced seniors--Mike Sweett, Allen MacCormack and Tom Mariano--make up St. Lawrence's first line, but the trio has lacked scoring punch so far this year.

Two second-line sophomores, right winger Peter Blair and center Tom Falludi, currently lead the Larries in scoring with nine and eight points respectively. Their left wing, senior Glen Johnson, has collected six assists in eight games.

Injuries have sidelined three starters, including co-captain Scott Graham, who normally centers the second line. Graham and freshman Brian Bennett have shoulder injuries, while forward Eric Sanford incurred a head injury earlier this year.

St. Lawrence coach Bernard McKinnon, now in his fourth season at Canton, has never seen his team beat the Crimson. An expected crowd of 3400 in Appleton Arena will try to cheer the Larries on to their first victory over Harvard since February, 1968.