Harvard's varsity hockey machine returned to its winning ways last night in Philadelphia, amassing a 5-0 lead after 27 minutes of play, and then holding off a furious Pennsylvania rally to win, 5-3.

The opening face-off was followed by 17 minutes of rugged play, and it was not until Crimson wing Jim McMahon tucked in a rebound at 17:53 of the first period that Harvard was able to get the upper hand on the determined Quakers.

Once the Crimson got its foot in the door, however, a deluge followed. Seven seconds after McMahon's tally. Leigh Hogan took a pass from Ted Thorndike and beat Penn goalie Carl Jackson cleanly, sending Harvard into a commanding 2-0 lead.

Jackson's valiant efforts in the first period were replaced by frustrations in the second, as Harvard scored three times in the first seven minutes to ice its seventh Ivy League victory against no defeats. At the other end of the ice, Harvard's Brian Petrovek, was holding the fort against repeated Quaker pressure. Petro finished with 24 saves in the game, while Jackson was called on to make 38.

Steve Dagdigian gave Harvard a 3-0 lead at 3:36 of the middle stanza with an unassisted rush, and captain Randy Roth followed two minutes rather with another score as the scrappy Quakers began to will under the Crimson pressure.

But after Hogan made it 5-0 with his second goal of the game at 711, the Pennsylvania squad began to take control, and it was only some spectacular goaltending by the sophomore Petrovek in the final minutes of the contest that salvaged for Harvard its 14th Division One victory.

"We let them off the book." Harvard coach Billy Cleary said after the game and conclude Monday.

"When goal star to come, you get a little sleeping if get either close.

Soplimore defenseman Tom Gillanse started the penn comeback at 11:47, of the second period, and Peter Loe made it 6-2 at the 18:00 mark. Steve Siba scored Penn's final marker early in the third, and it was left to Petrovek to stem the tide, which he did.

"If they are number one in the U.S." Penn mentor Bob Crocker said after the game, "then we're not far behind. We owned for second half of the game."