This will go down as The Night The Freshman Went Wild. Five goals by four different first year players highlighted a come-form-behind 7-6 triumph for the Harvard hockey team over a defenseless squad from the University of New Hampshire last night at Durham.

The team's fifth win in eight tries was particularly satisfying for a number of reasons. Number one, the squad showed it could win without the services of center ice-god George Hughes, who had to sit out because of an ailing shoulder.

Number two, the Crimson was not only coming off a bad enough performance against Brown on Saturday, but also a downright atrocious showing against Boston College, who blitzed Harvard 7-0 three nights ago.

And finally, the icemen enjoyed their first typically Harvard hard skating performance since the overtime heartbreak at Boston University a week ago, rallying when behind on two separate occasions to cop the victory.

Rookie Rick Benson's tally at 12:57 of the final period was the deciding goal. Jack Hughes sent freshman Tommy Murray off to the races at his own blue line, and Murray sent it ahead on the left to Benson, who batted the rolling puck up and over the right shoulder of Wildcat goalie Greg Moffett.

Ahead 5-4 at the beginning of the final stanza, the Wildcats got a quick score at 1:04 from Bob Gould to take a two-goat lead.

Harvard had to wait until 4:37 to cut it down to one when senior Bob Leckie, who has been used sparingly on defense of late, made his playing time really count with his first goal of the season, a power play blazer from 30 feet out.

Phil Evans then tied the tilt up for th last time as a perfect wide-wing pass from linemate Bobby McDonald led him past the defensemen and only a soft wrist shot away from Harvard's sixth goal.

UNH took advantage of the Crimson's post-B.C. blues early on with two goals within the first three and a half minutes of play. Terry Flanagan poloed in a puck bouncing in front of the cage at 2:02, then Bruce Crowder came through on the power play at 3:13 with a 40-foot meteor that screened Harvard netminder John Hynes never saw.

The Crimson finally put one on the board at 13:51, despite evenly skating with UNH throughout the first period. It was the first of the season for junior Randy Millen, who banged home a rebound off a Kevin O'Donaghue drive. UNH would kill Harvard momentum for the first time with a goal by Frank Bart less than two minutes later to take a 3-1 first period lead.

The stage set for Comeback Number One, Murray began his Best Actor performance with his first of two second period goals at 7:49.

With UNH on the power play defenseman Jim Liston left two Wildcat forwards for dead, then pushed the puck ahead for Gene Purdy. Purdy sent Murray in at the blue line who, outskating everybody, slid a backhand under the stacked pads of Moffett.

Forty two ticks later, with Harvard on the power play, McDonald popped home the icemen's first man-up tally since the Penn game. The freshman from Winthrop, MA., did it all on his own, shifting by two defenders after a pass from Jackie Hughes and flipping a wrister past the pathetic Moffett who went down more than Jerry Quarry last night.

Harvard was playing its best hockey since the B.U. clash when Murray tallied his second and the icemen went ahead temporarily at 13:19. With Steve Kennealy of UNH off for elbowing, the Harvard power play got its second of the night when Murray tacked in a rebound from five feet out off a John Cochrane slapper.

The Wildcats could not clear the puck out of their zone for the first 18:57 of the second period, thanks mainly to the rejuvenated forechecking of Murray Dea and McDonald.

Then-well, it must have been something in the Gatorade-for the last 1:02 the entire squad took a brief siest while UNH scratched for two quick goals by Gary Burns and Cliff Cox to take its last lead at 5-4.

But eventually the lttle kids got their way. Harvard delays their next face off for eight days before travelling to St. Paul to face Notre Dame.

THE NOTEBOOK: Even though out of action last night, George Hughes's black turtleneck has drawn raves from fashion-conscious spectators around the ECAC. And while we're on the subject of personal grooming, the fans would like to see Kevin O'Donaghue grow his macho mustache back at least by the Beanpot.

Good news! Despite his last two outings, John Hynes's goals against average is still under 4.00.