Jim McKay would call it "The thrill of victory, the agony of delay." Whatever, the final and consolation games of the Beanpot Hockey Tournament, originally scheduled for tonight, have been postponed until March 1 as a result of the extension of the ban on non-essential vehicles in the metropolitan Boston area.

Unanimity

A unanimous vote yesterday by the athletic directors of the four schools involved (Harvard, Boston College, Boston University and Northeastern) resulted in the delay of tonight's scheduled final between unbeaten B.U. and defending champion Harvard, as well as the match between first-round losers Boston College and Northeastern, by 16 days.

Last Monday night the Eagles were dumped by the Terriers, 12-5, and the Crimson knocked off N.U. in overtime, 4-3, to set up the pairings.

Harvard athletic director John P. Reardon Jr., among those who voted for postponement, was unavailable for comment.

Idles of March

A spokesman for the Boston Garden, where the tournament is annually held, said yesterday that March 1 was the Garden's only open date left which did not conflict with the four teams' regular schedules.

The new date did not set well with those at Harvard, since the Crimson have to play Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire, February 28 (the night before the finals), while B.U. is idle for three days before the rescheduled clash.

However, most of the disappointment was over the delay itself. Harvard goaltender John Hynes, who played brilliantly against Northeastern in the overtime win a week ago, said "We were all so anxious to play B.U. tomorrow night because we wanted to be the team to knock them off their unbeaten streak. I'm sure that they're not going to be undefeated anymore when March 1 rolls around."

This is the second time in the past week that Harvard has had to adjust its hockey schedule to constraints caused by the blizzard of last Monday. The two postponements leave the icemen in the unenviable position of having to play their last seven games of the season in 15 days.