As expected, the icemen had some trouble on defense during Sunday night's season-opening victory at Brown. With only two letterwinners returning from last year's corps of blueliners--and those sophomores--Harvard will have to come up with some solid stoppers from somewhere. The opening night prognosis:

Scott Sangster--Sangster probably played the best game of the crew, but he still had some problems. Yes, he's strong and he is certainly the team's best checker, but at 5-ft., 9-in. and 175 lbs., he can't knock everybody over. When he's intense, he's great, but Sunday night--especially early--he seemed to get lost for entire shifts. Still, he's the best the team has right now.

Mark Fusco--Didn't play one of his best games. Caught out of position a couple of times in the first few shifts, he settled down and played better when the Crimson took the initiative half-way through.

This year, Fusco might have to subdue his style. He's always been an offensive defenseman (13 goals and 16 assists for a team-leading 29 points last year), but as much as this team needs his shot, it may not be able to afford it.

Fusco thinks, however, that the defense is strong enough so he can rush up ice now and then. "I feel," he said yesterday, "the team is as strong defensively as last year and it won't be a problem."

Neil Sheehy--New to the position, and it showed. Sheehy committed some rookie mistakes at Providence, and his lack of speed made them all the more glaring. On the positive side, his affinity to check and his size to make the checks effective will help enormously. And, the mistakes are curable--perhaps experience will be the remedy.

Alan Litchfield--A pleasant surprise, especially early on. While things collapsed around him early in the second period, Litch held on and played fine, solid defense. Something happened to him soon after, however, and his play was shaky the rest of the way. All in all, a good performance from a somewhat surprising starter.

Bill Sztorc and Bob Starbuck--Both freshmen skated only a couple of shifts. Sztorc exhibited some nifty stickhandling in his one run with the puck, and Starbuck looks fast. Too soon to tell.

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The Crimson travels to Northeastern tonight to meet the Huskies (5-16-0 in the ECAC last year) for the first time since the 8-2 Crimson walkover on opening night a year ago. They say this is a different Husky team, and with 12 freshmen on the preliminary roster that's hard to dispute.

But different isn't necessarily better. The Huskies are rarely good (of course, last year's Beanpot was history's notable exception) and coach Fern Flaman is committed to the youngsters. 7:30 p.m. start. See you on the T, sports.