Giff Duffy turned away 37 shots and Mike Watson and Mark Fusco each tallied a goal and an assist as the Harvard hockey team roared back from a 1-0 deficit with three unanswered goals and held on for a 5-3 victory over St. Lawrence in Canton, N.Y., last night.

The win improves the Crimson's ECAC record to 7-10-3 with one game remaining.

The Larries' Ron Walenty opened the scoring just three and a half minutes into the game when he scooped up a rebound on the left side and rammed it past Duffy, who was making his first varsity appearance since November 29.

No Standing

But early leads have rarely stood up for or against the Crimson this season, and this one proved no exception. It disappeared at 9:19 when Watson notched his eighth goal of the season from Fusco and Graham Carter, and the icemen had a lead of their own two minutes later when Jim Turner flicked the puck past St. Lawrence netminder Rick Wilson.

After the initial shock of seeing a varsity slapshot for the first time in three months, Duffy settled down and turned in a commendable--at times spectacular--performance in the nets.

Hush-Hush

"I played a few J.V. games during the past month or so, but varsity is a little bit different," Duffy said after the game. "Things quieted down, though, and I was okay."

Aided by solid defense from Alan Litchfield and Doug Horton ("Hey, they really played well"--Duffy) who admirably plugged by gap left by still-ailing Scott Sangster, the sophomore netminder made just one real mistake the rest of the way--the Larries' second goal which pulled them within one at 4:31 in the third period.

It's All in Your Head

"I dropped down just a little bit thinking he [St. Lawrence's Doug Bymark] might pass it across, but he shot instead and beat me between my legs," Duffy said.

St. Lawrence stayed within one goal for ten more minutes, until Jon Garrity seemingly put the game away at 14:31, taking a Rob Burns pass and sliding a low wristshot past Wilson's stick side.

Jeff Robinson gave the home fans one final cheer when he cut the lead to 4-3 at 16:16, but even pulling their goalie couldn't give the Larries the equalizer, and Greg Britz popped one into the empty net at 19:22 for the final tally.

The Only Thing

"We do things the hard way, but we win," coach Billy Cleary said after the game, adding his usual "the kids did a good job--they hung in there," and saving special praise for Duffy: "Giff played a good game."