A struggling Providence College sextet, losers of four of its last five games, found a Crimson squad more than willing to match its dreary play, sloppy pass for sloppy pass and, on the strength of a reasonably efficient defense, dealt the icemen their fourth straight loss, 3-1, at the Bright Center last night.

Luckily for those who care about college hockey, only close friends and family trundled down to see this one. The announced crowd, "an official estimate of 1000," was the smallest in Bright history, but as Herald-American hockey writer Dick Dew says, "they must have counted the band's instruments twice to get that."

Ready for the Worst

Those who came wished they had not. Harvard has played far worse games this season. But unlike the disasters at B.C. and RPI, there were no shining lights in the darkness, no surprises in the cracker jacks. Just dull, somnolent, uninspired hockey for sixty minutes, and when it had ended, the Crimson's eighth loss in its last nine games.

All that made this one exciting was figuring the last time the icemen had been shut out, for until Rick Benson's tally with four minutes left in the game it appeared Norwood's Scott Fiske was going to turn in a whitewash.

Fiske got busier as the game wore on, stopping 27 shots in the final two periods for a total of 33. But with the exception of a dazzler off Greg Olson, his evening wasn't terribly difficult.

By wasting five power-play opportunities (although to be fair two were quickly nullified by Harvard penalties), Harvard upped its streak to 22 straight man-up situations without a goal.

And all four Harvard lines--which for the first time all year did not include freshman Jay North--couldn't create many good opportunities, although they tossed plenty of dribblers at the Friar net.

North, Tony Visone, Bill Sztorc, Derek Malmquist and Rob Burns have supposedly been told that they will not be practicing with the varisty, although Burns played last night. In addition, North has asked for "a couple of days off" because of exams, assistant coach Val Belmonte, said yesterday. Bill Larson played in his first ECAC contest instead, centering for Benson and Jim Turner.

THE NOTEBOOK: For those who are interested, Harvard was last shut out back on December 12, 1977, losing a 7-0 decision to Boston College...Harvard goalie Wade Lau had an above-average game, stopping 29 shots including several on their way to the twines. And despite his excellent numbers, Fiske did not look that impressive in the other end. No Gaudet, certainly...Down on the Farm Dept.: After thrashing Tabor 17-3, the junior varsity is 8-0-1 on the season. Gary Martin and Jackie Burke each put three goals home, and Doug Horton tallied a point for the--unofficially--24th straight game...The Crimson will entertain Clarkson's Golden Knights on Jan. 31 in its next outing. Ranked second nationally, Clarkson is 4-1 ECAC, 12-3-1 overall...Maine continues to roll along, topping Vermont last night to improve its ECAC record to 7-3, 15-4 overall.