There was no turning point, no real game-winning goal: last night's visit with Boston University simply slipped away from the Harvard hockey team. The Crimson followed a sharp 20 minutes with two periods of ragtag, choose-up-sides shinny and dropped a 5-2 decision to the Terriers before 2059 at Walter Brown Arena.

Harvard played the first period just about as well as it is possible to and still be down, 1-0. The chances were there for both sides--Greg Olson hitting the crossbar, B.U.'s Tom O'Regan shooting into Wade Lau's glove from six inches--but the great defensive plays (including a gem by Lau off of Paul Fenton) were too, and when Fenton finally broke the ice at 18:21 it looked like merely the first blood of a classy, well-fought duel.

But something happened to both teams after that, and by the time Kevin Mutch tapped a Robbie Davies shot past Lau's right side for a power-play goal at 13:32 of the second period, the close checking had vanished and the sloppy play was being dominated by the bigger, chippier Terriers.

Shorty

B.U.'s third goal was a shorthanded effort by Marc Sinclair, who picked up the puck in his own end, cruised past Ken Code up the right side and flicked a sudden shot off the far crossbar and behind Lau.

"I saw [Harvard defenseman Mark] Fusco moving in so I figured I'd shoot on goal." Sinclair said after the game. "I just hoped something would happen around the net."

Harvard's power-play clicked (Michael Watson from Olson) for the ninth time on the year at 15:25 to narrow the margin to 3-1, but Davies redirected a Sinclair cross past Lau in the final minute of the stanza and the lead was back at three.

And, really, Harvard was never in it again. Greg Britz got a stick on a Fusco power-play slapshot to score his team-leading fourth goal of the year two minutes into the third period, but B.U.'s 4-2 lead seemed insurmountable.

The teams dawdled through a quarter of an hour of ice time before Harvard woke up with a too-little, too-late flurry in the final minute. Bob Darling's empty-netter removed all doubt at 19:30, and Harvard's record dropped to 2-2, while the Terriers improved to 2-1-1 (1-1-1 ECAC).

And so an old hockey truism caught up Harvard. You can't let up against anyone, not St. Lawrence, not B.U., not even--as Boston College found out Tuesday night--Brown. Play a period or two of placid, polite hockey and any team in the ECAC is capable of putting any other team away.

The Terriers turned it into their kind of contest, wide-open and sloppy, and Harvard responded by just not skating. "And you have to skate," said Cleary, "or you might as well go home."

THE NOTEBOOK: The three stars, as selected by the Cambridge media, were Davies, B.U. goalie Cleon Daskalakis (30 saves) and Sinclair...The Wats Line of Watson. Olson and Britz now has 11 goals in four games, plus 11 assists. Fusco leads the team with nine points...A pleasant surprise this year has been the Crimson's power-play potency. The icemen have clicked for power-play goals ten times in 31 chances for an amazing 32 per cent. B.U. is four for 18, 22 per cent...In other ECAC action last night, RPI upset Providence, 7-6, Colgate held on to whip Cornell, 6-4, and New Hampshire topped Maine, 7-5. BU  1  3  1  --  5 H  0  1  1  --  2

Goals -- 1. BU, Fenton (O'Regan, Darling), 18:21. 2. BU, Mutch (Davies, Connolly) pp, 13:32. 3. BU, Sinclair (unassisted) short-handed, 14:39. 4. H, Watson (Olson) pp, 15:25. 5. BU, Davies (Sinclair, Pierog). 6. H, Britz (M. Fusco, Watson) pp, 1:52. 7. BU, Darling (O'Regan) 19:30.

Saves -- Daskalakis (BU) 30, Lau (H) 30.