Ouch.

Not since the Denver Pioneers thrashed the Crimson, 16-2, in 1953 has a Harvard hockey team suffered a more convincing defeat than it did Sunday night at the hands (and sticks and skates) of the U.S. Olympic Team.

If you are looking forward to the Olympians beating The World at Calgary in February, you had to be encouraged by what you saw. Except for the top teams in the NHL, nobody in this hemisphere plays better hockey.

If you're looking forward to Harvard taking on Brown Friday night, you had to be discouraged. No more than a handful of the 3350 fans in the stands had ever seen the Crimson so overmatched.

For a team hoping to defend a conference crown, Harvard looked less than royal. The 15-3 tally matched the Olympians' previous best outing--that jaunt around the ice came at the expense of New Hampshire.

The unkindest cut of all, though, came from Olympic Coach Dave Peterson who said, "[Harvard] and Vermont look pretty equal."

Vermont?

Peterson's squad thumped the Catamounts, 9-1, last week, so he knows what he's talking about. The assessment that the Crimson was playing at the level of last season's sixth-best ECAC team bodes poorly for the Harvard icemen.

To the Crimson's defense, however, come rushing a stream of backers arguing that Sunday's effort means absolutely nothing in terms of forecasting Harvard's success this season.

"It was really unfair" to expect much of the Crimson in this contest, said Yale Coach and 1984 Olympic Assistant Coach Tim Taylor '63.

"It was a tough opener for them," Peterson agreed.

"Tough opener" may be the understatement of the '80s. The Crimson had as much chance against Team USA as the Harvard baseball team did against Roger Clemens' fastball last spring training.

When one considers the difficulties facing this young Crimson squad Sunday night, it may be impressive that Harvard kept the margin of defeat as small as it did.

Harvard lost its top five scorers from last season--two to Team USA, two to the pros. And it doesn't gladden anybody's heart that the Crimson lost the nation's top goaltender, Dickie McEvoy, to graduation.

It's an exceedingly young Harvard squad out there on the ice. Seven of the Crimson's 15 forwards have no prior varsity experience. Only one of the squad's five centers played for the varsity full time last year, and he, Tod Hartje, is a sophomore.

It was the first game Harvard has played this year, after only two weeks of practice. Most of the other college teams the Olympians devastated had played at least one warm-up first. This was the classic match-up of age and ability versus youth and inexperience.

Adding to the Crimson's woes, starting goalie John Devin suffered a leg injury midway through the second period, and his replacement, Michael Francis, is only a freshman.

Francis was in goal for 19 minutes (real-time, not clock-time) before he succumbed to the fierce Olympic offensive attack and allowed his first goal. His performance had to be inspirational to a team with no experienced backup netminder.

(Devin, by the way, is walking with crutches and is listed as "day-to-day".)

Another encouraging sign was the fact that Harvard played the Olympians close until the beginning of the third period. In the final stanza, however, the Crimson's lack of practice showed, as Team USA bombarded its weary opponents for eight goals.

The performance of the Crimson power play was another bright spot. The man-up unit, which clicked at a school record 35.9 percent, was the most devastating aspect of the Crimson attack last season. Although the special teams provided the scoring margin between victory and defeat only four times last year, its mind- numbing efficiency was constantly on opponents'minds, causing anxiety and undue caution inpenalty avoidance.

All five first-line power players--LaneMacDonald, Allen Bourbeau, Tim Barakett, MarkBenning and Randy Taylor--have departed FairHarvard, however, and a new attack force needs tobe recruited.

Captain Steve Armstrong, freshmen Ted Donatoand Peter Ciavaglia, and seniors Don Sweeney andJerry Pawloski have been selected to take over inman-up situations. Not only did the new groupcreate plenty of scoring opportunities, it alsoproduced one of Harvard's three tallies.

That unit will have to gel as a dominant forceif the Crimson hopes to reach heights at allapproaching those of last year.

Before writing off the Crimson this year, waitto see how it plays this weekend in "real games."As Crimson Coach Bill Cleary told Peterson afterSunday's exhibition, "this was a joy to watch.That's the way the game should be played."

This game was an exhibition. The trueexhibition of Crimson talent comes Friday night inProvidence