NEW HAVEN--For 10 years, the Harvard men's hockey team had failed to harpoon "The Whale."

Since 1977, the strange fish-like structure called Ingalls Rink--home of the Elis--had cast a losing nex on the Crimson.

Saturday night here, Harvard put an end to a decade of frustration by breaking out with four third-period goals to defeat the Elis, 7-2, in front of a soldout, noisy crowd of 3200 in the belly of Yale's "Whale."

The win closed out a successful opening weekend for the Crimson (2-0), which now shares first place in the ECAC standings with Cornell, Dartmouth and St. Lawrence after the first week of league play.

Despite the lopsided score, the first two periods saw the Elis (0-2) scratch back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to close the gap.

"We lost some crazies here before," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "[Yale] showed a lot of poise."

Harvard pulled ahead, 2-0, on a first-period score by Kevan Melrose, who flicked the puck past Yale goalie Mike O'Neill after Don Sweeney's shot rebounded straight off the far boards. Although Harvard started the middle period on a power play, Yale came back when Dave Tanner sank a short-handed goal 20 seconds into the period to narrow the Crimson lead to one.

After freshman Mike Vukonich's goal gave Harvard a 3-1 lead, the Elis responded six minutes later on a score by Cambridge native Tom Walsh.

The Elis were closing in and summoning Poseidon and the other gods of Ingalls to work some of their familiar 10-year-old magic.

Yet the Crimson responded to the hex by doing what it had to do in the third period: applying constant pressure on the Eli net and scoring. When the final buzzer sounded, the Crimson had ended the jinx with a relentless four-goal barrage.

"That was our first real test," said freshman Ted Donato, who scored twice. "We answered the call and we all came together. It's good to come together on the road because every one's against you."

It was Donato's power play goal seven minutes into the final period that started the Crimson scoring run. Less than two minutes later, Sweeney scored unassisted with an authoritative blast from the top of the left circle that clearly beat a diving O'Neill.

The lightning-quick shot killed any chances of a familiar Yale comeback. The gods of Ingalls, along with 3200 partisan fans, were silenced.

"I was pleased with the way we came back in the third period," Cleary said. "The team showed that they've got a little bit of fight in them and that's a good sign."

Harvard managed to get off 13 shots on goal in the final period. The weary O'Neill, last year's first-team All-ECAC goalie, finished the night with 40 saves.

As for the Crimson side of the net, freshman goalie Michael Francis--starting in place of injured John Devin for the second straight night--was once again impressive. Even though the Elis did not shoot the puck that much in the third period due to a tenacious Harvard defense led by Sweeney and Jerry Pawloski, Francis recorded 17 saves in the game and picked up the second victory of his young collegiate career.

Some questions about how well the first-year Crimson players would blend into the squad were answered against Yale. Donato, Melrose (a second-year transfer student) and Vukonich all scored at least once while Peter Ciaviglia added two assists for a Crimson team that scored 12 goals in its first ECAC weekend.

"We got a nice blend of young and old," Cleary said.

That "nice blend" did what no other Harvard team has done here for 10 years. "The Whale" was finally harpooned.

Harvard, at Ingalls Rink New Haven, Conn. Harvard  2-1-4--7 Yale  0-2-0--2

First Period--1, H, Donato (Young, Farden) 9:54; 2, H, Melrose (Vukonich, Sweeney) 14:09. Penalties--H, Melrose (charging) 2:34; Y, Gruber (high sticking) 18:54.

Second Period--1, Y, Tanner (Walsh) :20;3, H, Vukonich (Melrose, Caplan) 9:46; 2, Y, Walsh (Moore, Harrison) 15:15. Penalties--H, Murphy (too many men on ice) 2:34; H, Young (roughing) 9:23; Y, Matthews (roughing) 9:23; Y, Marciano (tripping) 11:03; Y, D'Orsi (roughing) 18:53; H, Sweeney, 18:53, Y, Abraham (roughing) 18:53; H, Pawloski (roughing) 18:53.

Third Period--4, H, Donato (Ciavaglia, Sweeney) 7:24; 5, H, Sweeney (unassisted) 9:18; 6, H, Caplan (Ciaviglia, Young) 14:22; 7, H, Howley (Janfaza, Presz). Penalties--H, Armstrong (high sticking) 6:03; Y, Matthews (high sticking) 6:03; Y, Harrison (holding) 6:45; Y, D'Orsi (tripping) 7:24; H, Pawloski (tripping) 8:21; H, Caplan (elbowing) 18:05; H, Hartje (hooking) 19:47.

Saves--H, Francis 6-7-4--17; Y, O'Neill 9-9-13--40.

A: 3200