The most exciting part of last night's opening game of the women's Beanpot at Bright Center came midway through the third period when an announcer declared that things were all tied up at the Garden. By that time, the Harvard women's ice hockey team had all but wrapped up its date with Boston College.

As the men's hockey team pursued a futile battle before 15,000 frenzied spectators, the icewomen quietly advanced to next week's championship game with a 12-0 demolition of the Eagles. But not even the 12 goals--the most ever in Beanpot history--convey the ease with which the Crimson dominated Consider these facts:

* Harvard outshot B.C. 70-5;

* The Eagles entered the Crimson zone only 10 times the whole night; and.

* The Crimson's fourth line saw its first considerable action of the year.

So the only question that remained at game's end was why there hadn't been more goals. And, with a paltry crowd of 50, there weren't many wondering about it. Harvard Coach John Dooley answered it anyway, pointing to Eagle goalie Ann Marie Looney, who racked up a record 58 saves

"I give their whole team credit," Dooley said. "But without some superb stops from their goalie we would have had a lot more." The defending champions will now face a powerful Northeastern squad in the February 18 Beanpot final at Bright. The Huskies (10-3) never trailed in last night's second game, downing Boston University (7-2-1) 11-1.

Where the Action Was

But it was the tournament's first game that provided the scoring and the stars. And there was no bigger star than Crimson junior forward Kathy Carroll, who added five assists to a hat trick in the Harvard win. Her eight points in one game also set a new Beanpot record.

"We started slow again, but once we got started things just seemed to happen," said Carroll, whose three goals all came in the second period. "We had a strong practice yesterday and got a strong performance from all four lines today," she added.

In fact, it was the Crimson's second line that got things started last night Diane Hurley's goal just 2:08 into the game put Harvard on top and proved to be the only one the icewomen would need.

But just to make sure, the Crimson added another in the first, six in the second and four in the third--including two each from Diane Hurley and Jennifer White--en route to its final dozen.

"We're slowly starting to put everything together," Dooley said. "Our passing and our team play are really starting to come together after the long layoff," added the Crimson coach, whose squad (7-5) has now recorded three shutouts in a row.

Even the thrill of the overwhelming Beanpot win couldn't shake Dooley's feelings for the B.C. squad "My heart really goes out to those girls. I really give them a lot of credit" he said. "It's just a shame that the commitment B.C. has made to men's athletics hasn't spilled over to women's athletics. The B C women's teams just really can't match up without the support."

Meanwhile, in the fifth annual classic's second game, the Huskies opened quickly, running up a 4-1 first-period lead. They then got some outstanding play from freshman Kerrie Cronin, whose hat trick made the score 7-1 after two periods.