PRINCETON, N.J.--The Harvard men's hockey team turned back the two strongest forces the Tigers had to offer in last night's game at Baker Arena here and got a hat trick from its captain, Pete Chiarelli, to beat Princeton, 6-2.

With three early first period goals--from Steve Armstrong, Chiarelli, and Lane MacDonald--the Crimson quieted the 2574 rambunctious spectators, a few of whom came bearing plastic chickens to taunt Harvard goalie Dickie McEvoy.

And a fine defensive effort from Harvard's six defensemen and McEvoy (who finished with 23 saves) held Princeton's John Messuri--who scored 14 goals and recorded 27 assists last year--to one early assist and one late goal.

Chiarelli turned in one of his finest perfomances ever in recording his first collegiate hat trick.

"It feels good just helping the team to score a few goals and providing some leadership," Chiarelli said. "It all feels good when you win."

Harvard (3-0 overall) won its first road contest of the year and claimed its third victory in both the ECAC and the Ivy races.

The Crimson was expected to start John Devin in goal last night. But the junior netminder pulled his knee in warm-up and had to sit out.

Princeton (0-3 overall) dropped its second Ivy League contest and its third in the ECAC while failing to win its home opener.

"That's the best Harvard team I've ever seen," Princeton Coach Jim Higgins said, "and they've had some great teams. They've got real depth."

Harvard struck early in the first period when Armstrong tipped in a blast from defenseman Don Sweeney to put the Crimson up 1-0.

Chiarelli tucked a bouncing puck into the Princeton net just over a minute later.

MacDonald added the third goal of the period when he took an outlet pass from McEvoy, dashed down the right side of the ice, then streaked across the middle and just before reaching the board flung a shot past Tiger goalie Dave Marotta (34 saves).

"He can skate," Harvard Coach Bill Cleary said. "When he gets up a head of steam he's hard to stop. I thought he went too far but he threw that one up from the popcorn stand."

It was MacDonald's fourth goal of the year. And his goal with 10 minutes left in the game gave him a team-leading five goals for the season.

Princeton rallied back at the end of the period when Messuri sent a pretty pass to Dave Umbland, who beat McEvoy low.