Midwestern Reporter Praises Passing, Shooting of Sextet

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 30--Harvard's hockey team closed fast tonight to take the second and final game of its vacation series from the University of Minnesota, 7 to 6.

The Crimson won it the way they won the first game--in sudden-death overtime.

Harvard's excellent passing seemed to be the difference tonight. When the puck was cleared from the Crimson cage, there was usually a red-shirted skater to pick it up. This saved the visitors when Minnesota's superor condition began to tell towards the end of the regulation 60 minutes.

In the first period, Harvard was outskating, outshooting, and outpassing Minnesota. The Gophers, sluggish in their reactions, consistently lost faceoffs and missed checks. But as the game wore on, the Harvards seemed to lose their edge, and the final ten minutes were rough and breathtaking.

The best thing Minnesota had to offer was its goalie, Bob Moran, who stopped 42 shots Friday and 33 tonight. He was the only defense that the Gophers could rely on. Nate Corning, seen in Crimson nets for the first time by this observer, looked like the steadlest goalie the Crimson has had since the war. His stops totalied only 24 Friday and 22 tonight; but he made them when they counted. His only fault scemed to be an inability to hug the pipes as tightly as he should have on shots from the side. Two tonight went between his pads and the pipe.

There were other players, other signs that a long-time hockey fan had to like about this Harvard team. Its passing was far superior to any seen in recent years; its shooting was good. Too often in past seasons a Harvard team has failed to take the shots at the right times. Tonight they hit hard and fast.

Promising sophomores looked fine. Walt Grecley made one think of his big brother Dick, and it was a pleasant reminiscence. Jim O'Brien looked good as the third defenseman. White, no sophomore but a new man on skates, was the best scrapper on the ice.

And one had to like Dusty Burke and Bill Bliss at defense, and the first line. They seem to be the nucleus of a fine team--one that made this particular Big Ten entry look like an ill-tempered and ill-timed group.

Kittredge took top scoring honors for the games, with six goals and two assists. Captain Preston had two goals, two assists. Thus the first line, with eight of the 11 goals in two games, looks like the best scoring line; the second line, with the other goals (two by Bob DiBlasio, one by White) seems second best.

This sounds truistic, but it is important: when a team has its scoring so arranged, it is working well. The defense, which did not score, checked back beautifully, and came up to feed the forwards almost as well.

Here is a good team--well-balanced, well-coached, eager. It should fare well in the Boston competition, which ought to be tougher than what it met here.