Varsity Hockey Faces Uncertain Season

Thanksgiving Day has always been a traditional dividing point--most college football ends except for the few Bowl contests, and basketball and hockey begin in earnest. The week since the Yale game has been a busy one for the varsity hockey team, with heavy practices every day including Thanksgiving, in preparation for the first contest tomorrow evening against Boston College.

With so little practice time behind the full team, Coach Cooney Weiland is naturally reluctant to make many predictions about the season. He has definite hopes of retaining the Ivy ice championship--Crimson property since the establishment of the League--but the going may be rough.

Graduation last year took away many of the finest hockey players in Harvard history. Bob Cleary, top scorer in the nation last winter, star defenseman Bob Owen, Lyle Guttu, John Copeland, Bob McVey--all of these left in June. Only eight lettermen remain: Harry Pratt, Tab Cleary, John Duncan, Dick Fisher, Captain Dick McLaughlin, Dave Vietze, Buddy Higginbottom, and Paul Kelley.

Many Sophomores on Team

To fill this gap, Weiland is relying extensively on members of last year's freshman hockey squad. Bob Anderson, Dave Crosby, Stew Forbes, and Crocker Snow have definitely won positions on the varsity squad. Peter Tague is being carried as third goalie, while Greg Downes fills in at defense.

"It will take a while before we can get rolling," Weiland comments. "I'm trying to give all the fellows a chance in practice--we are carrying 24 on the squad right now--and some time is necessary to let everything shake down."

Only the first line has been fixed so far, as Higginbottom centers Vietze and Kelley. After a winter of relative inaction due to an injured leg, Kelley could well return to the form he exhibited sophomore year, when he trailed only Bobby Cleary in the Ivy scoring race. Higginbottom is the best stick-handler on the squad, and much of the line's success will depend on his playmaking ability.

Weiland's second line has Fisher centering Crosby and Anderson, while, on the third line, Forbes centers John Reilly and Snow. "However, we have many things to iron out," Weiland says, "and most of our problem lies in getting the most effective combinations."

The main problem of the squad lies at the vital defense positions. Only Captain McLaughlin, John Duncan, and Mo Balboni have had extensive varsity experience; the graduation gap is especially evident here. "Pairings are still tentative," Weiland says, and much may change in the early weeks of the season.

All in all, the varsity's chances for a repeat championship seem dim. Weak defense--a sporadic problem even last year--lack of experienced depth, and a shortness of practice time all weigh heavily against the squad. But most important, the quality of competition in the Ivy League has improved considerably this year.

"Dartmouth and Brown will be greatly improved this winter," Weiland predicts. "And Yale, with their fancy new rink, will be hard to beat." All in all, the Ivy race will be tight, probably the tightest it has ever been--and the Crimson may be shut out of the leadership.

Team Faces B.C.

A few games are necessary to test the team's caliber, however. And the competition starts quickly and roughly against the ever-strong Boston College sextet tomorrow evening. "B.C. is always tough," Weiland comments, "and their new rink will pose many problems for us."

The Crimson squad will inaugurate the new rink at Chestnut Hill, and the purple and gold team hopes to avenge last year's defeat in the Beanpot tourney. This incentive for revenge, coupled with the desire to inaugurate the rink "properly," will make B.C. mighty tough to defeat.

However, the most interesting contest of the season comes January 12, when the Russian Olympic team journeys to the Boston Garden to meet the Crimson sextet. The varsity will play under Olympic rules, which do not permit any body-checking, and the game itself could be a commentary on the superiority of international competition. "After all, they're the best team in the world," Weiland notes.

Time, then, will be the important factor before attempting any judgment of this year's varsity. Unproven sophomores, some glaring weaknesses, a strong Ivy League: all these factors render the future of varsity hockey, '58-'59 style, very hard to predict.