Crimson Gets Bid to Attend NCAA Finals

For the second year in a row, Harvard and Clarkson have been selected to go to the NCAA hockey finals in Minnesota next week. The decision was not expected until after the Crimson's final game with Yale tonight, but Committee Chairman Murray Murdock, the Eli sextet's coach, announced the "unanimous decision" yesterday.

The Committee's choice comes as no surprise, for the Crimson and the Black Knights had the best won and lost records in the East (17-3-1, 11-2 respectively). The Western teams have not yet been selected, as there are still three contenders for the two positions: Colorado college (last year's tourney winner), North Dakota, and Denver.

Crimson Coach Cooney Weiland, commenting on his team's chances, said, "There is some very severe opposition out there, but I think we have improved a good deal from our showing in the West this winter." The varsity played North Dakota, among other teams, and lost 9 to 2.

Varsity to Meet Yale

Tonight's Yale game, at 8:30 in the Boston Arena, is somewhat of an anticlimax. The varsity has wrapped up the NCAA bid and the Ivy League Championship, so a loss to the Blue at this juncture would only cause some red faces on the selection committee. But as Weiland commented last night, "It is a Yale game and no one wants to lose to them."

Unless the Crimson has some kind of a violent relapse, it should have little trouble with the Elis. The varsity has already beaten them once this year, 6-2, in the abbreviated Yale rink, and the game was a good deal more one-sided than the score indicates. It will be interesting, however, to see how the Crimson will do tonight, playing on its own "home" ice, and under little of the usual late-season pressure.

Yale has little to offer in the way of a hockey team with the exception of its star goalie, Gerry Jones. Jones has played very well all year and was spectacular against the Crimson down at Yale, making 37 saves. He is especially effective on split saves of long shots and the varsity defensemen will have difficulty in getting point shots by him.

It is almost impossible to evaluate the Yale defense, for against the Crimson last weekend it spent the whole evening in and around the Yale crease doing its best to stop the varsity's shots. Captain Dick Starratt and Bruce Smith are expected to start again tonight.

While the Elis' first line of Tom Goodale, Ed McGonagle, and Harvey Mell showed relatively little against the varsity down at New Haven, it is one of the best in the League and could give the Crimson defense trouble tonight. Gene Scott, George Robinson, and Tom Crosby will start on the Blue's second line.

The varsity lineup will remain the same tonight as Captain Bob Cleary will start on the first line along with Lyle Guttu and Terry O'Malley. Bruce Gillie and Bob McVey are two sure starters on the second line and it is expected that Dick Fischer, Mike Graney, and Dave Vietze will all see some service in the third position. Dan Ullyot and Dick McClaughlin will alternate at defense with Bobby Owen and Les Duncan, while Harry Pratt will start in the goal