Five Crimson Varsity Squads Open Winter Season Today

The Crimson hockey team opens its season tonight against Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine, Game time is 7:30

The Crimson is slightly favored to beat the Polar Bears for the third time in three years. Some of the members of the Crimson sextet that blanked the Bears 3-0 last year anticipate a tough struggle against this hustling club.

The Bears have lost only one man from a team which compiled a 15-5 record last season, but their captain. Ron Famliagetti, will be absent from the lineup because of a broken ankle suffered in one of the opening practices.

13 Lettermen Returning

Among the 13 lettermen returning to this year's Crimson from the team rated third in the East last year are Jim Dwinell and Dave Morse, last year's two leading Crimson scorers. Also back are goalie Bob Bland and defenseman Harry Howell, both members of the All-Ivy and All-East teams of last season.

Coach Ralph ("Cooney") Weiland will play three lines tonight. Dwinell will play center, with Morse and Bill Beckett at the wings. Captain Dave Grannis, ordinarily on defense, will alternate with Bill Lamarche at center between Gene Kinasewich and Tim Taylor. Chris Norris, Dean Alpine, and Tom Heintzman will form the third line.

Harry Howell, Dave Johnston, Chuck Kessler, Gene Daly, and Grannis will share the defensive chores, and Godfrey Wood will help Bland in the goal.

Weiland is anxious to see what his lines can do against Bowdoin so that he will have a chance to make any necessary shifts in the lineup before the Clarkson and St. Lawrence games Dec. 7 and Dec. 11 here at the Watson Rink.

Team Lost to Alumni

Although the team lost 3-2 to the alumni last Friday, it has tightened up in practice and will be hard to beat. Weiland says, "We are beginning to look like we did last year." The team ended with a 9-0-1 Ivy record and an 18-4-2 overall record in 1960-61.

Unfortunately, the Bowdoin game is the only one before the two difficult contests with Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The team will have to jell quickly into a solid unit to beat both these squads, which will have played in several contests when they meet the Crimson. Wins in these games could mean a first place rating in the East this year.