Sextet Trounces Princeton, 9-2 To Clinch Ivy Hockey Crown

The Crimson hockey team gave away two first period goals to an aroused Princeton sextet, then came back to win the Ivy League championship, 9 to 2, at Watson Rink last night.

Putting on an awesome display of power and precision in the second period, the varsity poured six goals past a harried Barry van Gerbig to clinch a championship that Dartmouth has taken the past two years. Harry Howell and Dean Alpine led the attack with two goals and two assists each, and Chris Norris also scored twice, playing the finest game of his varsity career.

For the first 20 minutes Princeton showed every sign of matching the unbelievable hockey it played at Watson Rink in 1959 and 1960. The Tigers played a sound position game, forechecked aggressively, and forced half a dozen clear breaks on goalie Bob Bland, who was equal to the occasion every time but twice.

In the dressing room coach Cooney Welland spoke soft but sober words, telling his team to forecheck only one man to avoid getting trapped in the offensive zone. His words were well-heeded, for Bland and his third period replacement, Godfrey Wood, needed to make only four saves the rest of the night.

The Crimson forwards, meanwhile, passed and shot with a decisiveness rarely matched this year. The five goals they scored during a six-minute stretch broke the back of Princeton's we-can-beat-anything-that-moves spirit.

Cook Opens Scoring

Almost before the fans settled down, the Tiger high-scorer, John Cook, put his team ahead, taking Perry Hall's pass from behind the nets and tallying on a 10-boot thrust into the upper left corner at 1:09.

With Harvard back at full strength after killing an interference penalty, Princeton increased its lead to two goals at 12:39. Cook, impressive all evening, dug the puck out of scramble to the left of Bland and sent it to teammate Dave Hersey, whose backhand caught the twines. Bland saved further damage when he stopped Princeton rushes of three-on-one and two-on-none.

The varsity was a different team after the dismal opening, scoring with a finesse that kept the spirited crowd in an uproar. Bill Beckett's goal, which opened the Harvard scoring at 5:25, drew some of the loudest cheers. Taking a face-off pass from Jim Dwinell 30 feet in front of van Gerbig, Beckett carefully sighted on the few inches of net visible between the goalie and the left post, then hit his mark.

The five-goal-in-six-minutes barrage began at 12:52 when Howell took a pass from Alpine, walked in from the left and bounced the puck off a defenseman's skate on route to the goal. Alpine scored at 13:44 on a slow motion break with Ted Ingalls and Tom Heintzman.

Princeton's Hugh Scott was whistled out for interference at 14:32, but only had to carry in the penalty box for four seconds, which is all the time it took Norris to stuff Gerry Jorgenson's pass into the goal. The Tigers brought about their own downfall for the rest of the period when Jim Wadsworth, a birdlike 160-pounder, carved out a three-stitch gash over Beckett's left eye, and a five-minute major penalty for himself.

The varsity then mounted a ferocious attack against von Gerbig, who turned away a phenomenal 22 shots during the period. At 17:58 Howell took the puck from Alpine at his right point position and blasted a drive which Ingalls tipped up and over van Gerbig. Howell tallied an unassisted goal half a minute later.

With Cliff Michel replacing van Gerbig in the Princeton nets, the varsity fashioned three goals in the third period. Norris and Alpine overpowered the weary Tiger defenders at 12:42 and 17:03, and some flashy passing from Dwinell to Dave Grannis to Bob Anderson set up a 45-foot slap shot goal at 18:12.