Hockey Varsity to Face Bulldogs In Crucial Contest at New Haven

The varsity hockey team may be headed for one of its best seasons in history, but the year won't be a complete success unless the Crimson manages to sweep its series with Yale. The varsity can go one up on the Yalies, and clinch at least a tie for the Ivy crown, with a victory tonight in New Haven.

With three games left, the Crimson's record stands at 17-4, and the team could be the second in Harvard hockey annals to win 20 games in a single season. Now 6-1 in the Ivy League, the varsity should soon nail down its seventh championship in the last nine years.

But it is a fact that the seniors have taken a season series from the Bulldogs. In 1960, Yale topped the Crimson in the last game of the campaign, 3 to 2, in the Arena, and last year the Bulldogs earned a 1-1 tie in New Haven.

Yale is 6-14 on the season, and 3-5 in the League, but, as somebody may have said before, anything can happen in a Harvard-Yale game. The Elis, obviously, are not loaded with talent, but they play good position hockey, and they scrap. In their best performance this season, they gave Michigan a battle before bowing, 4 to 3.

The Elis have two men among the League's individual scoring leaders--Coley Burke and Bill Hildebrand. But their depth is certainly not as impressive as the Crimson's, and their goaltending has been mediocre.

Tim Taylor and Gene Kinasewich continue to lead the Crimson in overall scoring witn 29 points apiece. Taylor has 21 goals and eight assists, and Kinasewich 13 goals and 16 assists.

Crimson coach Cooney Welland may break the goalie rotation and give Godfrey Wood a crack at Yale, even though Wood was in the nets Wednesday against 'Brown. If Welland sticks to the regular order, Bob Bland will get both Yale games. Wood has a 1.9 goals-against average, Bland a 2.4.