Skaters Try for Upset In Ivy Debut at Brown

The Harvard hockey team faces its fourth Eastern hockey power in a week tonight when it plays its by-now familiar underdog role at Brown. But the 8 p.m. contest at plush Meehan Rink is more than just another chance for an upset; it is the Crimson's Ivy opener against essentially the same Bruin squad that won the League championship last year and thrashed fallen Harvard, 9 to 2 and 8 to 1.

Coach Cooney Weiland has shaken up his young but quickly maturing team once again in his effort to conjure up the scoring punch that has waned since the nine-goal output against Bowdoin two weeks ago.

Jorge Gonzalez, the Santurce, P. R., senior, has been moved up to Dennis McCullough's slot on the first line with leading scorer Kent Parrot and right wing Pete Waldinger. McCullough, who was seeing double from a slash above the eye by a Northeastern stick, may return to play against Toronto Saturday.

In the second big switch, sophomore Don Grimble has been shifted from third-line wing to second-line center and Jack Garrity has moved over to the wing spot vacated by Gonzalez. Grimble was a center when he came to Harvard, but the Canadian, who captained the freshman hockey team last winter, has been a wing throughout his Crimson career.

Pre-Season Practice

The third line will be the upperclass combination that worked together in pre-season practices: Pete Miller, Eric Rosenberger, and Ed Zellner.

Brown opened its season with an awe-inspiring 8 to 3 rout of Northeastern in Boston. And that night, Husky goalie Gary Thornton was playing nowhere near the 42-save level he performed at when Harvard beat Northeastern, 3 to 1.

Since then, the Bruins have topped Colby, 3 to 1, and fallen to high-ranked Boston College, 3 to 0.

The big shocker in Ivy hockey came Saturday when Brown opened defense of its crown at Princeton. The Tigers, who had been humbled, 6 to 2, by Northeastern, roared back from a 4-0 deficit to upset Brown, 6 to 5.

Bruins Dropped Two

Brown is coming off two losses and it would be a stunner if the strong Bruins lost a third game in a row. They are led by seniors Bruce Darling, an Ontarian who has led the Ivy League in scoring the last two years, and Bob Gaudreau, one of the best defensemen in the East.

With the likes of Dennis Macks, a 5-10, 210-pound forward, the Bruins can hit hard, and in the nets they have Dave Ferguson, who tended the goal all last year and led Brown into the NCAA play offs.