Elis to Challenge Crimson Skaters Tonight at Arena

Harvard's hockey team plays the first of three crucial Ivy League contests when it meets a slumping, but dangerous. Yale sextet at 8:30 p.m. tonight at the Boston Arena.

The Crimson is second, behind Cornell, in the Ivy standings and must sweep its last, two games to win a share of the league championship. Harvard will have a chance to avenge its 8-4 loss to Cornell, its only Ivy defeat, when it faces the Big Red next Tuesday, but it must also win both Yale contests for the tie.

Riding the crest of an eight-game winning streak, the skaters are second in the E.C.A.C. standings with a 15-4-1 record. All but two of those victories have been against mediocre opponents, but two wins have been over top-ranked teams--B.U. and the University of New Hampshire.

Harvard's strength has been the outstanding skill of its sophomore--Joe Cavanagh, Steve Owen, Dan DeMichele, and Bruce Durno, in particular.

Other Factors

Other less obvious factors have led to the team's improvement. Terry Flamen's return has given Harvard one of the East's top defensive pairs: Chris Gurry and Flamen. Both have the toughness and savvy to control the opponent's offense while adding their own considerable scoring ability to the Crimson's attack.

George McManama has joined Bobby Bauer and Ron Mark to form a trio as explosive as the sophomore line.

Harvard has won its last four games against Yale and holds a 82-48-8 edge in the 139-game series--the nation's longest collegiate hockey rivalry.

Yale, like Harvard, has outstanding sophomores, but lacks the Crimson's depth. The Elis showed promise at the start of the season, but in the last two weeks have lost to Army, Dartmouth, and Princeton--all average teams--dropping its overall record to 7-12 and its Ivy mark to 4-5.

Coach Dick Gagliardi has responded to the Elis' slump by reuniting high-scoring sophomores Bob Ufer, Terry DeMeza, and Brian Bird on the first line, and shuffling the second line. This trio sparked last year's powerful freshman squad, which lost only one game--to Harvard's freshman team.

John Knowles and Dan Warren are Yale's first defensive unit, and John Ormiston and Paul Fitzpatrick make up the second team. John Cole will be in the nets.