U.N.H Cancels Game; Icemen Take on Penn

Snow and ice kept the U.N.H. hockey team from coming down to play their scheduled game against Harvard at Watson Rink last night, leaving the Crimson with only one more chance to regain their winning stride before breaking for exams.

Harvard will have to travel to Philadelphia to take on its last opponent before February 6. The Penn team they face will be looking for a repetition of last year's stunning 4-3 upset over the Crimson.

It is very unlikely that the Quakers will get away with it again. Although Penn's 4-6 team is an improvement over the inexperienced, undermanned team that knocked off the Crimson last February, Harvard will not be the overconfident team that managed to blow that game.

With a two-game losing streak and no one on the schedule for three weeks, Harvard will not be looking past the Quakers. The memory of Cornell, Vermont, and last year's humiliation should be sufficient to make Harvard want to murder Penn.

Still, the Crimson has an unfortunate habit of playing to the level of their opposition. Penn teams traditionally love nothing better than beating Harvard, and the Quakers will be skating hard in their new multi-million dollar rink before a large, highly partisan crowd.

The Penn team isn't overwhelming, but it isn't as bad as past Penn hockey teams. A recruiting program that produced a 15-2 freshman team last year is beginning to pay off and although the Quakers aren't a winning team yet, they have beaten some decent opponents. B.C. fell to Penn, 5-3, and Yale went down, 8-4. The Quakers gave both Cornell and St. Lawrence a good game before losing 6-3 and 7-6.

Penn's improving fortunes rest with one strong, high-scoring line. Tom Davis, Tim Cutter, and Sam Gellard were the highest scoring line in the East last year, and they are playing well again this year.

The ECAC standings, published this week, may give Harvard an added incentive. It appears that the Crimson simply cannot afford to lose this game, or any others, if it wants a decent seed in the post-season ECAC's. Harvard has been thinking about a trip to the Nationals since last March, but it has a lot of competition. B.U., R.P.I., and Clarkson rank ahead of the Crimson, and Cornell is right behind.