J.V. Skaters Down Chicago Hawks, 5-1

The Chicago Minor Hawks--a team consisting of the best Chicago high school and post-graduate hockey players--came East last week, hoping to impress New England coaches with often-overlooked Midwestern prospects. But it was the Harvard j.v. hockey team that put on the show, outskating and outplaying the Hawks en route to a 5-1 victory.

The Hawks--no connection to the Chicago Black Hawks of the NHL--play a vastly different brand of hockey from that of the Crimson. "They place a greater emphasis on hitting, while we emphasize skating, and they couldn't skate with us," coach Kevin Hampe said.

But hit they could, and the game was rougher than many varsity games. The j.v. skaters, though not abandoning their game plan, refused to be intimidated, matching every check with a solid hit of their own. At times the Hawks displayed some of the best checking Bright Rink has seen in a long while.

More often, however, the hitting turned dirty as the Chicago schoolboys showed a tendency to check with their elbows and sticks at an eye level. "They were the cheapest team we've played all year. Every time they went into the corner, sticks were flying," junior right winger Dave Silverman said. The refs took note, assessing the Hawks 14 penalties, seven in the first period.

The Crimson, by contrast, played a strong game, hitting and skating well. Only in the second period did they let up, allowing the Hawks to dominate much of the period and pepper goalie Mark Whiston with 13 shots. Whitson sparkled in the net, stopping a half-dozen point-blank shots with some impressive acrobatics.

Chicago netminder James O'Shaughnessy turned in a fine performance as well, stopping 17 shots in the first period alone, and 38 on the night. Only Crimson center Eddie Garden was able to score in the first stanza, diving to sweep the rebound of a Jimmy Griffin slapshot past the sprawled O'Shaughnessy.

Early in the second period, the Crimson increased its lead to 2-0 when Mitch Olson slid a beautiful pass between two defenders to Bob Mazzone who walked in all alone and scored easily.

Silverman's second goal of the night--after he and Bob Cleary gave Harvard a 4-0 edge--was the play of the game. Picking up the puck in the Crimson zone seven minutes into the third period, he outskated two Hawks, slid the puck through the legs of the remaining defender while deftly skating around him, and beat the goal to round out Harvard's scoring. Chicago added its only goal midway through the period.