Cavanagh Wins Award For Top N.E. Player

Sophomore Joey Cavanagh, well on his way to capturing a place among the the top ten scorers in Harvard hockey history, added another honor to the many he has already earned this season.

Cavanagh was named the recipient of the Walter Brown Award as the outstanding American college hockey player in New England at the fourth annual, Gridiron Club's Hockey Dinner on Tuesday.

Playing center on the explosive sophomore line of Harvard's first team to qualify for NCAA championships since 1963, Cavanagh led the Crimson in scoring with 62 points--the most scored in a single season by a Harvard player since Bobby Cleary led the nation with 72 in 1958.

And it was Cavanagh who was instrumental in putting the Crimson into the national championships. In the ECAC semi-finals he registered a hat trick to pace the Crimson to an 8-6 come-from-behind win over Clarkson to qualify for the trip to Colorado.

Former Harvard hockey great Gene Kinasewich, who captained the 1963 squad, called Cavanagh "one of the finest centers in college hockey."

On his way to the team scoring title, Cavanagh managed to combine an uncanny control of the puck with the ability to set up his linemates at the most opportune moment to enable Harvard to down teams rated much stronger than the Crimson at the beginning of the season.

In the Crimson's 5-3 win over Boston University for its first Beanpot Title in seven years, Cavanagh tallied three times and was voted the tournament's most valuable player.

He was also a big psychological factor in Harvard's consolation round game with Michigan Teach--a game Harvard eventually won, 6-5, in double overtime.

"Four us, he was the man to watch," said Tech Coach John MacGinnes. "Even though he hurt his wrist in the first period and also had a bad shoulder, we knew he was dangerous." Cavanagh managed to tally one goal in the game despite his injuries.