Stickmen to Host Vermont Tonight In Preparation for Cornell Game

Overconfidence should be the major stumbling block tonight when the Crimson skaters face Vermont in a 7:30 p.m. game at Watson Rink.

Harvard is clearly the superior team in this first meeting ever of the two schools, but Harvard must be careful not to let its thoughts turn to Saturday's game against Cornell at Ithaca. Cornell has already lost to Brown. so if the Crimson can win Saturday it should earn at least a part of the Ivy League title.

One thing which coach Cooney Weiland will be hoping for tonight is the recovery of his first line-Joe Cavanagh, Cooch Owen, and Dan DeMichele. It has slacked off in scoring, and at Clarkson last weekend, three of the Golden Knights' five goals came while the first line was in.

Meanwhile, the sophomore line of Dave Hynes, Bob McManama, and Bill Corkery has taken up some of the slack. Corkery, for example, scored in all four games during the Christmas trip. But the situation for Harvard would look much brighter if both the sophomore and the first lines were sharp.

Scoring Habits

This will not be an easy night for scoring habits to be relearned, though. Venmont's goalie, senior Dave Reece, was the College Division All-American goalie last winter and is now the leading Division Two goalie with a 3:86 goals-per-game average. His coach, Jim Cross, considers him the best American born goalie in college hockey.

The leading scorer for the Catamounts is Canadian George Minar?ky, another senior.

One disadvantage for Vermont tonight will be its recent inactivity. While Harvard has been playing fairly regularly. Vermont hasn't competed since beating Boston State in the middle of December. Right now the school is on its exam break.

Beat Penn

The Catamounts' greatest achievement this season was its win over Penn the night Penn dedicated its Class of '23 Rink. Its only other victory was over Norwich, and the Catamounts have lost to Providence and to UMass in overtime.

Cross, who is responsible for the rapid development of Vermont's new hockey program, is putting Harvard on his schedule for the same reason Harvard's Bob Harrison is putting his basketball team up against the University of Michigan. Cross hopes to duplicate New Hampshire's jump from Division Two to Division One, and games against tough teams often help improve a squad.

There are two Ivy League games tonight, one featuring Penn and Cornell at Ithaca. The Quakers are definitely an underdog, but they have been impressive on occasion. At the same time, revitalized Cornell may be looking past Penn to the match with Harvard.