Hockey Team Encounters Weak Yale

Harvard fans who plan to go to the Arena tonight to see the Harvard-Yale, hockey game have a better chance of getting mugged than seeing a close game.

And according to Harvard ticket manager Gordon Page, only about 50 students will risk their wallets to make the long trek to one of Boston's seedier parts to witness the mismatch.

About 3000 alumni, parents and friends, too many for Watson Rink to hold, will desert Lock-Obers and the Ritz in time for the 8 o'clock face-off however. The Harvard-Yale hockey game, long a boring rout, remains a prime social event for Harvard alumni who will clap politely through their martini-haze for every Harvard goal.

There is perhaps an outside chance that Harvard will blow it, but the odds are heavily stacked against a Yale upset. Yale has registered its five wins this season against four of the worst teams in Division 1: Northeastern, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Army.

Those wins were well spread out among 15 losses, and it appears that Yale simply does not have the material to skate with even the mediocre teams with any consistency, despite a great freshman team three years ago.

The Elis have a decent first line in Brian Bird, Greg Rivet, and Greg Luck, but little else. Yale goalie Bill Fitzsimmons was forced to contend with 55 shots in last December's 6-2 loss to the Crimson n Madison Square Garden, and Harvard wasn't even playing very well. Fitzsimmons is Yale's only hope of keeping the score respectable and avoiding a repetition of last year's 9-0 rout in Boston Garden.

The Crimson isn't too worried. Returning yesterday from its victory over the worst team in Division I, Princeton, the team rewarded itself by skipping practice.