Skaters Face Weak-Kneed Tigers

Harvard goes against the worst team on its schedule when it meets Princeton Saturday night at Watson Rink.

The Tigers lost their first 11 games before eking out an overtime win over a mediocre Colgate team, and they would have a tough game against the Harvard JV's.

Princeton has tried to recruit Canadians over the last few years in an effort to avoid the cellar, but it hasn't been too successful. Princeton hasn't had a winning season since big-time recruiting began.

Meanwhile, everybody else has cornered some talent, and the Tigers find themselves with the worst record in the East.

Princeton had some nightmarish games during its losing streak, including a brutal 14-0 thrashing at the hands of B.U., and a 3-2 loss to the second worst team in Division I, Northeastern.

But despite their 1-13 record, the Tigers have been known to play well at times. Princeton outskated Clarkson for two periods before losing, 6-4, and gave Brown a scare before falling, 6-5, R.P.I. had a surprisingly hard time overcoming the Tigers, 5-3, and supposedly high-flying Cornell struggled to a 3-2 overtime win last Saturday night.

Harvard is a heavy favorite to step on Princeton, but if the Crimson can lose to Vermont and barely escape falling to Penn, they could even lose to Princeton. The Harvard players have some incentive to skate, however, knowing that a loss could knock them out of the Ivy League race and leave them flat for the Beanpot.

Princeton has a few problems in addition to its lack of talent. One Princeton star spent last year cutting sugar cane with the Venceremos brigade in Cuba, and he isn't getting along too well with the other players or coach Bill Quackenbush.

Before the season Quackenbushsaid, "I hear some of you guys have been on the pot. If I catch any of you on the pot, you won't be lacing up your skates for Princeton."

A Princeton player returning from the 14-0 loss to B.U., their tenth in a row, said, "There's just no winning spirit on this team. We try to lose by respectable scores."