Sextet Faces B.U. in Beanpot Finals Tonight

In recent years, B.U. hockey coach Jack Kelly has produced powerhouse teams with a reputation for blowing big games, and Kelly has acquired somewhat of a reputation for over coaching and over-disciplining his teams. However, last year the Terriers finally realized their potential with a National championship, despite losing in the semi-finals of the ECAC's for the third year in a row.

But this season, although B.U. ranked as the team to beat with 17 of 20 lettermen back from its 28-2-1 team, Kelly found himself embroiled in controversy once again. The Terriers tied Harvard, 4-4, lost a squeaker to Cornell, 3-2, and collapsed to an unimpressive Clarkson team, 6-2, during the first month of the season.

Kelly decided to bag college hockey next year and coach a WHA team, but he has neither players nor a rink to play in at this point, and his decision prompted one of his more outspoken detractors, the Bruin's Derek Sanderson, to describe Kelly as a "jerk" and a "fool" in the Boston Globe.

While Kelly has been finagling with the WHA this month (he went to California for a player draft this weekend), his hockey ream has been recovering. The Terriers have won nine in a row, and they should be flying when they take on Harvard tonight in the Beanpot finals at 8:30.

Not Spectacular

B.U.'s recovery has not been spectacular. Eight of its last nine victims--B.C. (twice), St. Louis (twice), U Mass, Vermont, Providence and Colgate--have been weak teams, and the Terriers have not been blowing them off the ice. UNH, Harvard's conqueror in January, led B.U. 5-3 going into the third period on Friday night before falling, 6-5.

The Terriers may not have lived up to their advance billing, but they are still the only team in the East that cannot be termed an underdog against Harvard. B.U.'s power play has not been awezome this year, and no team can match the Crimson's Local Line, but B.U. has three fast, balanced lines and outstanding defensemen in All-American Bob Brown and Ric Jordan. Brown is third in B.U. scoring with 31 points.

Harvard's third line, which looked weak on Saturday against Penn, will have to play as well as it did in last December's 4-4 tie with B.U. to stay with the Terriers fast third line of Duloff, Giandimenico and Thornton.

On paper, the game is a toss-up, but the mental factors are uncertain.

B.U. will be mentally and physically ready tonight, but it is impossible to predict how Harvard will be feeling when it takes the ice before 15,000 fans at Boston Garden. The Crimson may be flat after dropping Saturday night's last-minute heartbreaker to Penn, or it may be ready to take B.U. apart to vent its frustration