Tiger Icemen Hope to Snatch Harvard's 7-Year Win Streak

It's been seven long years and 13 lopsided games since Princeton last defeated Harvard in a hockey contest. It was February 1967 when the Tigers scored their last victory, 5-4, in Princeton, N.J. Since then, the Crimson icemen have outscored Princeton, 102-25, the last game being a 10-1 whipping of the Tigers last January in Watson Rink.

Princeton will be looking to break its losing streak tonight at 8 p.m. as it hosts Harvard in Baker Rink.

But before you start chuckling at the thought of a Harvard hockey team losing to Princeton, it would be wise to keep a few things in mind. First of all, Cornell had an 18-game winning streak over the last ten years against Princeton--that is until last Tuesday night, when the Big Red dropped a 4-1 decision to the Tigers.

Second, while Princeton has won only two of its 36 Ivy League contests in the past three seasons, the squad is a respectable 4-3 in the league this year. Princeton's most recent victory came against league-leading Dartmouth, 5-3. It was the first Ivy loss of the season for the Big Green, and served to avenge Princeton's earlier 10-1 drubbing in Hanover.

The third sobering fact is that the weekend that the Tigers took the back-to-back 10-1 losses to Harvard and Dartmouth, Princeton was racked with injuries that took their toll on five starters. The squad should be at full strength and psyched for an upset over Harvard tonight.

Coach Jack Semler's icemen are fighting for a playoff berth in this season's wacky version of ECAC Division One. Princeton's 6-7 record puts it in the running for the seventh or eighth spot at the moment. A win tonight would send the Tigers well on their way toward that goal.

Semler will skate three lines against the Crimson tonight, with captain Clay Kyle centering Mark Stuckey (15 points this season) on the left side and Walt Snickenberger on the right side of the first line. Top scorers Craig Dahl (18 points) and Gary O'Meara (17) team up with Brian McIntosh, while Dunc Fisher, Mike Bascom and Corky Powers make up a third line.

Harvard, recovering from a physical encounter with a hack squad from Brown, cannot afford to take this one too lightly.