With Big Green Teams
The most popular sport in Hanover during the past several weeks, shared by students, faculty and townspeople alike, has been shoveling snow, putting chains on cars and the morning ritual of getting one's car started. Early morning temperatures of from 20 to 40 below zero have, on more than one occasion, forced cancellation of morning practice sessions in the Davis Rink for the Hanover High School hockey team, and even the new Dartmouth Skiway at Holt's Ledge had to suspend operations on occasion because of the frigid weather.
At this mid-January writing the thermometer is starting to get above zero, but the snow is still falling, on top of some sixteen inches already blanketing the campus. Tonight, wading home across the campus, I noticed a group of hardy students erecting a huge log pole - the start of the Winter Carnival snow statue. It seems probable that lack of snow will not be a problem for the 1957 Carnival.
Despite the weather, the winter sports program is in full swing, after picking up rapidly after the Christmas holidays. Perhaps the biggest news of the month was the formal opening of the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme, N. H., on Saturday, January 12. With many Alumni Council members on hand, the new skiing area was officially dedicated with President Dickey hailing it as "the most important recreational facility of the past ten years." The new Skiway was described in the January issue of this MAGAZINE, but we want to urge every alumnus who gets back this way to go and take a look for himself. It is certainly the outstanding collegiate ski development in the East and a welcome addition to Dartmouth's athletic and recreational facilities.
On the more prosaic side, the Big Green winter teams, by and large, are doing well so far. The varsity basketball team has won seven and lost four with a 2-1 record in the Ivy League. The hockey team continues to improve with a mark of eight wins and five defeats, including two important Ivy wins, while the varsity swimming team has posted its first win of the season, the track team has lost its first dual meet, the squash team has two wins and two defeats, and the wrestling team has three victories against one defeat. Varsity team totals to date thus read 21 wins and 13 losses.
Dartmouth's freshman teams, most of which did not start action until this month, are doing a bit better than their varsity counterparts. The '60 basketball squad is undefeated in four games, the freshman hockey team has won two and lost one, while the freshman track team has already posted one win in dual competition. The freshman squash and swimming teams do not open until January 19. Three freshman teams thus have seven wins and one defeat. Combined winter team totals are 28 wins, 14 defeats, a strong start for the winter season.
