HOCKEY

The Dartmouth hockey team under Coach Ab Oakes '56 has already clinched the first winning season for Indian hockey since 1960. In that year the Green finished with a 14-5 record, but since then no Dartmouth sextet has posted more than eight victories in a season.

Immediately following our last report, the Green hockey fortunes took a momentary turn for the worse as the Indians lost three straight - Harvard 4-3, Army 2-0, and Boston College 4-2. In the games that have followed, however, Dartmouth has reeled off five straight wins.

The turning point of the season may have been the Indians' 5-3 victory over highly-rated Brown. The Bruins with a 4-1-1 record are now in second place in the league race. The Brown victory was followed by wins against Princeton 7-5, Harvard 7-1, and most recently Yale 8-2.

The Harvard win, coming as it did during Winter Carnival, was a tremendous team effort. It was the most decisive triumph by a Dartmouth hockey team over Harvard since 1947 - and even more important - it dealt a fatal blow to the Crimson chances of repeating as league champions.

The Indians scored three goals in each of the first two periods and were leading 6-0 before Harvard scored its lone tally. Junior Chip Hayes from Greens Farms, Conn., sparked the Green attack with three goals and an assist. His hat trick was the second in as many games.

Coach Oakes praised the work of the entire team, including the goal tending of Brewster "Budge" Gere of Clinton, N. Y. The sophomore goalie has looked impressive. Against Harvard he had 34 saves and this effort followed an 8-0 shutout over Middlebury—the first perfect game recorded by a Dartmouth goalie in four years. In 12 games he has allowed only 31 goals while making 355 saves.

Hayes leads the Indians in scoring and is also among the league leaders in this department. In fourteen games he has eleven goals and eighteen assists, but is being challenged by sophomore Dean Mathews who has eight goals and seventeen assists. The first line of Hayes, Mathews, and Phil Cagnoni has accounted for a total of 69 points so far.

In the Yale game at New Haven the Green demonstrated its defensive superiority as it held the Eli in check throughout most of the game. Both Yale goals in the 8-2 rout came when the Indians were a man down. Gere had 33 saves for the game. Seven of the eight goals scored in this contest were by sophomores.

The big question Indian hockey followers are asking is, of course: Can the Indians go all the way? There are a lot of ifs, but it is certainly possible. In fact, if the Green can maintain its present momentum, it will be hard to stop. As of this writing, the Indians have the league schedule in their favor. Of the four remaining league games, two will be played at home, Cornell, February 22, and Brown, March 4. The Indians will also face Princeton away and Cornell at Ithaca on March 7. There are also three non-league games with Middlebury, Northeastern, and Colgate. No matter what may happen in these final games, Coach Oakes and the entire team should be congratulated on a fine season.

Dartmouth greatly enhanced its chancesfor the Ivy League hockey title by defeating Cornell, 4-3, on February 22while Harvard was downing Brown. Theseresults gave Dartmouth a league standingof 6-1-0 and Brown a second-place standing of 4-2-1.