HOCKEY
When Grant Standbrook packed his hockey team off for a couple of Christmas-week days of rest, things couldn't have been much better.
The Indians had won three of four games, losing only by a goal in the last seven seconds at Clarkson.
They reconvened in Detroit for the Great Lakes Tournament on December 28 but there was one conspicuous difference: Paul Dixon, the multitalented sophomore defenseman, was missing due to some academic difficulty that will be repaired during the winter term so he can utilize his skills with the golf team in the spring.
Without Dixon, a prime factor in the early wins, Standbrook had to do some juggling. It took a game for things to settle a bit as Michigan State swept past the Green, 8-3, but then Dartmouth rebounded impressively with a 9-6 win over a surprised Notre Dame six.
Then one of last year's bugaboos struck. One-goal losses are frustrating for any team and the Indians found they had the same ill-fortune as in 1971 when they lost five times by a goal.
First they went to St. Louis and the Billikens scored in the final 42 seconds to win, 6-5.
They returned home after the holidays and visited Yale. Again it was a 6-5 decision, for Yale, and it came in overtime.
Things got untracked a bit against Princeton as Dartmouth squeezed out a 6-5 verdict in the home renewal of the winter fare.
Three nights later, though, Harvard came to Davis Rink and the Crimson demonstrated that they may be the East's very best this season. Dartmouth fell 7-3 as Harvard scored five times in the first period, and two nights later Clarkson visited Hanover and frustrated the Indians 6-4, getting the last score into an open net in the final seconds as Dartmouth missed a last-minute power opportunity.
As they headed for their fifth game in nine days at Brown on January 15, the Indians were a tired and hurting team.
Hurting most was Captain Mike Turner, the top scorer and most recent addition to Dartmouth's 100-point career scoring clan.
"We need some rest," said Turner, who played far below par against Harvard and Clarkson due to hip, thigh and knee ills that would keep most skaters off the ice.
The only guy in green who appeared to be indestructible was Steve Arndt, the senior wing from St. Paul, Minn., who plays and plays and helps Turner keep this team moving.
"What a great competitor he is," said Standbrook, who has been trying to shore up the gaps in a defense that also is missing Dave Rhine, another soph who played beside Dixon but has chosen to take the term off for personal reasons.
With the defense thinned, Turner and Arndt have continued as the nucleus of an attack that is thinned with the shift of Dana Johnson and Jim Edgeworth to defense.
They've had solid support from Fred Riggall, a junior from Winnipeg, who dominated the scoring in Detroit with three goals and a pair of assists against Notre Dame. It was a performance that spurred the Indians to an 8-1 lead against the Irish and won Riggall a place on the all-tourney team.
The guy who wasn't up to par completely as the trip to the Midwest closed was goalie Peter Proulx. The slick junior looked good in Detroit but was lost in the first period at St. Louis when he was clipped in the head by a puck and suffered a concussion that sidelined him until the Princeton game.
The change of faces in front of him when he returned to the lineup also may have been unsettling because he was not playing with his usual confidence against Princeton, Harvard, and Clarkson.
When it began in early December, this appeared to be a season that might see the Indian skaters turn the corner toward their first winning season since 1965. That objective now looks like it will require much uphill fighting.
Howie Hampton (4) and Jake Johnston (3) providing some defensive assistanceto goalie Peter Proulx during the Michigan State game in Detroit.
