Big Green Teams
For all the ups and downs, the 1971-72 indoor sports season still came out as the best overall performance by Dartmouth teams in 15 years.
In six leading sports, Dartmouth was a winner or at least produced a breakeven performance. The overall record of 59 wins, 32 losses, and a pair of ties represents a .645 won-lost percentage. Not since 1957 has the Green enjoyed such success.
The records look like this: Hockey, 13-10-1; Basketball, 14-12; Swimming, 10-1 and fourth place in the Eastern Seaboard meet; Wrestling, 10-3; and Squash, 6-6.
Only in gymnastics did Dartmouth have a losing dual record and the Green came through with a second-place performance in the Ivy League meet and a third-place effort in the New England meet.
Those are the records. Here's how they were compiled.
The fact that Dartmouth's hockey team was a winner for the first time in eight seasons isn't what pleases Grant Standbrook most. It's how they did it. "In January, we had lost four in a row and six of seven," said the Dartmouth coach. "We were down and prospects for a winning season were just about zero."
When you look at a 13-10-1 record, it's not that spectacular, but when you look at the final month—nine wins and a tie in the last 12 games—the appreciation of how things turned around is obvious. The turning point was February 5, a Saturday night at Davis Rink when Dartmouth upended Cornell in overtime, 3-2.
"That's when we really began to believe in ourselves," said Mike Turner, the captain from Melrose, Mass., and Dartmouth's top scorer for three years.
At one point, Dartmouth stood 1-6 against ECAC Division One foes and the Green was 1-5 in the Ivy League. When it was done, the record against Division One teams was 9-8-1 and Dartmouth shared fourth place in the Ivy race with a 6-5-1 record.
The spectacular aspect of the turnaround is that the closing surge was fashioned against the East's best teams. There was but one stumbling block, a 6-5 loss at Davis Rink to Boston College (a team Dartmouth had beaten earlier, 4-2) and that setback was the straw that left the Green on the sidelines when the ECAC tournament began in early March.
Included in the comeback were wins over Cornell, Harvard and Pennsylvania—teams that were ranked 1-3-4 in the tourney pairings.
"We needed a big win against a major team," said Turner. "When we got Cornell, we knew we could beat anyone. It, wasn't a case of maybe."
After the loss to Boston College and a 4-4 standoff with Brown, the Green was out of contention for the tournament, but it wasn't the end of the season. They blew Northeastern out of Davis Rink with a 15-5 slaughter and then closed the campaign with a 5-4 overtime win at Princeton.
The annihilation of Northeastern represented the most goals scored by a Dartmouth sextet since 1949 (against Princeton). Fred Riggall scored three times and had four assists while his mate on the second line, Bill Berry, scored a pair and had five assists. It was an amazing home finale.
The road wrapup at Princeton was a different picture. Dartmouth persisted in coming back after each Tiger goal. Riggall tied it with five minutes left to play and sophomore Bill Dunbar slammed home the winner after 13 seconds of the overtime period.
The credit for Dartmouth's success can't be isolated. It was the result of tight checking, balanced scoring, and solid goaltending from Peter Proulx, the junior who became Dartmouth's first All-Ivy first-team selection since Budge Gere was tapped for the goal in 1964. Proulx was outstanding during the late drive, setting a Dartmouth record for saves in Ivy games, and anchoring the solidified defense that had been rebuilt by Standbrook in January.
The ability to score had been Standbrook's chief concern when the season began but the Green got goals from all three lines. Riggall, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, had at least one goal in each of the last nine games and finished with 25, the most by a Dartmouth skater since Dean Matthews had 26 in 1965. He finished with 36 points, one less than Berry, from Edmonton, Alberta, who had 25 assists and 37 points.
Don Anderson, the unsung senior from Framingham, Mass., was the catalyst on defense and closed with a career record for assists by a defenseman with 46. "What a great job he did for us," said Standbrook.
It was a season that perhaps represents a reversal in form for Dartmouth hockey. "We'll miss Turner, Anderson, and Steve Arndt," said Standbrook, "but we have the momentum of a winning season and a strong nucleus returning. I'm looking forward to next season already."
SWIMMING
There have been great moments on the Dartmouth sports scene this winter and one of the greatest came shortly before 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 19.
It was a weekend for freshman fathers—and nearly a foot of snow. The latter caused Yale's swimmers to arrive at Karl Michael Pool nearly three hours behind schedule for their 47th meeting with Dartmouth.
The delay was an inconvenience but worth every minute as the meet came down to the final leg of the 400 freestyle relay. It was Chris Carstensen, Dartmouth's co-captain, against Bob Kasting, the Yale captain, in the final 100 yards. The Green had taken a narrow lead in the third leg on a great effort from senior Jim Gottschalk. Now it was up to Carstensen.
And he came through. As Carstensen touched the finish, about three feet ahead of Kasting (less than a half- second), the explosion from the packed house was unlike anything heard in Michael Pool before.
Since 1923, Dartmouth had been trying to beat Yale's swimmers. Fortysix times the Green failed. It was the greatest moment for Dartmouth's swimmers and climaxed a day that saw Carstensen set a pair of records in the 50 and 100 freestyles and then clinch the triumph with the great anchor leg in the relay. The final score was 63-50.
Gottschalk, sophomore Jim Bayles, and Bill Lehman, the co-captain elect, shared the limelight with victories in the backstroke, 1000 freestyle and breaststroke respectively.
The victory over Yale, plus subsequent wins over Cornell (74-39) and Penn (58-55), the defending Eastern League champ, gave Dartmouth a 10-1 dual meet record and second place in the EISL with a 6-1 mark.
It set the stage for the Eastern Seaboard Meet at Yale, an event where Dartmouth was fourth in 1971 and had an outside chance at climbing higher this year. But not to be. The Green repeated their fourth-place finish behind Yale, the surprise champ in a great closing day effort, plus Princeton and Penn. Yale won with 365 points. Princeton had 353, Penn 231, and Dartmouth posted 211.
"We didn't have the overall depth to challenge for the team title," said Coach Ron Keenhold. "Still, it was an outstanding meet for us. We set seven team records and tied another.
Carstensen got two of the marks as he won the 50 freestyle (which he had won as a sophomore) and placed second to Kasting in the 100 free.
Bayles, who had trimmed nearly 10 seconds from the 1000 freestyle record set in the Yale meet four years ago by Don Schollander, knocked six seconds off the Eastern meet record in the 1650 freestyle set by another Yale Olympian, John Nelson.
His time, good for fourth place at the Easterns, was also 23 seconds better than the Dartmouth record set last year by classmate Brad Gilman who was ninth at the Eastern meet.
The distance events were a conspicuously weak area for Dartmouth until last year. In the Easterns, no less than five Green swimmers had a piece of the scoring in the 1650. Mark Ransom and senior Bob Baird joined Bayles, Oilman and freshman John LeMoal (perhaps headed toward being the best of the bunch) in gathering points for Dartmouth.
Gottschalk, top qualifier in the 100 backstroke at the Easterns, finished third in the final but also matched his Dartmouth record. It was Gottschalk, too, who had a fifth-place effort in the 100 butterfly and a fourth in the 200 individual medley.
Not much question that this was Dartmouth's strongest swimming team ever.
BASKETBALL
Dartmouth's basketball season was one of streaks and the campaign ended as it began—with a string of wins.
With veteran forward Paul Erland, the senior from Nashville, Tenn., closing his career with his name beside every major Dartmouth scoring record, the Green won their final six games and posted a 14-12 record, including 8-6 in the Ivy League, good for a share of third place with Harvard.
To be sure, there were games this team might have won and a few they might have lost. Considering all things, however, Coach George Blaney's team came out just about where realistic observation put them when the season began.
Still, it's the best record since 1960 and the best Ivy finish in as long a period Dartmouth's win over Princeton cost the Tigers a share of the Ivy title with Penn, the team ranked second only to UCLA in the nation.
Mid-season inconsistency hurt the Green and was almost costly at the end. A pair of one-point losses to Holy Cross and Columbia (84-83 and 87-86) preceded the finishing streak but the Green atoned for the loss to the Lions by romping in New York, 107-73, on the final night.
To demonstrate how up and down things were, consider the final two nights of the season at Cornell and Columbia. At Ithaca, Dartmouth trailed 70-46 with 11 minutes left. Then came the explosion that saw them catch Cornell in the final minute behind the efforts of Erland and sophomore guard Bill Raynor and win it, 92-90.
Dartmouth scored 60 points in the second half at Cornell, a team record that was matched in the first half at Columbia as the Green erased any question of the outcome by taking a 41-10 lead that was up to 60-34 at halftime. Hard to figure, isn't it?
Erland closed the season as Dartmouth's third leading scorer behind Raynor (18.8) and junior guard James Brown (18.0). Erland's 17.8 average added to the balance of Dartmouth's attack that produced a record 84.2 points per game.
His records include career marks for field goals (576), free throws made (454), total points (1606—exactly 400 more than Steve Spahn '63 who had 1206, the record before Erland came along), career average (21.2), points in a season (618 last year), and points in a game (44 vs. Holy Cross in 1971).
Raynor was the pace-setter, though. He was an All-Ivy second team pick and the Ivy League sophomore of the year as he produced clutch performances in the final weeks. He hit the clinchers in an 82-79 win over Brown and the final eight points for Dartmouth in a comeback 69-68 win over scrappy New Hampshire. He had the go-ahead and clinching points at Cornell and against Columbia in the finale he scored 18 and also had 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Erland is one of three seniors who depart the Green cage scene. Also going will be center Jim Masker, who finally showed some consistency in the last month of the season, and Captain Gary Dicovitsky, the tenacious defender.
But Raynor, Brown, scrapping George Riley, and forward Robin Derry (who excelled in the home stretch) provide Blaney with a solid nucleus. If he can come up with a heighty successor for Masker, the Green should be representative in 1972-73.
WRESTLING
What do you say about a team that was 2-7-2 last year and 10-3 this year? Good things.
Jerry Berndt, who inherited Dartmouth's wrestlers this winter, put together a team that won more matches than any previous group of Green wrestlers and produced a good fifthplace performance in the New England meet.
"Our only disappointment was in not winning an individual championship at the New Englands," said Berndt.
The Green came close as freshman Jim Conterato reached the finals in the 190-pound competition and sophomore Chuck Estin gained the semifinals before bowing.
Estin was clearly Dartmouth's standout wrestler. Working at 177 and 190 pounds, Estin produced a 16-2 record that included 12 pins.
Freshman Ray Lahey, junior Steve Morelli, and Captain Bob Elliott also came through with winning records and Berndt can only wonder what his team would have done if Ted Thompson hadn't been injured in mid-season.
Thompson, who joins Morelli as co-captain of the 1972-73 team, was defending champ at 177 pounds in the New England meet. It's a promising situation for Dartmouth, however, as only Elliott departs.
TRACK
The indoor track season is memorable in that Dartmouth came up with its first unbeaten season (6-0-1) since 1946, but Coach Ken Weinbel would just as soon forget the Green showing in the Heptagonal meet.
"They score five places at the Heps and I think we set a record for sixth- place performances," said Weinbel.
Dartmouth finished with five points and ninth place. The points came from shotputter Wayne Moody, who was third, and high jumper George Leach, who was fourth. Leach jumped 6-7 at the Heps and added an inch a week later in the IC4A meet but couldn't score.
"We had no illusions about winning at the Heps," said Weinbel, "but I felt we had a shot at fourth or fifth place."
There's reason for optimism as the Green heads toward the outdoor season. Weinbel has more than 80 men competing and the performances are steadily improving. Captain Tom Byron, a versatile athlete (he holds the Dartmouth decathlon record) who is close to Leach in the high jump and also is an able hurdler and long jumper, will have help in the outdoor campaign from veteran distance runners Eric Potter and Tom Shiland plus a corps of weight men and a good group of middle-distance runners.
SKIING
"Up and down" is a bad pun but it describes Dartmouth's ski season.
After winning the Dartmouth and Williams carnivals, the Green was victim of the anticipated strength of Middlebury that came to life in the Middlebury and St. Lawrence carnivals.
Coach Al Merrill's team settled for third place in the Middlebury meet and then was second at St. Lawrence, the Eastern championship meet.
Laurent Gaudin, a freshman who was the standout at the Dartmouth Carnival, was competing in the World University Games at Lake Placid during the Middlebury meet. When two of Merrill's slalom racers fell and were disqualified, the Green fell out of contention and the Panthers romped through the cross-country race and went on to win easily.
It was a disappointing meet even though Co-Captain George Perry won the Middlebury skimeister award. At St. Lawrence, Gaudin was second in the slalom but Middlebury again dominated cross country and jumping to build a decisive lead.
SQUASH
This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Coach John Kenfield's squash team but a 6-6 record must constitute a winning effort for the Green.
It was a team that defeated Williams for the first time in 15 years and finished fifth in the Ivy League with a 1-4 record. At the intercollegiate championships, Dartmouth finished 11th and was ranked eighth (for the second straight year) in the team ratings (based on nine-man play).
Captain Wade Judge, with an 8-4 record, was a solid player and senior Lloyd Ucko, at No. 3, had an 8-3 mark and reached the semifinals at the intercollegiate tournament.
GYMNASTICS
Sophomore Mike Pancoe from Glencoe, Ill., continues to be stellar for Dartmouth's revived gymnastics team. One difference this winter is that Coach Ken Jones has a bit more depth to help Pancoe score for the Green.
Pancoe, headed for national competition at this writing, repeated as Ivy League and New England champ in the still rings. Freshman Greg Hakanen was fourth in vaulting at the New Englands and co-champ on the horizontal bar at the Ivy meet.
Dartmouth finished second to Cornell in the Ivy meet and third in the New England meet's college division team scoring.
FRESHMAN SPORTS
There weren't too many conspicuous individual performances during the freshman sports season but Dartmouth's frosh teams still came through with very good records.
In basketball, balanced scoring and good defense were the keys to a 12-5 record for first-year Coach Tom O'Connor. Playing with the biggest man at 6-4 (center Gene Matthews, who set a frosh rebounding record), the frosh won six. of their last seven games and the lone loss, to a strong Brown team, was avenged in a rematch at Alumni Gym. Bob Calcaterra (15.8) and Rick Jones (15.3) were the top scorers and Captain Dan McKay was a most efficient defender.
Dartmouth's freshman hockey team played one game with only eight players ready (due to illness and injury) but the spunk of that group illustrates the tenacity that produced an 8-8-1 record for Coach Jim Higgins' team. The frosh skaters lost four of their first six games, then won five of six and were champs even in losing close late-season games to Harvard, Andover, and B. U.
Center Peter Quinn led the scoring with 37 points and had seven goals in a 12-4 rout of Boston State's frosh. Steve Johnson added 26 points and Kevin O'Brien, converted to the goal from defense, did a good job and even scored a pair of goals when shifted to wing during a 13-0 romp over Norwich.
Dartmouth's jayvee track team charged to a 5-1 record, the lone blemish being a 54-49 loss to Andover Jim Evans was undefeated in the shot put while Rich Chebookjian earned a promotion to varsity competition as he ripped off a 5.6-second effort in the 50-yard dash.
Victories over Exeter and Deerfield highlighted a 7-2 season for the freshman swimmers. "We didn't have any record breakers," said Coach Wally Lutkus, "but we did have many fine performances." One reason for no records is that two top frosh, John LeMoal and Ed Bell, were promoted to the varsity early in the season.
In squash, Dartmouth finished with a 3-7 frosh record. The best player, Andy Oldenburg, spent most of the season with the varsity.
GREEN JOTTINGS
The Dartmouth College Athletic Council has modified its position concerning scheduling of games with ECAC Division One hockey teams that include freshmen on varsity rosters.
"While Dartmouth remains firm in its position on not using freshmen on varsity teams, the Council feels that a reassessment of policy concerning Division One opponents is appropriate," said Director of Athletics Seaver Peters,
Shortly before the 1971-72 season began, Dartmouth dropped four Division One opponents who planned to have freshmen on varsity rosters.
Two teams likely to return are New Hampshire and Boston University, both traditional rivals.
"The decision, however, does not alter Dartmouth's position concerning retention of a complete program of freshman athletics," said Peters.
Additional legislation passed this winter by the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) makes freshmen eligible for varsity football and basketball. The Ivy League, however, will not use freshmen at the varsity level in any of the so-called "team" sports.
Defenseman , Dana Johnson from Calgary, Alberta, has been elected captain of the 1972-73 Dartmouth hockey team. He succeeds Mike Turner who was Dartmouth's top scorer for three seasons. and won the Martha Phelan Award as most valuable player on this season's team.
Doug Donahue from Norwell, Mass., is the new squash captain, while Craig Colberg and Bill Lehman are the next co-captains of Dartmouth swimming.
Spring Schedules
BASEBALL—ApriI 14, Princeton away, 15, Columbia away (2); 18, Massachusetts away; 21, Boston College away; 22, Harvard away (2); 25, Holy Cross; 28, Pennsylvania; 29, Navy (2); May 1, Boston University; 5, Cornell; 6, Army (2); 7, Providence (2); 12, Yale away; 13, Brown away (2); 16, New Hampshire away; 18, Springfield away.
LACROSSE—ApriI 8, Cornell away; 15, Yale; 19, Brown away; 22, Union; 26. Middlebury away; 29, Pennsylvania; May 3, Holy Cross; 6, Harvard away; 10, Williams away; 13, Princeton; 16, New Hampshire away.
TRACK—ApriI 19, Boston University and Northeastern; 22, Colgate; 25, Massachusetts away; 28-29, Penn Relays at Philadelphia; May 2, Harvard away; 6, Brown away; 9, Springfield away; 13, Heptagonals at Penn; 20, New Englands at Amherst; 26-27, Intercollegiates at Philadelphia.
GOLF—April 22, Boston College; 25, Brown away; 27, Amherst; 29, Williams away; May 1, Norwich; 3, Boston University away; 6-7, Eastern Intercollegiates at New Haven; 10, Harvard; 13, Massachusetts; 15, Middlebury; 18, New Hampshire and Springfield at Portsmouth, N. H.
TENNIS—ApriI 11, Brown away; 14, Princeton away: 15, Columbia away; 19, Williams away; 20, Colgate; 22, Harvard away; 26, M.I.T. away; 28, Pennsylvania; 29, Navy; May 2, Yale away; 5, Cornell; 6, Army; 9, Amherst; 12-14, New Englands at Amherst; 15, Middlebury.
CREW—Heavyweight: April 29, Bill Cup (Rutgers, Boston University) at New Brunswick; May 6, Cochrane Cup (M.I.T., Wisconsin) at Hanover; 13, EARC Regatta at Worcester, Mass.; 20, Packard Cup (M.I.T., Syracuse) at Syracuse; June 1-3, IRA Regatta at Syracuse.
Lightweight: April 22, Biglin Bowl (M.I.T., Harvard) at Cambridge; 29, Durand Cup (Yale, Rutgers) at New Brunswick; May 6, Baggaley Cup (Cornell) at Ithaca; 13, EARC Regatta at Worcester, Mass.
Junior Fred Riggall (11) in the act of unleashing a bullet shot that produced oneof the three goals he scored in the 15-5 romp over Northeastern.
Dramatic finish in the Yale swimming meet: Chris Carstensen leads the Green tovictory in the 400-yard freestyle relay that clinched the 63-50 triumph.
Captain Wade Judge, whose steady playall season was a factor in giving theGreen squash team a break-even record.
