Big Green Teams

It's not your standard, run-of-the-mill sort of team. Then again, when you put the assortment of interests available to an Ivy League student into perspective, maybe it is.

The captain is a scratch golfer. The group he leads includes a bartender who has gone through the folk-singing-in-coffee house phase (with a couple of teammates), a vegetarian who is also a firm believer in transcendental meditation, an oarsman whose coiffure makes him a dead ringer for Bozo the Clown, a geologist, a music critic, a mathematician who is also hooked on modern dance, the right side of a baseball infield, a sailor, an existentialist, a noted scholar, and a 10-second sprinter.

This conglomeration, brought into common purpose by Grant Standbrook, is Dartmouth's hockey team. It's a group that appears to be on the brink of restoring Dartmouth hockey to a position it enjoyed more than a decade ago, a position that has been little more than a dream of late.

At the moment, Dartmouth's skaters are building a reputation in the frenetic world of Eastern hockey. Three weeks removed from the holiday vacation hiatus, the record was 9-2-1 overall. Against teams in ECAC Division I (and this is the group that duels for post-season playoff honors and thence the NCAA tournament), Dartmouth stood at 8-2, a record exceeded only by New Hampshire.

In the Ivy League, the Green won its first four games, a performance achieved for the first time since the 1958-59 season when most of the guys who are now skating around Davis Rink were barely beginning grammar school, and Dartmouth was unbeaten in the League.

Perhaps the greatest asset this team has displayed is balance - for the first time in memory, Standbrook has the manpower to put four solid lines into rotation. The first three lines, at this juncture, have scored 17, 15 and 11 goals. Two of the defensemen - the golfer and the music critic - are among nine players who are packed together with from 15 to eight points.

It's difficult to single out the outstanding performers because everyone has been doing the work that Standbrook has been striving to achieve. To put names with office interests, however, will help put things into perspective.

The scratch golfer is Paul Dixon, the captain and defenseman from Aurora, Ont., who did everything anyone could ask during a win, loss and tie at the R.P.I, tournament during the holiday break and has kept it up ever since.

His defensive partner is the music critic, junior Dave Dunbar, who has been virtually as effective. Working together in man-down situations, they have helped to kill nine out of every 10 opponent power plays.

The math major, center Peter Quinn, is a junior who Standbrook feels "is playing with greater consistency than ever before." Quinn is also part of the penalty-killing contingent.

The man who has caught the imagination of Dartmouth fans, however, is Chuck Walker, senior goalie from Riverside, Conn, (hardly a hockey hotbed by any stretch), who never wore a pair of goalie skates before he came to Dartmouth.

Walker won the job as goalie on his freshman team simply because there was no one else for the job. In a game against Exeter, Walker made four saves and allowed six goals. Dartmouth's frosh won that game, 10-6. Says winger Howie Hampton (the existentialist), "We called him a sieve - and a few other things, but all he said was, 'You should be thankful I made those four saves or we'd have had a tie.'"

Walker has come a long way since those frightful days in 1971. For two seasons, he warmed the bench and spent many hours studying the style of Peter Proulx, his predecessor. Early in his junior year, Walker attended an introductory lecture on transcendental meditation. He and his wife Kathy decided to pay the initiation fee and learn more about it.

The first time he meditated, Walker recalls, "I felt relaxed but energetic." Now he's a firm believer. Before practice and every game, Walker meditates. "It looks like I'm just sitting with my eyes closed." In fact, he's thinking his mantra, a sound given to him when he was initiated into TM. "It's a vehicle for experiencing finer levels of consciousness. I'm relaxed. My mind settles down and begins to cease activity. Meditation is a stress release mechanism. That's why it's helped me. Stress is like a burden. If you get rid of it, everything becomes a lot easier."

Walker has made goal-tending look easy this season. He brought his stand-up style (he feels it offers better body control than the butterfly style used by many other goalies) into Dartmouth's opening game against Boston University. He had won the preseason duel for the starting job over sophomore Dan Ringsred (the guy with the Bozo coiffure) and startled everyone except himself by making 41 saves and inspiring a 4-3 win at Davis Rink.

Three weeks later, in a rematch with BU during the R.P.I, tournament, he made 62 saves in a more spectacular display but his mates couldn't generate their attack and Dartmouth fell, 3-1.

"Chuck couldn't stand up on skates when he came to Dartmouth," says Standbrook. "We needed a goalie and he was all we had. He's worked hard and has tremendous perseverance. Not many guys would be a second string goalie for two years. Most would quit."

Walker, who also adjusted his diet and has stopped eating meat (he prefers fish and health foods), trimmed 20 pounds from his stocky frame and took a hard look at himself as he prepared for the reason. "Some people didn't expect to see me around this season," he says. "I not only wanted to play, I wanted to play well. It was a challenge. I'm in my best playing shape ever. I'm not saying that all goalies should be vegetarians and turn to TM, but it's helped me."

At this writing, Walker has the best goals-against average (2.40 per game) of any Division I goalie. "He's developed unbelievably since his freshman year," according to Standbrook. "He's playing with poise and confidence and the team feels secure with him in the goal."

Ringsred. who had a long night in an 8-2 loss to New Hampshire, has also started to get some game experience. (He looked good as he split time with Walker during a 10-1 romp over Princeton and then worked a 5-2 win over Northeastern.) With the goal in good hands, things have moved steadily upward for the Green.

Senior Bob Hayes (the bartender) zipped home the clincher during a 4-3 win over Penn and his linemates, Bill Dunbar and Ken Pettit, have been equally effective. The sophomore line of sprinter-split end Tom Fleming, scholarly Danny Tomlak and Greg Cronin (a promising first baseman), has jelled in unison with the third line of Quinn, Hampton and junior Charlie Solberg.

A week later, Pettit scored twice and Tomlak got another while Walker notched his first shutout, a 3-0 decision in the rematch at Penn. Then, with Hayes getting two goals and feeding Bill Dunbar via Pettit for the winning goal in overtime, Dartmouth overtook Boston College, 5-4.

The R.P.I, tourney was disappointing only from the record standpoint. After losing to BU, Dartmouth whipped the Engineers (5-2) and then fought to a 3-3 stalemate with Ohio State. Walker made the all-tourney team while Dave Dunbar and sophomore Gordie Miles made the second team.

There's no break in the rest of the schedule — every game is against Division I opposition. For the moment, though, things look awfully good.

BASKETBALL

What do you say about a team that lost first eight games and faces the remainder of a season in which things aren't going to become appreciably brighter? You can attempt to apologize, but that's not what the team is looking for. It's a group, this Dartmouth basketball team, has looked good - and still come up shorthanded, be it five in overtime to Penn State, five in regulation to Ohio State or in amounts ranging from one to 39 by Harvard, Utah, Kentucky, Princeton and Pennsylvania.

The famine finally ended with a capable 72-66 win at Delaware.

The one common factor in every game is that all have been played away from Hanover. Given a predominance of sophomores, a three-week layoff out of the holiday trips to Utah and Kentucky, and more travel before the "home season" begins, things aren't especially optimistic.

It's not a record that pleases Coach Tom O'Connor and his players. But it's fact that this team is playing well despite the losses. Playing well in most respects, at any rate. The one major problem is shooting, a fundamental ingredient that is destined to fall into place. The question is: when?

"We're playing one good half in every game and most often we're getting an overall good game," says O'Connor. "This is a young team and it's taking its lumps. Things are going to turn around. It's a matter of time and I'm as impatient as anyone else."

The missing link last year, rebounding, has improved significantly. At Princeton, Dartmouth held a 46-30 margin in this department but for the first time this season, the Green made more turnovers than their opponent, and it was costly. A five-point game at halftime was gradually expanded by the Tigers, just as a sevenpoint game at halftime at Penn was turned into a runaway by a Quaker team that is clearly in a class by itself (again) in the Ivy League this season.

Overall physical size and experience were the Penn State and Ohio State assets in overhauling the Green during the Utah and Kentucky tournaments. This, plus the fact that Dartmouth as a team is making but 35 per cent of its floor shots (the opposition is making half of their attempts).

Sophomore Adam Sutton has offered the poise that wasn't expected until later in the season and is leading the scorers with an 18-point average. The captain, guard Bill Raynor, has a 13-point average, but the rest of the team hasn't found itself thus far.

Time will tell and you'll simply have to join O'Connor in the impatience ward.

WINTER ROUNDUP

Because of the extension of Christmas vacation, there has been little activity for Dartmouth's other winter teams.

in swimming, Dartmouth bounced out of the prolonged layoff and whipped Navy, 73-40, with freshman Tim Hable from Cleveland producing double wins in the individual medley and the butterfly; Hable missed victory behind teammate Jim Bayles in the 500 freestyle by less than a second.

In track, Dartmouth opened its season with a triangular win over Bates and Colgate, but many of the Green's leading performers didn't compete due to minor injuries and the fact that they are not yet in peak shape for competition. Junior Ed Spinney was a standout among over 700 entries in the Dartmouth Relays as he ran a 4:09.7 mile, one-tenth of a second off the College record.

In wrestling, Dartmouth built a 3-2 record. The Green dropped its Ivy debut at Yale but came back to sweep Connecticut and Tufts. In squash, Dartmouth scored against Harvard for the first time since 1966 but the Crimson won, 7-2 (their 48th straight collegiate victory).

In gymnastics, Mike Pancoe continued his domination on the rings but Cornell demonstrated it is still the Ivy League's best team by taking a 19-point win at Hanover. Dartmouth rebounded to trounce Yale and the Springfield jayvees.

Dartmouth's women's teams will compete in squash, basketball, gymnastics and swimming but none of these teams has launched the active phase of its respective program as yet.

In skiing, the period of competition in individual meets is in progress and Coach Jim Page has found promising performances in a number of areas. The cross country racers - Chris Nice from Hanover, Doug Peterson from Excelsior, Minn., and Don Nielsen from New London, N.H., were impressive with their second place showing in the 30-kilometer Hanover Relays and freshman Arnie Nielsen may prove to be an excellent jumper for the Green.

Freshman John Macomber from Concord, Mass., and sophomore Peter Anderson from Leominster, Mass., are the early leaders in the Alpine events.

Coming out of the vacation period, there have been four freshman hockey contests and the Green has won them all to build a 5-1 record. It's an impressive performance simply because Coach Jim Higgins has flecks of gold spread around a small squad (12 men skated against Harvard's 22-man corps of reserves).

The frosh cagers returned to action with a win at St. Anselm's and the freshman squash team achieved a landmark as the Green upended the Harvard frosh for the first time in ages, 5-4.

The freshman captains are Brian McCloskey from North Vancouver, B.C. (he's also the scoring leader) in hockey; guard John Lisowski from Pittsburgh, Pa., in basketball, and Alan Gordon from Glencoe, Ill., in squash.

GREEN JOTTINGS

More honors in football: Tom Csatari, co-captain and defensive end from South River, N.J., was named to The Associated Press All-America third team and has become Dartmouth's 12th recipient of an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. All-Ivy center Bob Funk from Augusta, Kans., has been named a second alternate in the same NCAA program.

Coach Jake Crouthamel capped his collection of honors when he was voted District I coach-of-the-year by the American Football Coaches Association.

NCAA AID RULE

At its annual convention in early January, the NCAA passed legislation concerning recruiting and scholarship regulations that, on the surface, would appear to present serious problems for the Ivy League.

The new legislation indicates that a student-ahtlete will count in a specified total of athletic scholarship awards offered annually “if the award of aid is based in any degree on athletic ability or if he is recruited and engages in competition as a member of a varsity team."

Says Athletic Director Seaver Peters '54, "Because the recent Common Statement of Ivy group institutions reaffirms that financial aid is awarded solely on the basis of demonstrated need of the student, we're hopeful that the number limitation outlined in the new NCAA legislation will have no impact on Ivy League athletics. The numbers in various sports are easily livable in terms of the size of teams competing in the league." The rule for basketball, for example, allows 18 scholarships in any given year. Dartmouth only carries 12 players on its varsity team.

Chuck Walker: meditation helps.

Captain Paul Dixon closes in on a scoring thrust in the 10-1 victory over Princeton.

Varsity swimming captain Brad Gilmanwhooping it up in the win over Navy.

Mary Heller '76 in evening competition on the new lighted cross-country course.