Tiger Stickmen Here Tonight

Two unpredictables meet tonight on the Boston Arena ice when the Crimson pucksters of Harvard cress sticks with the Orange and Black of Princeton in the first of the two annual league tilts between the Quad rivals.

The teams played a three game non league caries at Lake Pincid during the Christmas holidays, the results being one victory for each sextet a 6 to 6 deadlock in the finale. Last year the Crimson earned a 4 to 3 win in Tigertown and a 5 to 2 decision in Cambridge, virtually a personal triumph for brilliant Austie Harding, who scarcely left the Ice all night.

This year a starless but well balanced Crimson squad finds one Senior Tiger line as the main obstacle to victories over Coach Dick Vaughan's Princeton outfit. Ralpily Wyer, Bob Bordley, and Harry Turner have played together since they were Freshmen; they are rightfully considered one of the best college lines in the United States.

Ralphy Wyer

Featured performer of the trio is the irrepressible Wyer, poke-checker and rinkman extraordinary. This to Wyer's eighth consecutive year of high-class competitive hockey, and no more than makes up what he lacks in breakaway speed with finesse and experience to burn. His compatriots, Bordiey and Turner, make that first line a goalie's nightmare.

Captain Dick Purnell teams with Ben Fuller to give the Tigers plenty of strength on the blue line; Zeke is a capable netminder. Dan Stuckley. Al Fuller, and George Young form the second offensive threesome, while Ted Nevins, Wally Tiernan, and Dick Pool are on the third.

The Tigers have had their ups and downs this winter. The outcome of the Lake Placid series with Harvard was something in the nature of an upset for the Crimson. The Hoddermen have probably been a bit overrated over since that creditable display against the Orange and Black stickmen. Later, the Tigers were cuffed around considerably by Canadian teams, but the 7 to 3 pasting they handed out to Dartmouth in Hanover gave another indirect boost to Harvard hockey.

Tigers Slight Favorite

Crimson hopes were high until the 8 to 3 debacle at Hanover last week. The Green bounced back from their Princeton defeat with a vengeance and served notice on the rest of the league that they were going to put up a real fight before being toppled from their throne. Princeton's last move was a 1 to 1 tie with Yale (probably on about a par with Harvard), but the Vaughanmen should rate a slight edge over Clark Hodder's squad in tonight's fray. The tie with Yale was not necessarily a letdown for the Tigers; the Elis have been dogged with costly injuries throughout the first part of their schedule, and their opponents have been anything but soft touches. They too, will be primed for the Harvard encounters.

Captain Dan Sullivan was entirely too much for the Crimson defense men to handle at Dartmouth. They made slip after slip, and he stepped into every one of them, making every opportunity count. The Hoddermen did not function smoothly on the attack, and they were not much improved Wednesday night against Williams, in both contests, however, they showed real flashes of the brand of hockey of which they are capable. If they can iron out a few of those obvious errors tonight, the Tigers may have more than they can handle.