Back in early January, '53 hockey coach Stan Priddy, disappointed by a pre-vacation upset to Melrose High, said optimistically, "The boys should start to click soon." Since then the skaters have clicked their way impressively over four strong opponents, including first-year men from Brown and Dartmouth.

This year's version may not have started its campaign with the fire and team-play exhibited by the '52 freshman team (which, led by Dusty Burke, took ten straight), but in the last few games it has come close to turning into Priddy's idea of a team. And it has a depth that few first-year teams have shown.

Traditionally, Harvard's hockey stalwarts are taken largely from the ranks of the strong New England high and prep school leagues. It isn't too surprising, then, that 17 of the 23 men on the '53 squad live in Massachusetts, and three of the other six are New Englanders.

Priddy's first line has the two high-scoring whiz-kids of the team in left-wing and captain Amory Hubbard and center Walt Greeley, kid brother of last year's strong varsity defenseman Dick Greeley. Walt, an all-scholastic forward from Framingham, looked like the fastest and smoothest man on a weak squad in the Melrose debacle.

First Team Not Set

But the fleet-foot of the six in recent games has been the 150-pound Hubbard, who was elected captain after the Brown game and went on to score a goal and two assists against the Green at Hanover and pull the three-goal "hat trick" against Belmont Hill.

Question-mark of the first line is Bitsy Grant, who suffers mostly from a lack of aggressiveness. In exam-period practice, Priddy has been experimenting with Lew Brown in the slot, a tall, slim defenseman who played forward at Exeter.

Top defenseman is Jim O'Brien. One of the heavier men on the team at 175, O'Brien stands out in feeding the puck to Hubbard and Greeley as well as in his hard body-checking. His defensemate, Bill Kierstad, suffers only from a lack of speed.

Nate Corning, who has seen most of the action in the nets, is turning into a first-class goalie, something he has proved in recent scrimmages with the varsity. The only other goalie who has seen action is Oscar Swenson, who has never played organized hockey before.

Second Team

Center Dave Harvey and left wing John Dunphy played together for three years at Belmont Hill and are showing signs of growing into college hockey. Harvey has been picking up speed and the frequent scoring of Dunphy, who is a little slower, is largely due to the fact that Harvey feeds him.

The other wingman, Frank Harding, looks a little the worse for inexperience in the faster college game. Experience is probably the answer in the second defense, too, with George Chase, Milton Academy teammate of Amory Hubbard, looking superior to Dan Simonds.

Forwards Dave Cabot, Werner Willman, and Art French are weak in their stick-handling and are a little confused by the faster tempo of this hockey, although French has improved steadily.