Perennial rumors that local college hockey would be bounced from the Boston Arena became fact last week when Walter A. Brown, Garden-Arena entrepreneur, announced at the final Hockey Writers Luncheon that the ice would be taken out of the St. Botolpn Street Ice Palace and replaced by a permanent basketball floor. As a result, the Boston Garden will have to bear the entire load of professional, college, and schoolboy hockey in the Metropolitan area beginning next season. Although their big games (B.C.-B.U., and Harvard vs. other Pentagonal League teams) will still take place in the North Station refrigerator, local colleges will have to scare up their own practice ice as a result of Brown's move.

The Boston Skating Club, The Lynn Sports Center, and the Andover Academy rinks are the only other existing surfaces, but the Skating Club is already overcrowded, and other two are too far off for daily practice. So now again the question comes up, "Why doesn't Harvard get its own rink?"

"The H.A.A. is hopeful of constructing a hockey rink sometime, the sooner the better," answers Thomas D. Bolles, Athletic Director. But the H.A.A., along with all the other hockey followers in the College, has been hoping this for a long time. Two years ago ex-coach John P. Chase '28 initiated a fund-raising drive with $1,000, but the drive soon petered out because then the Arena was still available. Now that the need is imperative, maybe...

Pros and Cons: Many Advantages and...

The advantages of a rink all of Harvard's own are tremendous. In the first place, the location would probably be on Soldiers Field, which would put the rink within walking distance of every student, thus cutting out a half-hour subway or automobile ride. The convenience, and the fact that the rink could be used exclusively by Crimson skaters, would give practically everybody a shot at some ice-time. Not only would the varsity and freshman squads get ample practice sessions, but perhaps a junior varsity could be formed with an opportunity for practice.

The House teams would get time for games, and also would be able to practice at regular, normal hours instead of at pre-breakfast rat-races. Even the freshman dormitories might be able to support hockey teams with such handy ice to use. The Harvard "Squares," and pick-up teams would be given ice-time occasionally, and the University's growing crop of champion figure-skaters could work out daily free of charge. In addition, if the rink were placed near enough Dillon, the lockers and showers in the Field House could be used.

...the Usual Obstacles

But, of course, the usual problems--money and materials--have blocked any progress.

The H.A.A. does not have the funds to build and endow an artificial surface, even without a roof. The refrigerating machinery, the foundation and actual structure, and the upkeep costs add up to more than the already-extended University treasury can take. The saving from the Arena rent would be only a drop in the bucket towards the project.

And even if the money were forthcoming, the materials would be tough to get hold of. Where, off-hand, could the University pick up 9 1/2 miles of wrought-iron pipe (the necessary amount for a 190- by 85-foot rink)? New refrigerating processes make it likely that the University could buy up an old refrigerating plant of some commercial rink which is converting, but in spite of this lucky break, the pipe situation still is unsolved. Nine and one-half miles is an awful lot of pipe; especially with government restrictions on materials.

But now that Walter Brown has acted, and an ice-less '52-'53 hockey team has become a reality, the University is up against it. Whether it digs into its own threadbare pocket, or passes the hat again, it will somehow have to provide ice for its team. And certainly the most satisfactory arrangement for everybody would be a Soldiers Field artificial rink.