The Harvard hockey team will match its three-game losing streak against Dartmouth's six straight victories tonight at Hanover in its last game before the exam break.
As a result of the streaks. Harvard's current 4-9 record hardly compares to Dartmouth's 7-2 mark. To make matters seem worse, the Indians are particularly brutal on their home ice--last season the Crimson suffered its worst defeat of the year at Hanover, losing 7-1.
It hardly sounds like a fair fight, but fortunately the statistics, especially the streaks, are deceptive. Harvard has played some of its best hockey during its three recent losses, particularly in the 3-2 defeat to Boston College last Wednesday. Dartmouth meanwhile has had to go into overtime for four of its six wins.
If its schedule werent's so much rougher the Crimson's overall record wouldn't compare so unfavorably with the Green's. Harvard has had to play all of the top six teams in the East, and lost to each, but by respectable scores. The Indians have had to face only Boston University of the top six, and got clobbered 10-1.
Dartmouth relies on its first line, particularly Doug Hayes and Dean Matthews, for most of its scoring. These two were third and fifth among the Ivy League's leading scorers last year. Goalic Budge Gere is the only Indian veteran from last year's Ivy champs to make the all-Ivy first team last season.
Two divisions are forming in the current Ivy League race, with Dartmouth and Brown on top with two wins and no losses and Cornell right behind with a 2-1 mark. Brown is considered the best of this group on the basis of its 11-4 overall record, which includes wins over powerful B.C., Army, and Northeastern.
The "Big Three" form the second division of the Ivy race, with Yale's victory over Cornell the only win that any of them can brag about. Of course, the league is far from being unbalanced as the early standings indicate--any of the bottom three have shown the potential to knock off any of the others.
