For the first time in the history of the House Intramural Hockey League, the victors do not live in any of the Houses.
Last Tuesday--March 6--the freshman team rolled over the Winthrop House team, 6-3, securing the title over 13 House teams.
Although freshmen have participated in the league for about 10 years, this marks the first year they have emerged triumphant, Director of Intramurals Floyd Wilson said.
He added that Freshmen have been playing hockey in the House league ever since it became apparent that there was not enough interest in the Yard to maintain a freshman league.
The team entered the playoffs with a 5-2 record, with losses only to Eliot and Lowell. After tearing apart Currier, 7-2, the freshmen surprised perennial favorite Kirkland, 6-2. Mather succumbed 5-2 to the upstarts in the semi-finals.
A lot of people counted us out," said freshman center Geoff Phillips. "But when the opportunity came, we struck."
Upperclass players vouched for the strength of the freshman team. "It was a crushing loss for the Kirkland house team. We were strongly outcoached. The reckless abandon of the freshman play destroyed our system," commented a battered Kirkland Coach Gus Grant.
"We're disappointed, but they had a really good team," said Winthrop Coach Rob Chung, who hopes that some of those freshmen move next year to Winthrop, which was lucky for him second choice in the Crimson's recent poll.
Chung said that although the freshman have many more players available than the House teams, yardlings in the past have suffered from a lack of devoted players.
Not so this year.
"The freshman team won because it really wanted to," said freshman Co-Captain Steve Fulton. "The other teams were good, but I don't think they were as determined as we were.
Play-offs
"We had players who worked well together. We knew we could win and we didn't want to be put down just because we were freshmen," Captain Bruce Kluckhorn said.
If they can arrange it, the freshman may travel to Yale to play the Elis' intramural champion. Wilson said that a Harvard Yale intramural hockey match has not happened in the last few years because of the difference in the two schools' spring vacations.
The forward line of Phillips, Jeffrey McGuire, and Brian O'Neil paced the freshman offense in the playoff games, scoring as many as five goals in a game. Other key players included Chris Sweeney, Gregory Dayton, Robert Carey, and Kevin McMahon. The team informally elected defenseman Rex Thors the Most Valuable Player of the finals.
IVY LEAGUE ALL-STAR TEAM
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR: Grant Blair, Harvard goalie, soph. Duanne Moeser Cornell, forward soph.
ROOKIES OF THE YEAR. Dan Allen, Brown, forward, Butch Cutone, Harvard, defens man.
FIRST TEAM: F. Duanne Moeser, Cornell soph.; F. Bob Logan, Yale, soph.; F. Geoff Dervin, Cornell, sen.; D. Ken Code, Harvard, sen.; D. Peter Sawkins, Yale, jun.; G. Grant Blair, Harvard, soph.
SECOND TEAM: F. Dave Williams Yale, sen,; F. Dan Allen, Brown, fresh F. Gary Cullen, Cornell, jun; F. Dave Connors, Harvard, sen.; F. Rob Wheeler, Harvard, sen.; D. Cliff Abech; Princeton, soph.; D. Mike Schaefer, Cornell, soph.; G. Paul Totorella, Yale, sen.; G. John Franzosa, Brown, jun.
HONORABLE MENTION: D. Scatt Whittemore, Brown, D. Brian Driscoll, Brown.
Read more in Sports
Where's Dick Vitale When You Need Him?