Six Hosts High-Scoring But Porous Army Club

With renewed confidence after Wednesday's thrilling 1-0 overtime loss to Boston University Harvard's hockey team hosts undefeated Army tonight at 8 p.m. in Watson Rink.

Last season's 19-3 Army squad which trounced Harvard 5-1 on its own vast rink, has lost half its skaters, but is bolstered by a 16-2 freshman team. The Crimson, with its moral victory against B.U., has shows that it can still play hockey too. Tonight it will be after the kind of win that shows up in the record books and Army is just the kind of team it can handle.

In beating Princeton 6-3 and Hamilton 12-0, the Cadets have shown they can score. Captain Mike Thompson whose 60 points last year made him third highest in the East, made the All-East first team; linemate Bart Barry was the fourth-ranking scorer with 56 points.

But B.U. is no slouch in the scoring department either, and it took the Terriers 63 minutes to find the Harvard net. If the Crimson's defense keeps hitting, and Wade Welch continues making the key saves, the Cadets will get no target practice tonight.

Harvard's obvious weakness is its offense, which had scored in 105 straight collegiate games--apparently an all-time Eastern record--before being shut out by B.U. Against the Terriers Harvard took only 16 shots on net, most of them weak one from far out.

But against the weak Cadet defense, the Crimson might be able to get some-thing going. Ron Butterfield, an all-East second-team defenseman last year, can't carry the entire Army defense by himself. His three companions are all untested sophomores, as are the two Cadet goalies.

Crimson Coach Cooney Welland has juggled his lines again in his continuing effort to extract some goals. Pete Waldinger has replaced Gordie Price on the line with Baldy Smith and Pete Miller, enabling Price to return to his customary position of center, flanked tonight by Ed Zellner and Dennis McCullough.

Frank Mackey, who skated with Waldinger and Zellner Wednesday, is out of action for a few days with a torn legligament. The line of Pete Sahlin, Kenny Burnes, and Jorge Gonzales remains intact.