They Can Really Skate

The coach bows his head, mumbles something. Ask him to speak up. He lifts his head. He shakes his head.

"They can skate," the coach says.

You take it down. "They can skate."

They you think, well, of course they can skate.

They're hockey players, for Orr's sake.

The coach, who has just lost another game to Harvard, utters again, they can skate.

You write it down. "They can skate." Boy, it's a good thing, because otherwise, they might be forced to tap dance or do ballet.

The crowd might like that kind of entertainment, but it sure wouldn't produce a victory.

They can skate, the coach says for a third time.

And then, suddenly, you know what he means.

They can skate, as in really skate, as in speed-skate down the sides of the rink. They can skate, as in maneuver, as in slip one way, then slide back another. Effortlessly. They can skate, as in dodge one defenseman, as in skip past another, as in soar on one leg up to the goal mouth and slip a shot into the net.

Harvard can skate the way Charles Lindbergh could fly. Unlike Lucky Lindy, who preferred international travel, the Crimson likes to fly right at home.

Harvard proved itself a mild road warrior last weekend. The Crimson traveled to upstate New York, and split the road in half--beating Cornell, losing to Colgate. Still, Harvard hung on to first place in the ECAC, a postion it finds itself in tonight.

And a position it will find itself in tomorrow. The Dartmouth hockey team--they don't call it Big Green for nothing--is coming to Bright Center tonight, chock full of husky skaters.

The Green berets tried to tie up the Crimson two weeks ago in Hanover. Although the game was physical, and penalty-filled, Harvard emerged with a 5-3 triumph.

If the Green team wants to invite Olivia Newton-John in tonight, and get physical with Harvard, it will suffer the consequences. What works--or sort of works--in Hanover doesn't fly in Cambridge.

Only Harvard skaters fly.

Bright has a little more width, and a little more length than most ECAC rinks.

How About Bully-Puck?

If the Big Green wants to play bully-ball with the Crimson skaters, it will have to catch them first. A mugger isn't any good if he can't nab the old lady with the purse.

The Big Green should take a lesson from its partner on the color wheel. Last year, Bowling Green came to Cambridge for the NCAA quarterfinals with a busload of big guys. The Falcons tried their best to lower the speed limit at Bright--oh, say down to 25 miles an hour--but couldn't enforce it. The Crimson went about 75 miles per hour and the Falcons barely scraped 20, as Harvard buzzed by, 7-1.

Some mad scientist in Hanover should get to work on jet-propelled skates. Otherwise, the Big Green will find itself skating on thin ice tonight.