PROGRESS OF HOCKEY TEAM

The University hockey team will play two important games of its schedule this week, Toronto on Wednesday and Cornell on Saturday. The outcome of these two contests will make it possible to judge the strength of the team accurately and to calculate to a certain extent the chances of victories against Princeton and Yale. In the Ottawa game last Monday, the University seven was far from being at its best and showed a number of very serious weaknesses. Since then, however, the team has taken a decided brace and has recovered from what was apparently a bad slump. The forwards have developed a fast, concerted attack, rushing together rather than individually, and keeping fairly well in line. In the Ottawa game the tendency toward individual play seemed to be the chief fault of the offence. Though the centre men made some remarkable dashes with the puck singly, they seldom got going together and were consequently stopped in nearly every instance by the opposing defence. This weakness has been largely eliminated.

The defence has also proven a stronger combination in the recent scrimmages with the B. A. A., Technology, and the second team. In the last three encounters with these teams only one goal was scored against the University team, Gardner's clever work at the net being an important factor in this excellent showing. Another encouraging part of the defence men's playing is the improvement shown of late in getting the puck out of corners and taking it down the ice