Reserves, Speed Give Skaters Strength as Training Opens

"We can put on an all-letterman team, and we'll he deeper and faster than at any time since 1942," hockey coach John Chase confided yesterday in sizing up chances for this year's Crimson skaters.

Not only has the team lost but five of its players through graduation, but several of last year's top prospects who were ruled out scholastically will again be eligible. And the experience of what Coach Chase calls a "pretty rough season" last year will be behind the majority of squad members.

This year the skaters face an even tougher schedule. An unusually high total of eight games is listed before the Christmas vacation, starting with BU Wednesday, December 1, and running through engagements with MIT, Brown, BU, and McGill. More than one of the traditional "breather" games has been erased from the card.

Short Training Time

Right now the big problem is the availability of practice ice and the limited training time. Daily calisthenic workouts are now going on at the Blockhouse, but formal icework cannot start until Tuesday. Most of the skaters, however, are getting in semi-weekly informal practices at their own expense at the Boston Skating Club. Ice time is so scarce that they have had to be content with before-breakfast and after-midnight hours.

Elimination of the Jayvee squad in an HAA economy move this spring will mean a big cut in the number of players Coach Chase can watch regularly. But if Chase needs extra men during the course of the season he plans to call up the best of the intramural crop.

Of the five graduation losses, the biggest gap will be left by the departure of Goalie Jack Lavalle. Letterman Bill Yetman and Johnny Chase, along with sophomore Phil Clark, will be competing for his job.

Many Line Holdovers

But the team will have considerable line depth and experience in the persons of Captain Dave Key; last year's sophomore combination of Dave Abbot, Myles Huntington, and Tom Mosely; and Larry Ward, who notched the goal that beat Yale 1, to 0, in last March's thriller.

Back from various absences will be highly valued John Garrity, who plays either forward or defense and is now scholastically eligible as well as Dick McDormott, who broke his ankle last season just as he was coming into his own. Another addition in February may be Lew Preston, who in 1948 left Harvard to tour Europe with the AAU Olympic sextet, the squad that didn't play.