I know that this is fluff but I thought some of you might be interested
in "old-time college hockey."
(reprinted without permission from the New York Times college hockey
report 1-20-93 p. B8)
One day last summer, Dick Hart beached his boat on a sandbar off
Nantucket and a stranger helped with the landing. Hart was wearing a
shirt with the words "Yale Hockey" on it, a model the coach, Tim Taylor,
had worked up as an alumni fundraising device.
The stranger said, "I see we have something in common. I'm Jack Akers."
Hart, an investment banker, recognized the name of the cheif executive
officer of IBM, and soon they were discussing when they had played -"for
Murry," rather than for Yale. Hart's time was the late 1940's, Akers the
mid-1950's.
Murry refered to Murry Murdoch, whose 27 years as Yale's coach ended 27
years ago. But he has not been forgotten by old players like Hart and
Fred Pearson, who took him to lunch the other day at Mory's. Murry, 88,
does not miss a home game at the Ingalls Rink in New Haven, which he
helped design. What does he think of college hockey today? "Faster," he
said "but not necessarily better."
Murdoch came to Yale in 1938 from the New York Rangers, for whom he
played defense for 11 years, including Stanely Cup championships in 1928
and 1933. He never missed a game and his streak of 563 was a longtime
National Hockey League record.
"But we only played 48 games a season back then," he said. "Now it's 80.
I don'tknow how they do it."
There were only 13 Rangers on the team that won that first Staney Cup.
"They're all gone," said Murdoch. "I'm the last one."
(end of article)
As an aside, Dick Hart still plays drop-in-hockey here at Ingalls. He's
at least 65 years old. He refuses to wear a helmet. The funny thing is
that he has the worst mouth and meanest stick of anybody on the ice! He
claims that that's the way they played back then...
aj