1926–27 Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey season

The 1926–27 Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey season was the 29th season of play for the program.

1926–27 Harvard Crimson
men's ice hockey season
Eastern Intercollegiate Champion
ConferenceIndependent
Home iceBoston Arena
Record
Overall9–1–2
Home4–1–2
Road2–0–0
Neutral3–0–0
Coaches and captains
Head coachEdward Bigelow
Captain(s)William Ellison
Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey seasons
« 1925–26 1927–28 »

Season

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Before the season began, Harvard made a decision to end their annual contests against Princeton. The two teams had played one another, often multiple times, every year since 1901 with exception of the 1918 campaign (due to World War I).[1] The problem was that Princeton hadn't challenged for a league championship since before the War, which was also the last time they had beaten Harvard in the season series. Harvard was also able to fill the gap in their schedule with the return of Brown after a 20-year hiatus.

A bigger issue that Harvard had to contend with was a new rule limiting each team to just 12 players per game.[2] While that didn't affect most programs, the Crimson had been routinely using many alternates during their games, resulting in 15 or more players in some contests. Regardless of the new limitations, Harvard began the season well. After a solid win over MIT the team played three games against Canadian colleges and finished with a split decision, a difficult task considering the quality of their opponents. Unfortunately, the team also lost sophomore forward Henry Crosby to appendicitis just before the second Toronto game.[3]

After proving their international mettle, Harvard played its first ever western opponent when it hosted Notre Dame. The Crimson dominated the Irish 7–0 but little beyond that could be established from the game as Notre Dame wasn't a particularly strong team that season. Harvard avenged a loss from the year before with a hard-fought victory over Boston University then entered their showdown against Yale with a chance at another intercollegiate title. The Crimson offense overpowered the Elis in the first game, and after securing a season-series win over Dartmouth with a tie, Harvard finished the season at the newly-refurbished New Haven Arena. Harvard built a 2-goal lead and then played their typical stifling defense to earn a 2–1 win and finish the season undefeated against collegiate opponents.[4]

A day after the victory, head coach Edward Bigelow announced that he was resigning from his position to devote himself fully to his business career.[5] Though his tenure was short, few could claim as much success as Bigelow did with two intercollegiate championships and a record of 25–8–2 (22–3–1 against collegiate opponents).

Roster

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No. S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team
Francis W. W. Adams Junior G
  John P. Chase Junior C/LW 1906-06-12 Milton, Massachusetts
Eben C. Clark Graduate D
Clement D. Coady Senior D
John B. Durant Senior LW/RW
William P. Ellison (C) Senior D
Courtland S. Gross Senior LW
Nathaniel Hamlen Senior RW
Willard Howard Senior D
Joseph Morill Jr. Junior G
Richard S. Scott Senior C/LW
Malcolm N. Stanley Sophomore LW/RW/D
John Tudor Sophomore LW
Cecil I. Wylde Senior D
Isadore Zarakov Senior RW

[6]

Standings

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Intercollegiate Overall
GP W L T Pct. GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Amherst 8 3 2 3 .563 9 9 8 3 2 3 9 9
Army 3 0 2 1 .167 5 13 4 0 3 1 7 20
Bates 7 3 3 1 .500 11 13 9 5 3 1 16 14
Boston College 6 3 3 0 15 18
Boston University 7 2 4 1 .357 25 18 8 2 5 1 25 23
Bowdoin 7 3 4 0 .429 12 17 8 4 4 0 21 18
Brown 8 4 4 0
Clarkson 9 8 1 0 .889 42 11 9 8 1 0 42 11
Cornell 7 1 6 0 .143 10 23 7 1 6 0 10 23
Dartmouth 15 11 2 2 68 20
Hamilton 10 6 4 0
Harvard 8 7 0 1 .938 32 9 12 9 1 2 44 18
Massachusetts Agricultural 7 2 4 1 .357 5 10 7 2 4 1 5 10
Middlebury 6 6 0 0
MIT 8 3 4 1 .438 19 21 8 3 4 1 19 21
New Hampshire 6 6 0 0 22 7
NYU
Princeton 13 5 7 1
Providence 8 1 7 0 13 39
Rensselaer 3 0 2 1
St. Lawrence 7 3 4 0
Syracuse
Union 5 3 2 0 .600 18 14 5 3 2 0 18 14
Vermont
Williams 12 6 6 0 .500 38 40 12 6 6 0 38 40
Yale 12 8 3 1 .708 72 26 16 8 7 1 80 45
YMCA College 7 3 4 0 .429 16 19 7 3 4 0 16 19

Schedule and Results

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Date Opponent Site Result Record
Regular Season
December 10 vs. MIT* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 5–1  1–0–0
December 29 vs. McGill* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts L 3–4 OT 1–1–0
December 31 vs. Toronto* Madison Square GardenManhattan, New York W 4–3  2–1–0
January 3 vs. Toronto* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts T 1–1 OT 2–1–1
January 7 vs. Notre Dame* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 7–0  3–1–1
January 12 vs. Dartmouth* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 4–2  4–1–1
January 18 at Brown* Rhode Island AuditoriumProvidence, Rhode Island W 5–1  5–1–1
January 26 vs. Boston University* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 1–0 OT 6–1–1
February 10 vs. Laval* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 4–1  7–1–1
February 19 vs. Yale* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 6–2  8–1–1
February 23 vs. Dartmouth* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts T 2–2 3OT 8–1–2
February 27 vs. Yale New Haven ArenaNew Haven, Connecticut W 2–1  9–1–2
*Non-conference game.

[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Harvard Men's Hockey year-By-year results" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  2. ^ "TEAM OF VETERANS WILL FACE M. I. T. IN OPENING ICE TILT". The Harvard Crimson. December 9, 1926. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  3. ^ "Crosby Lost to Hockey Forces". The Harvard Crimson. January 5, 1927. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  4. ^ "Harvard Sextet Retains College Hockey Laurels". Yale Daily News. February 28, 1927. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  5. ^ "BIGELOW WILL NOT RETURN AS COACH OF HOCKEY TEAM". The Harvard Crimson. March 1, 1927. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  6. ^ "1926-1927 Roster". Elite Prospects. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  7. ^ "Harvard Men's Hockey year-By-year results" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Retrieved December 30, 2019.