1947–48 Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey season

The 1947–48 Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey season was the 48th season of play for the program. The Crimson represented Harvard University and were coached by John Chase in his 4th season.

1947–48 Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey season
Conference	3rd Pentagonal League
Home ice	Boston Arena
Record
Overall	9–14–0
Conference	3–4–0
Home	5–1–0
Road	2–9–0
Neutral	2–4–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	John Chase
Captain(s)	John Lavalle
Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey seasons « 1946–47 1948–49 »

Season

After having played just 20 games over the previous 2 seasons, Harvard was ready to finally shake off the last vestiges of World War II by putting together a 22-game slate, the most ambitious in the history of the program.^[1] Before the first game could be played, however, the Crimson encountered problems. One of the team's starting defensemen, Charlie Coulter, contracted viral pneumonia and would be out until after Christmas. His partner, Lou Preston, who was talented enough to be a candidate for the US Olympic Team, was then placed on probation and would be unavailable until after the mid-year exams.^[2] Without his top two blueliners, coach Chase had to rearrange the defense quickly for the team's opening games. Luckily for Harvard, Boston College was dealing with roster problems of their own while Brown was playing its first game in 9 years. This enabled the Crimson to open the year with a pair of wins.

Harvard's aspirations were diminished in after the third game when Harvard was thumped by Boston University but the team had the chance to show how good it was with a subsequent 5-game road trip that would tame them through Canada and out into the Midwest. The trip could hardly have gone worse for the Crimson as the team lost all 5 games and most by sizable margins.^[3] To make matters worse, John Crocker and Bill Yetman were injured during the trip and unable to compete in the final few games.

With the season spiraling out of control, coach Chase reshuffled the lines, moving Shawn McKean to the top unit with Dave Key and Wally Sears. With Dick Greeley holding the back end with the rest of the defensive corps, the offense stepped to the fore and helped Harvard arrest its slide by scoring 28 goals over two a two-game stretch.^[4] After an extended layoff, the scoring continued at a high pace in early February and nearly enabled the Crimson to reach .500.^[5]

While the team's 6-game losing streak meant that it would be nearly impossible for the Crimson to earn an NCAA tournament bid, the team could still play spoiler for other hopefuls as it sought to finish out she season strong. Unfortunately, Harvard had not been able to fully resolve its defensive issues and lost three consecutive games, all while averaging 5 goals themselves.^[6] After brief interlude when they defeated Williams, Harvard lost another trio of games and sat dead last in the Pentagonal League standings.

The team's final home stand in March saw the defense stiffen and hold Princeton to 2 goals. The following game, which was initially slated to be the last of the season, provided the Crimson with a 1–0 victory over Yale, the team's only shutout on the season.^[7] Because the season series with the Elis was a draw, a final rubber match between the two was added and took place the following week. The game turned out to be more of a brawl than a hockey game with both teams complaining about the lack of officiating.^[8] While Yale was the better team on the ice, tempers were running high all night and several fights broke out between the two teams. With just 75 seconds remaining in the match, Dave Abbott and Artie Moher got into a confrontation in front of the Yale cage. After being told to go to their respective locker rooms, the two reengaged and Abbott was hit in the mouth Moher's stick. He had to be taken to the local hospital where he received 12 stitches. In order to prevent further chaos, coach Chase pulled his players off of the ice and ended the game prematurely. While it was unclear at the time as to whether or not the game would be ruled a forfeit, eventually the final score was allowed to stand at 10–3 for Yale.^[9]

Roster

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team
		David M. Abbot	Sophomore
		William A. Allen II	Sophomore
		Bramwell B. Arnold	Senior
		John R. Chase	Sophomore	G
		Coste
		Charles J. Coulter Jr.	Junior	D
		John Crocker Jr.	Graduate	F
		Fletcher
		Richard S. Greeley	Junior	D/F
		Myles D. Huntington	Sophomore	F
		Vincent W. Jones Jr.	Graduate
		Albert L. Key II	Sophomore
		David M. Key Jr.	Junior	F
		John E. Lavalle (C)	Graduate	G
		George G. Loring	Sophomore
		Mauran
		Quincy A. S. McKean Jr.	Sophomore
		George R. Minot II	Junior
		Thomas C. Moseley	Graduate
		Murphy
		Lewis T. Preston	Sophomore (RS)	D
		Richardson
		Walter S. Sears	Graduate	F
		Staples
		Lawrence W. Ward	Sophomore
		Stephen L. Washburn	Junior	D
		Harcourt Wood	Junior
		William E. Yetman	Junior	G

^[10]

Standings

1947–48 NCAA Independent ice hockey standings v t e
	Intercollegiate								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	Pct.	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Army	16	11	4	1	.719	78	39		16	11	4	1	78	39
Bemidji State	5	0	5	0	.000	13	36		10	2	8	0	37	63
Boston College	19	14	5	0	.737	126	60		19	14	5	0	126	60
Boston University	24	20	4	0	.833	179	86		24	20	4	0	179	86
Bowdoin	9	4	5	0	.444	45	68		11	6	5	0	56	73
Brown	14	5	9	0	.357	61	91		14	5	9	0	61	91
California	10	2	8	0	.200	45	62		17	5	12	0	87	89
Clarkson	12	5	6	1	.458	67	39		17	10	6	1	96	54
Colby	8	2	6	0	.250	28	41		8	2	6	0	28	41
Colgate	10	7	3	0	.700	54	34		13	10	3	0	83	45
Colorado College	14	9	5	0	.643	84	73		27	19	8	0	207	120
Cornell	4	0	4	0	.000	3	43		4	0	4	0	3	43
Dartmouth	23	21	2	0	.913	156	76		24	21	3	0	156	81
Fort Devens State	13	3	10	0	.231	33	74		–	–	–	–	–	–
Georgetown	3	2	1	0	.667	12	11		7	5	2	0	37	21
Hamilton	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		14	7	7	0	–	–
Harvard	22	9	13	0	.409	131	131		23	9	14	0	135	140
Lehigh	8	0	8	0	.000	8	95		10	0	10	0	12	108
Massachusetts	2	0	2	0	.000	1	23		3	0	3	0	3	30
Michigan	18	16	2	0	.889	105	53		23	20	2	1	141	63
Michigan Tech	19	7	12	0	.368	87	96		20	8	12	0	91	97
Middlebury	14	8	5	1	.607	111	68		16	10	5	1	127	74
Minnesota	16	9	7	0	.563	78	73		21	9	12	0	100	105
Minnesota–Duluth	6	3	3	0	.500	21	24		9	6	3	0	36	28
MIT	19	8	11	0	.421	93	114		19	8	11	0	93	114
New Hampshire	13	4	9	0	.308	58	67		13	4	9	0	58	67
North Dakota	10	6	4	0	.600	51	46		16	11	5	0	103	68
North Dakota Agricultural	5	3	2	0	.600	27	28		6	4	2	0	37	29
Northeastern	19	10	9	0	.526	135	119		19	10	9	0	135	119
Norwich	9	3	6	0	.333	38	58		13	6	7	0	56	70
Princeton	18	8	10	0	.444	65	72		21	10	11	0	79	79
St. Cloud State	12	10	2	0	.833	55	35		16	12	4	0	73	55
St. Lawrence	9	6	3	0	.667	65	27		13	8	4	1	95	50
Suffolk	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–
Tufts	4	3	1	0	.750	17	15		4	3	1	0	17	15
Union	9	1	8	0	.111	7	86		9	1	8	0	7	86
Williams	11	3	6	2	.364	37	47		13	4	7	2	–	–
Yale	16	5	10	1	.344	60	69		20	8	11	1	89	85

1947–48 Pentagonal League standings v t e
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Dartmouth †	7	7	0	0	1.000	49	20		24	21	3	0	156	81
Army	4	2	2	0	.500	12	17		16	11	4	1	78	39
Harvard	7	3	4	0	.429	31	33		23	9	14	0	135	140
Princeton	7	2	5	0	.286	23	31		21	10	11	0	79	79
Yale	7	2	5	0	.286	20	32		20	8	11	1	89	85
† indicates conference champion

Schedule and results

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Record
Regular Season
December 3	vs. Boston College*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 4–3	1–0–0
December 4	at Brown*	Rhode Island Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island	W 10–5 OT	2–0–0
December 10	vs. Boston University*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	L 2–8	2–1–0
December 19	at McGill*	Montreal, Quebec	L 4–9	2–2–0
December 29	at Colorado College*	Broadmoor Ice Palace • Colorado Springs, Colorado	L 6–13	2–3–0
December 30	at Colorado College*	Broadmoor Ice Palace • Colorado Springs, Colorado	L 3–10	2–4–0
January 2	at Minnesota*	Minneapolis Arena • Minneapolis, Minnesota	L 6–8	2–5–0
January 3	at Minnesota*	Saint Paul Auditorium • Saint Paul, Minnesota	L 2–7	2–6–0
January 7	vs. Northeastern*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 11–4	3–6–0
January 14	Brown*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 17–3	4–6–0
February 3	vs. Northeastern*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	L 7–8	4–7–0
February 4	Fort Devens State*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 17–2	5–7–0
February 7	Army	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 7–1	6–7–0 (1–0–0)
February 11	vs. Boston University*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	L 6–10	6–8–0
February 14	at Princeton	Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey	L 4–8	6–9–0 (1–1–0)
February 18	Dartmouth	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	L 5–10	6–10–0 (1–2–0)
February 21	at Williams*	Cole Field House Rink • Williamstown, Massachusetts	W 5–1	7–10–0
February 25	vs. Boston College*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	L 1–6	7–11–0
February 28	at Dartmouth	Davis Rink • Hanover, New Hampshire	L 5–8	7–12–0 (1–3–0)
March 3	St. Nicholas Hockey Club*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts (Exhibition)	W 4–3
March 6	at Yale	New Haven Arena • New Haven, Connecticut	L 3–4	7–13–0 (1–4–0)
March 10	Princeton	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 6–2	8–13–0 (2–4–0)
March 13	Yale	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 1–0	9–13–0 (3–4–0)
March 17	at Yale*	New Haven Arena • New Haven, Connecticut	L 3–10 †	9–14–0
*Non-conference game.

† Match ended with 75 seconds remaining in the game due to a brawl.
^[11]

References

1. "Year-By-Year Results" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
2. "Powerful Quintet, Weakened Skaters Face Techmen, B.C." The Harvard Crimson. December 3, 1947. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
3. "Hockey, Basketball Have Blue Christmas As Crimson Vacation Campaigns Backfire". The Harvard Crimson. January 5, 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
4. "Crimson Romps over Husky Six, 11-3". The Harvard Crimson. January 8, 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
5. "Crimson Skaters Pillage Rough Fort Devens, 17-2". The Harvard Crimson. February 5, 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
6. "B.U. Tramples Crimson Sextet, 10-6". The Harvard Crimson. February 12, 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
7. "Harvard Outskates Yale Sextet, 1-0, Necessitating Playoff On Wednesday". Yale Daily News. March 15, 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
8. "Chase Stops Game in Hockey Brawl". The Harvard Crimson. March 18, 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
9. "Yale-Harvard Hockey Game Halted With Two Minutes Left To Play Elis Take 10-3 Triumph; Crimson Coach Refuses To Conclude Contest". Yale Daily News. March 18, 1948. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
10. "Letterwinners" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
11. "Harvard Men's Hockey year-By-year results" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Retrieved December 30, 2019.