| Columbia Lions men's ice hockey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | Columbia University |
| Conference | Empire |
| Head coach | Bruce Baker |
| Arena | World Ice New York City |
| Colors | Columbia blue and white [1] |
The Columbia Lions men's ice hockey is an ice hockey team club in New York City, associated with Columbia University since its establishment in 1896. It went dormant following its 1937 season, but was eventually revived as a club team. It remains active in the 2020s.
Columbia was one of the first colleges in the United States to play ice hockey. The team benefitted from being virtually next door to the St. Nicholas Rink, one of the earliest artificial ice rinks in the country. Columbia played continually from 1896 through 1915, routinely competing against the best programs in the nation. They brought in experienced players to help improve the team like Tom Howard and Percy LeSueur but a disagreement between college administrations dealt a mortal wound to the program.
Early in the 20th century, the NCAA's precursor was formed to set down rules that all schools would abide by. At the time Ice Hockey was not governed by a national body (the NCAA would ignore the sport until after World War II) which left the few schools that fielded teams able to decide the rules for themselves. The major competitors, the teams that would later form the Ivy league, decided that they would prohibit freshmen from participating and limit players to 3 years of varsity play. Of the schools that were members of the Intercollegiate Hockey Association, only Columbia did not agree to the rules. As a result, the Lions were expelled from the IHA. [2] The team's removal then caused the operators of the St. Nicholas Rink to close their door on the team, putting the program in dire straits in the middle of the 1912–13 season. While the IHA would collapse entirely after the season, Columbia had not been a big draw to the Rink over the previous few seasons and the St. Nicholas operators were hesitant to give the Lions any additional ice time. After playing an entire season on the road, Columbia managed to get a 'test' game at the Rink in order to prove that the ice hockey team was enough of an attraction. The Lions played what was described as an exciting game, but the audience was too small and the team was forced to find another home. [3]
Columbia struggled for several years, battling poor weather conditions and a lack of facilities. but were unable to play a single game between 1915 and 1921. The team finally returned when they were able to secure the 181st Street Ice Palace as a home. The rink was mostly used for speed skating and was smaller than most ice hockey rinks of the time. The team played well in spite of their circumstances but, just three years later, they were forced to halt playing once again. [4] The team remained dormant for most of the next decade but was revived in the mid-1930s. By that time the administration was no longer prepared to support the team and the Lions were compelled to perform as a club team and played under that distinction for three years. In 1937 the school decided to sponsor the program again and Columbia played a schedule composed mostly of amateur clubs but did perform well at times. [5] After the season the two players responsible for resurrecting the team, Chris McFadden and Jack McMahon, both graduated. Without their presence, or a head coach to keep the team alive, the program was allowed to wither away and vanish.
Several years later the team resurfaced as a club team once more but the university had not made any plans to promote the program to varsity status (as of 2022). In the 2021–2022 season, the Columbia Lions defeated Sacred Heart 9–3 to win the MCHC Championship. The club departed from the American Collegiate Hockey Association and was promoted to Division II status under the Amateur Athletic Union for the 2023–24 season, where it would compete in the Empire Collegiate Hockey Conference.
| NCAA D-I Champions | NCAA Frozen Four | Conference Regular Season Champions | Conference Playoff Champions |
| Season | Conference | Regular Season [lower-alpha 1] | Conference Tournament Results | National Tournament Results | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
| GP | W | L | T | Pts* | Finish | GP | W | L | T | % | ||||
| No coach | ||||||||||||||
| 1896–97 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | ||
| 1897–98 | IHA | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .125 | 3rd | 13 | 3 | 8 | 2 | .308 | ||
| 1898–99 | IHA | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 4th | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | ||
| 1899–1900 ¿ | IHA | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 2nd | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | ||
| 1900–01 | IHA | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 4th | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | ||
| 1901–02 | IHA | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 5th | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | .375 | ||
| 1902–03 | IHA | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 3rd | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | .389 | ||
| 1903–04 | IHA | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 3rd | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 | .458 | ||
| 1904–05 | IHA | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 3rd | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | ||
| Rudolph Von Bernuth (1905–1906) | ||||||||||||||
| 1905–06 | IHA | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 3rd | 12 | 4 | 7 | 1 | .375 | ||
| J. C. Coolican (1906–1907) | ||||||||||||||
| 1906–07 | IHA | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 5th | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .000 | ||
| Rudolph Von Bernuth (1907–1910) | ||||||||||||||
| 1907–08 | IHA | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | T–3rd | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | ||
| 1908–09 | IHA | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 5th | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | ||
| 1909–10 | IHA | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 6th | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | .214 | ||
| Percy LeSueur (1910–1911) | ||||||||||||||
| 1910–11 | IHA | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | T–3rd | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | ||
| Tom Howard (1911–1913) | ||||||||||||||
| 1911–12 | IHA | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 2nd | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | ||
| 1912–13 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | ||
| Rudolph Von Bernuth / Rufus Trimble (1913–1915) | ||||||||||||||
| 1913–14 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | ||
| 1914–15 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | ||
| Program suspended due to lack of ice | ||||||||||||||
| Harrison(1920–1921) | ||||||||||||||
| 1920–21 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | ||
| Tom Howard (1921–1923) | ||||||||||||||
| 1921–22 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | .500 | ||
| 1922–23 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | ||
| Program suspended due to lack of ice | ||||||||||||||
| No coach | ||||||||||||||
| 1937–38 | Independent | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 2 | 8 | 1 | .227 | ||
| Program suspended | ||||||||||||||
| Totals | GP | W | L | T | % | Championships | ||||||||
| Regular Season | 155 | 54 | 91 | 10 | .381 | |||||||||
| Conference Post-season | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |||||||||
| NCAA Post-season | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |||||||||
| Regular Season and Post-season Record | 155 | 54 | 91 | 10 | .381 | |||||||||
* Winning percentage is used when conference schedules are unbalanced.
¿ Information on the 1899–1900 season is incomplete.
The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is Peter Pilling.
College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America.
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The Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association hockey team that represents Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania under Head Coach Rick Gotkin. The team is currently a Division I hockey team playing out of the Mercyhurst Ice Center located on the school campus. The Mercyhurst Lakers started out as a club sport at the school, moving up to Division III, followed by Division II, and now plays Division I in the Atlantic Hockey Association conference. After joining their step up into Division I in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1998, the Lakers have won their conference tournament making NCAA tournament appearances in 2001, 2003, and 2005.
The Penn Quakers Men's Ice Hockey team represents the University of Pennsylvania in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II. Penn is a member of the Colonial States College Hockey Conference. The Quakers play at the Class of 1923 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The 1900–01 Columbia men's ice hockey season was the 5th season of play for the program.
The Intercollegiate Hockey Association was a loose collection of ice hockey programs from schools in the Northeastern United States. Each college involved would play every other team at least once during the season, and the team with the best record would be declared the champion. As this was the only championship for college hockey at the time, the victor served as the de facto National Champion. The IHA was called both the Intercollegiate Hockey Association and the Intercollegiate Hockey League during its existence. It is referred to here as the IHA to distinguish from the later Intercollegiate Hockey League. Although all of the IHA member colleges later became members of the Ivy League, there was never a time when they were all in the IHA at once.
The 1908–09 Columbia men's ice hockey season was the 13th season of play for the program.
The 1910–11 Columbia Lions men's ice hockey season was the 15th season of play for the program.
The 1911–12 Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey season was the 13th season of play for the program.
The 1915–16 Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey season was the 17th season of play for the program.
The 1912–13 Columbia Lions men's ice hockey season was the 17th season of play for the program.
The 1913–14 Columbia Lions men's ice hockey season was the 18th season of play for the program.
The 1914–15 Columbia Lions men's ice hockey season was the 19th season of play for the program.
The 1920–21 Columbia Lions men's ice hockey season was the 20th season of play for the program.
The 1922–23 Columbia men's ice hockey season was the 22nd season of play for the program.
The 1911–12 Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey season was the 15th season of play for the program.
The 1920–21 Penn Quakers men's ice hockey season was the 9th season of play for the program.
The 1920–21 Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey season was the 16th season of play for the program. The teams was coached by Nick Bawlf in his 1st season.
The 1937–38 Columbia men's ice hockey season was the 23rd season of play for the program.