Jump to content

1939–40 Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1939–40 Cornell Big Red
men's ice hockey season
Home iceBeebe Lake
Record
Overall5–6–0
Home1–0–0
Road2–3–0
Neutral2–3–0
Coaches and captains
Head coachNick Bawlf
Captain(s)Ray McElwee
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey seasons
« 1938–39 1940–41 »

The 1939–40 Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey season was the 33rd season of play for the program. The teams were coached by Nick Bawlf in his 18th season.

Season

[edit]

The Big Red received good news at the start of the season. Not only would the team begin the year with several games at two tournaments but, unlike the previous season, the team received financial support from the organizing committee to balance out the cost of participating.[1] The only bad news at the time was the (typical) warm winter that prevented the team from getting any on-ice practice. The lack of ice time led directly to two rather embarrassing losses at Playland. While the first to Colgate wasn't pretty, the game against Boston College was a debacle; BC blew out Cornell 24–1. It was by far the worst loss in the history of the program and did not portend well for the rest of their season.

The team headed to Lake Placid less than a week later and showed a dramatic improvement in such a short time. Their quarterfinal match against Hamilton provided the team with its first win on the season. While they lost the semifinal to MIT, Cornell recovered in the consolation game for a 3rd-place finish.[2] The result of the tournament showed, if nothing else, that Cornell wasn't nearly as bad as the BC game may have indicated, they just hadn't gotten their skating legs. As if to further illustrate that point, Cornell had a rematch with Colgate a week after the Lake Placid Invitational. While they still lost to the Red Raiders, the score was a much more respectable 1–3.[3] Cornell continued to improve as the season went on, ending the week with their third win against St. Lawrence. Warm weather forced the game to be shortened to 50 minutes but the Big Red were able to produce five goals in that span.[4]

The next game for Cornell was originally scheduled for the 27th of January, however, the game had to be postponed because it would have taken place during the exam period for Syracuse University.[5] The Orange game was eventually played, occurring after both schools had finished with their semester exams, and ended up giving Cornell their 4th win of the season. With several games remaining on their schedule, the Big Red were one away from posting the second most wins in program history and the most since winning the intercollegiate championship in 1911. The team wanted to get ready for their next match against Army, however, weather again became a problem and melted the ice on Beebe Lake to the point where the team couldn't get in any training time.[6] They fought hard against the Cadets, forcing the game into overtime, but ultimately fell 3–4.[7]

Cornell's next match was supposed to be a third meeting with Colgate. Unfortunately, the ice on Beebe Lake was still too soft and the game was called off.[8] The lack of practice time caught up to Cornell in their penultimate match when Hamilton knocked the team down and prevented Cornell from a chance at a winning season.[9] Cornell was able to end its season on a high note, shutting out Syracuse in the rematch at the end of February. Despite finishing with a losing record, the Big Red would not win as many games in a season for over 20 years.

Roster

[edit]
No. S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team
New York (state) Glen Allen F Canandaigua, New York
New York (state) Jack Babson Junior F Yonkers, New York
Eckert
Indiana Richard Franklin D LaPorte, Indiana
Carl Geiger F
Bill Houck F
New York (state) Clark Kimball Watertown, New York
New York (state) Richard Lahey Brooklyn, New York
New York (state) Ray McElwee (C) Senior D Ithaca, New York
New York (state) Kenneth Reed Junior F 1920-05-21 Ithaca, New York
New York (state) Ward Wannop Sophomore G Fleischmanns, New York
New York (state) Wilbur Wannop Sophomore Fleischmanns, New York
New York (state) Robert Wiggans D 1918-04-17 Ithaca, New York

[10]

Standings

[edit]
Intercollegiate Overall
GP W L T Pct. GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Army 10 6 2 2 35 37
Boston College 18 12 5 1 121 70
Boston University 11 4 4 3 .500 45 44 12 4 5 3 50 50
Bowdoin 6 1 5 0
Clarkson 19 10 8 1 112 80
Colgate 13 9 4 0
Cornell 11 5 6 0 .455 35 61 11 5 6 0 35 61
Dartmouth 18 9 7 2 80 80
Hamilton 13 9 4 0
Harvard 14 3 10 1
Lafayette 1 1 0 0 1.000 3 1 4 1 3 0 12 21
Lehigh 2 0 2 0 .000 2 8 5 1 4 0 11 21
Middlebury 13 2 10 1
MIT 15 6 9 0
New Hampshire 10 1 9 0 22 51
Northeastern 11 7 4 0
Norwich 8 4 3 1
Princeton 19 9 7 3
St. Lawrence 9 1 8 0
Syracuse
Union 8 5 3 0
Williams 11 6 5 0
Yale 20 10 6 4

Schedule and results

[edit]
Date Opponent Site Result Record
Regular Season
December 26 vs. Colgate* Playland Ice RinkRye, New York L 2–9  0–1–0
December 27 vs. Boston College* Playland Ice RinkRye, New York L 1–24  0–2–0
Lake Placid Invitational Tournament
January 1 vs. Hamilton* Jack Shea ArenaLake Placid, New York (Quarterfinal) W 5–4  1–2–0
January 2 vs. MIT* Jack Shea ArenaLake Placid, New York (Semifinal) L 3–5  1–3–0
January 3 vs. Middlebury* Jack Shea ArenaLake Placid, New York (Consolation Game) W 4–2  2–3–0
Regular Season
January 10 at Colgate* Hamilton, New York L 1–3  2–4–0
January 13 at St. Lawrence* St. Lawrence Rink • Canton, New York W 5–3  3–4–0
February 9 vs. Syracuse* Beebe LakeIthaca, New York W 4–1  4–4–0
February 17 at Army* Smith RinkWest Point, New York L 3–4 OT 4–5–0
February 24 at Hamilton* Russell Sage Rink • Clinton, New York L 3–6  4–6–0
February 29 at Syracuse* Archbold Rink • Syracuse, New York W 4–0  5–6–0
*Non-conference game.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Red Pucksters to Open Season on Playland Ice". Cornell Daily Sun. December 19, 1939. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  2. ^ "Hockey Team Beats Middlebury by 4-2". Cornell Daily Sun. January 4, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  3. ^ "Colgate Sextet Trips Cornell, 3-1". Cornell Daily Sun. January 11, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  4. ^ "Red Puck Chasers Score 5-3 Victory". Cornell Daily Sun. January 15, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  5. ^ "Hockey Game with orange Postponed". Cornell Daily Sun. January 20, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  6. ^ "Soft Ice Halts Hockey Practice". Cornell Daily Sun. February 13, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  7. ^ "Pucksters Drop Overtime Game". Cornell Daily Sun. February 19, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  8. ^ "Red Optimistic on Hockey Game against Colgate". Cornell Daily Sun. February 19, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  9. ^ "Hamilton Sextet Catches Redmen in Off-Game, 6-3". Cornell Daily Sun. February 19, 1940. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  10. ^ "1939-1940 Roster". Elite Prospects. Retrieved December 30, 2019.