X Tops Ivy League 1909-1910 Men’s Hockey Team Neil Pashkoski and Ryan Evoy

1. X Tops Ivy League 1909-1910 Men’s Hockey Team Neil Pashkoski and Ryan Evoy Human Kinetics Department HKIN 352 November, 2009 “The Game” “ Pre-game” “Intercollegiate Play” The season of 1909-1910 is a significant one in hockey history for St. Francis Xavier because this season would mark the first time the Xavierians hockey team would defeat a team from the United States. The team that the Xavierians would defeat was none other than the prestigious Ivy league school of Harvard. The St. F.X team would travel by train from Antigonish to Boston, which would take them about 30 hours to complete. In the 1910s train was the only means of transportation for travel of great distances. This was a important event for the students of St. F.X and the townspeople of Antigonish, and many of them came out to cheer the team when they departed for Boston on February 3rd 1910. Upon the teams arrival they were greeted by many friends and St. F.X Alumni at the train station this shows the strong ties former students have with their alma mater. The Harvard hockey team manager would then escort the team to Crawford House, a residence, where the team would stay while visiting. The management of Crawford House were reported to be excellent hosts and they did everything they could to make St. F.X comfortable during their stay. The team would go to bed early that night, mainly because of the long train ride and the fact that they had a game the next afternoon. In 1909 the game of hockey was very different from the game we play today. Instead of three 20 minute periods teams would play 30 minute halves. This time would also be continual with no stoppages in time occurring on any whistles. Instead of the six man system in hockey we use today involving a goalie, two defenseman, two wingers and a centerman. In 1909-1910 season, and until roughly around 1916, used a seventh man called a rover. This persons job was to skate all over the ice offensively and defensively. In 1909-1910 there were no substitute players, it was the same 7 on 7 for the entire game, the only substitute could be made for an injury. This is much different from today's hockey teams, many of which have three to four lines of players. One rule that was in the game of hockey in 1909-1910 season was that players were prohibited from passing the puck forward, players could only pass the puck behind them. This forced players to hang on to the puck a lot longer and placed an emphasis on stick handling. The 1910s were a different time than today. Antigonish was not much of a town like today it was mainly farmlands and the campus of St. F.X was much smaller. As seen in figure 4 prices for hockey equipment were much different. Shin pads today cost as much as $70, where in 1910 they cost $1. The game between Harvard and St. F.X was scheduled to start at 3 PM on February the 3rd 1910, at the Harvard rink, but do to a traffic block the Xavierians and their fifty supporters were delayed 30 minutes. Over a thousand fans showed up to watch. At 3:45 PM the game began. Harvard had won the toss and chose to attack the south goal first. Since the games were played on outdoor rinks it gave Harvard a thirty mile per hour wind to their advantage. The referee “Hump” Campbell then warned the players that no rough play would be tolerated. The puck was then dropped with Harvard winning the opening draw. Harvard attacked the St. F.X zone quite fiercely and gained a few opportunities but the St. F.X defence and goaltender held strong. The play stayed in the St. F.X zone for two minutes until finally the Xavierians forwards went to work. The Xavierians took the puck to Harvard territory where for the rest of the half, with the exception of a few Harvard rushes, the play would remain. The Xavierians fired shot after shot at the Harvard goaltender Chadwick, but could not find the back of the net. Joe Sears would score near the end of the first half for St. F.X but it was waved off due to a whistle being blown for the offside. The Xavierians carried the majority of the play during the first half but the score remained 0-0. The second half the teams switched ends and immediately the Xavierians put Harvard on the defensive, St. F.X continued to bombard the Harvard net with shots and finally at the 5 minute mark Captain Frank McDonald fired a shot past Chadwick for the 1-0 lead. There was a lot of cheers for the goal which would tell us their was a lot of X supporters in the crowd. At the face-off, Harvard would win possession and muster up a strong attack of their own but the Xavierians defence proved to be too strong and St. F.X would carry the play back into the Harvard zone. Ray Mahoney would get the next score for the Xavierians at around the 10 minute mark. Two minutes later Mahoney would tally again for the Xavierians bringing the score to 3-0 in favour of St. F.X. Harvard, who did not want to be shutout in front of their hometown supporters began a fierce attack at the St. F.X net. St. F.X goaltender Toby McDonald made many save to stave off the Crimson attack but Harvard would eventually put one past Toby to make the score 3-1. After the goal St. F.X regained their dominant form and two minutes later they would regain their 3 goal lead on a score from J.A Fraser. St. F.X would continue to keep the play in the Harvard end and at the sound of the bell the final score was St.F.X 4 Harvard 1. In the 1909-1910 season the St.F.X Hockey team did not compete in a league. They would go 4-0-1 in the five games they played in this season making them undefeated. They would post wins against North Sydney, Sydney, Harvard and Dalhousie. Their only tie would come at the hands of Truro. The Xavierians would tally 33 goals in these five games and gave up only 13. This would average out to about 6.5 goals for a game and 2.6 against. This season Ray Mahoney would be the teams leading scorer with 10 goals. This is a list of St. F.X’s results and stats: St. F.X 7- N. Sydney 3 St. F.X 4- Truro 4 St. F.X 4- Harvard 1 St. F.X 13- Sydney 2 St. F.X 5- Dalhousie 3 Ray Mahoney 10 goals J.A Fraser 8 goals Frank MacDonald 6 goals Joe Sears 6 goals Dan McIssac 2 goals R.C Chisholm 1 goal Figure 1: 1910 St. F.X Hockey team : “The Line-Up” The line-up for the St. F.X hockey team consisted of seven player and a coach. Coach of the 1909-1910 team was Dr. Hugh Macpherson. In goal was Toby MacDonald, on defence was Dan McIssac and R.C Chisholm, at rover was the team Captain F.J Macdonald, at center was J.A Fraser, at right wing was Joe Sears and on left wing was Ray Mahoney. Many Maritimers who followed the St. F.X hockey team during the 1909-1910 games can recall the Xavieran’s goaltender being one of the main reasons they had such great success. St. F.X goaltender Toby MacDonald was said to have stood in a class of his own as a goal tender in the Maritime region. It is Toby that a large part of the Xavieran’s success is due, many of his qualities that made him such a good goaltender were: his cool headedness, for example when being peppered shot after shot he would be able to step up and stop the game savers to back up his team. Toby’s agility, coolness, and phenomenal always tended to protrude at the right moment in the game when relied upon to make a game saver. Toby gave maritime fans an exhibition of great goaltending talent that had never been seen before in Maritime Canada. For many Toby MacDonald would be one the best Maritime goaltenders to ever step foot in front of the pipes. As one student described him: “Toby has the goods”, Toby certainly came to the forefront during this academic year and backstopped the Xavierian’s to an outstanding 4-0-1 record. Another Key figure on the Xavieran hockey team who was a multi-sport athlete; playing both hockey and football was Francis Raphael Mahoney. Mahoney was well-respected by his fellow athletes and fellow students a well rounded gentleman to others. Mahoney only played two seasons with the blue and white; during Mahoney’s second season as a right winger he racked up a third of the teams goals in the 1909-1910 hockey season. Mahoney was a very quick and smooth skater who could accurately pick any corner of the net when wanting to; this made Mahoney one the best right wingers in the Maritime Provinces. During Mahoney’s time on the Xavieran football team he played the half-back position very effectively as he was a very explosive runner at the time. It would be later that school year that the death of Ray Mahoney would sadden the St. Francis Xavier campus, Mahoney who was on the way to work at the Pickering Wheel Plant in New Glasgow would be sidelined by a freight train that was rerouted that day on a different track. Although the exact findings will never be known this would be a day that would sadden the St.F.X community for some time. “Post-game” Following the 4-1 upset win over the Harvard hockey team, St. F.X was given a warm welcome by their counterparts. The Harvard team had cordially invited the members and coaches of the St. F.X team to join them in celebrations at the Intercolonist Club, where the St. F.X team was overwhelmed with the hospitality and kindness of Harvard Players and friends. This was where many coaches and players of opposite teams mingled and got to know one another, as many topics were centered around how fast and skillful many of the Xavierians were on their skates and their extraordinary puck handling with their sticks. After a large turn out of St. F.X fans and alumni on hand for the hockey game that afternoon. almost just as large of a turnout was seen at the club that night by many St.F.X alumnus. The New England area where Harvard University is located, would be the area of relocation for many St.F.X graduates while there was a steady range of job opportunities for many young adults at the time, also to note many students that attended St.F.X University were originally from the New England Area in Massachusetts. For the last several years the St. F.X men’s hockey team makes a trip to the New England states to play other teams from the area. This shows there are still ties to the New England area 100 years after the St. F.X claimed their first victory against Harvard. . Figure 3: Hockey Gear add References 75 Years of Hockey, John MacFarland, 1971 ST.F.X University Press. 10-14,63,139-155 The Caskett. (1910, February 10) Antigonish, NS, No. 6, 4 Xaverian Weekly, March 1906, 274 Xavierian, Vol 14, 1910-1911, 204-207 Xavieran, Vol 15, 1910-1911, 58-65 Xaverian, Vol 17, 1912-1913, 9-10 Pictures Courtesy of St. F.X Archives Figure 1: Ray Mahoney Figure 4: “Cigar Box”, St F.X’s Rink