The 1921–22 Amherst Lord Jeffs men's ice hockey season was the 9th season of play for the program. The Lord Jeffs were coached by Leon Plumer in his first season.
Season
Cornell vs. Amherst, Jan 14
With a new moniker for the college's team (unofficial as it may be), Amherst wasted no time in preparing for the season. Seeking to banish the memory of a winless season, the team used an uncommon tactic of employing an undergrad as the team's coach. To make things interesting, Leon Plumer was not a member of the team, though he had been two years earlier. Plumer ran the Jeffs through drills whenever possible on the temporary rink but there was little chance to prepare for the inaugural match right after they returned from the winter break. Among other things, Amherst officially adopted the new 6-on-6 format and abandoned the rover position.
In the first match, Dartmouth was once again one of the best teams in the country and the purple did well just by keeping the score close. A week later the team took a jaunt through upstate New York and came away with two more defeats. The match with Hamilton showed some improvement with the team, however, the second game was a bit of a clunker and the Jeff lost 0–4.
At the time the weather was being kind and allowed the ice on Pratt Field to solidify into a fast sheet. The team got as much practice in as they could ahead of the next game and everything seemed to come together when they hosted YMCA College. Worcester was moved to center for the game which helped spur the best game for Amherst since the war. The Purple trounced the Maroons 5–0 and ended their 10-game losing streak in the process. A week later the team was widely outplayed by Massachusetts Agricultural, however, Plimpton was the star of the game and stopped 50 shots in 42 minutes of action. Unfortunately, their goaltender's heroics went for naught as the Jeffmen were beaten, 0–1.[1]
Amherst's home stand concluded with a pair of wins over Bates and YMCA and set up a two-game series with Williams. The Ephs welcomed Amherst with one of the longest games in program history, playing three 20-minute periods rather than the then-customary 15-minute frames. The extra time didn't help the Lord Jeffs as Amherst was unable to score in the game, though Plimpton did post another remarkable effort in the loss.[2] The rematch saw the Purple offense show its teeth and two goals from captain Worcester led Amherst to the win.[3]
The final game of the season was a rematch with the Mass. Aggies and was a near carbon-copy of the first. Plimpton was once more singled out for his stellar play, credited with remarkable stickwork, though not called upon nearly as much as he had been. Unfortunately, the offense was just as inept in the final game and Amherst could not get a single puck into the MAC cage. The final score was eerily similar as well with the Purples losing 0–1 to end the season.[4] While the end wasn't what they had hoped for, the Jeffmen had done a far sight better than they had in '21 and posted their best season in over a decade.
Russell F. Neale served as team manager with William F. Whitla as his assistant.[5]
