1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey season

1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey season
Conference	Independent
Home ice	University of Illinois Ice Arena
Record
Overall	0–4–0
Home	0–3–0
Road	0–1–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	Ray Eliot
Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey seasons  1938–39 »

The 1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey season was the inaugural season of play for the program.

Season

At the end of the Great Depression, Illinois decided to join fellow Big Ten members Michigan and Minnesota with their own varsity ice hockey team. The university spent more than $30,000 refurbishing the on-campus rink and managed to schedule a few games near the end of the season.^[1] The football team's new line coach, Ray Eliot, became the program's first head coach but didn't have much time to get the hastily assembled team to work together.

Paul Salter scored the program's first goal.^[2]

Roster

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team
		Richard K. Babbitt	Sophomore	F				Riverside, Illinois
		James D. Beaumont	Junior	G				Des Plaines, Illinois
		Frank E. Bell	Senior	F				Purdys, New York
		John R. Berner	Senior	F/D				Morris, Illinois
		Edward H. Carlson	Junior	D				East Moline, Illinois
		Richard M. Fee	Junior	D				Chicago, Illinois
		George E. Fieldhouse	Sophomore					Pleasantville, New Jersey
		Ned J. Gardner	Junior					Rockford, Illinois
		William A. Hochschild Jr.	Junior					Evanston, Illinois
		Charles W. Mettler	Freshman					La Grange, Illinois
		Floyd A. Neckrosh	Senior	F				Chicago, Illinois
		C. Paul Slater	Sophomore					Urbana, Illinois
		Maurice P. Thompson	Sophomore	F				Pleasantville, New Jersey
		John M. White	Sophomore	F				Seymour, Illinois

Standings

1937–38 Western Collegiate ice hockey standings v t e
	Intercollegiate								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	Pct.	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Alaska-Fairbanks	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		3	2	1	0	–	–
Colorado College	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		12	3	9	0	–	–
Illinois	2	0	2	0	.000	3	15		4	0	4	0	5	20
Michigan	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		19	13	6	0	70	41
Michigan Tech	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		16	4	11	1	–	–
Minnesota	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		17	7	9	1	–	–

Schedule and results

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Record
Regular Season
February 21	Notre Dame ^‡*	University of Illinois Ice Arena • Champaign, Illinois	L 1–2	0–1–0
February 26	Chicago ^‡*	University of Illinois Ice Arena • Champaign, Illinois	L 1–3	0–2–0
March 3	at Minnesota*	Minneapolis Arena • Minneapolis, Minnesota	L 2–7	0–3–0
March 10	Michigan*	University of Illinois Ice Arena • Champaign, Illinois	L 1–8	0–4–0
*Non-conference game.

‡ Notre Dame's and Chicago's programs were club teams at the time.

References

1. "1938 Illio". University of Illinois. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
2. "Notre Dame Stops First Illini Hockey Team, 2-1". The Daily Illini. February 22, 1938. Retrieved May 5, 2021.