The Mount Allison Mounties men's ice hockey team was an ice hockey team representing the Mount Allison Mounties athletics program of Mount Allison University. The team was active from 1896 through 1998 before being dropped as a varsity sport.
History
In January 1896, Copp's Rink opened in Sackville, allowing ice hockey to come to Mount Allison for the first time. Prior to that, no athletic programs were active at the school during the winter months and, coincidentally, ice hockey swiftly became a favorite of the student body, The first intercollegiate game was played against Dalhousie in February of the following year and every winter the students looked forward to the start of the season. The faculty, on the other hand, were not fans. After the team had joined its first conference in 1905, the administrators felt that too much time was being devoted to the sport and decided to ban ice hockey in favor of basketball. A little over a month later, the university presidents of Acadia (who had also banned hockey) and Mount Allison learned that students from their respective campuses had taken it upon themselves to organize teams and play local teams despite the ban. With the schools powerless to stop the students, the ban was lifted and hockey resumed the following year.[1]
Upon their return, the Mounties welcomed the program's first head coach, Jack Twaddle. The team went on to win a pair of championships in 1914 with one being attended by over 1,000 spectators. World War I put the team on ice for a few years but the interest in the game seemed to have remained once Mount Allison returned in 1920. The team competed in both senior and intercollegiate leagues throughout the 20s and 30s and were one of the top teams in the maritimes, winning 6 championships in a 9-year stretch.
World War II forced the team to stop playing for a time but they returned as soon as the fighting was over. After the war, Mount Allison sought to keep its spot as the best team of the region but they eventually found themselves slipping down the standings. After switching to a college-only schedule in 1955, was still able to compete against the top teams but by the 1960s they found themselves at the bottom of the standings. The program experienced a revival in the early 80s, winning two division titles, but that success was short-lived. The Mounties last appearance in the postseason was 1983 and, even after expanding to eight teams, Mount Allison failed to reach the paloyffs by finishing last every year after 1989. After nearly a decade of abject futility, the school had had enough. In 1998, citing a need to reallocate funds to other programs as well as gender equality necessities, Athletic Director Jack Drover terminated the ice hockey program.[2]
Season-by-season results
Senior and collegiate play
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points
