# 1940–41 Lafayette Leopards men's ice hockey season

The 1940–41 Lafayette Leopards men's ice hockey season was the 4th season of play for the program. The Leopards represented Lafayette College and were coached by Henry W. Clark in his 4th seasons.

## Season

Continuing with the increasing profile of the program, Lafayette was set to join a new 6-team conference for 1941. The initial group included former conference opponents Lehigh and Penn, as well as St. Joseph's, La Salle and Drexel. On top of those league games, the Leopards were also expecting to play Penn State and Georgetown and Princeton J.V., which would nearly double the number of games they had played the year before. Owing to the eastern shift of the new conference, all league games would be played at the Philadelphia Arena on Mondays.
For the first time in its short history, Lafayette won its season opener. Largely on the strength of Tony Cavallo and Donald Bush, the team was able to hold Drexel off the scoresheet in mostly defensive battle. They were originally schedulted to play Temple the following week but that game was cancelled and the Leopards didn't play again until February. Once they returned to the ice, they lost a hard-fought game to Lehigh due to the spectacular exploits of the Engineer goalie. The team's offense finally began to click in their third game and Lafayette thumped La Salle to the tune of 9–0. A further trouncing of St. Joe's put the Leopards into a three-way tie for first place in the league standings.
Lafayette had its big chance to win the title when they took on Penn in mid March. However, in what was expected to be a close affair, the Quakers dominated and shattered the Leopards championship dreams with a 6-1 drubbing. Unfortunately for Lafayette, that was the final game of the season. None of the non-conference games ever materialized and the solid Leopard team wasn't able to build upon its success.

## Standings

1940–41 Eastern Collegiate ice hockey standingsvte :
| | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | Pct. | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Army | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 38 | 39 |
| Boston College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 130 | 48 |
| Boston University | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | .536 | 67 | 75 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 67 | 75 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| Clarkson | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 121 | 45 |
| Colgate | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| Cornell | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 16 | 29 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 29 |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 55 | 43 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 2 | 9 | 1 | – | – |
| Lafayette | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 9 |
| Lehigh | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Middlebury | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 3 | 8 | 3 | – | – |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 2 | 11 | 0 | – | – |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 48 | 63 |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | – |
| Penn State | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 36 | 26 |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 9 | 5 | 1 | – | – |
| St. Lawrence | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| Union | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | – | – |
| Williams | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | – | – |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 11 | 4 | 2 | – | – |

## Schedule and results

| Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Record |
| Regular Season |||||
| January 13 | vs. Drexel | Philadelphia Arena • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | W 1–0 | 1–0–0 (1–0–0) |
| February 3 | vs. Lehigh | Philadelphia Arena • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | L 1–3 | 1–1–0 (1–1–0) |
| February 10 | at La Salle | Philadelphia Arena • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | W 9–0 | 2–1–0 (2–1–0) |
| February 24 | vs. St. Joseph's | Philadelphia Arena • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | W 7–0 | 3–1–0 (3–1–0) |
| March 10 | at Pennsylvania | Philadelphia Arena • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | L 1–6 | 3–2–0 (3–2–0) |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. |||||