# 1927–28 Massachusetts Agricultural Aggies men's ice hockey season

The 1927–28 Massachusetts Agricultural Aggies men's ice hockey season was the 20th season of play for the program. The Aggies were coached by Lorin Ball in his 4th season.

## Season

As the season began, MAC was again having to deal with warm weather. As the team waited for ice to form, the candidates practiced in Drill Hall and tried to get ready for the first game. team captain Joe Forest was back along with Abrahamson and Frese, all of whom had two years of varsity play under their belts. Cook and Nash had both seen action the previous year and were expected to jump up into starting roles. The big question was who would take over in goal. Rudquist, last year's backup was available but so was Patch, a transfer from Dartmouth. The rink conditions didn't allow the team to get any on-ice training until early January but the team coalesced around their veterans.
The Alumni Field Rink was in good enough shape for the first match and saw MAC outplay Bates for much of the game. Unfortunately, the team was stymied time and again by the Garnet goaltender and were unable to find the twine. The story was much the same the following week when MAC travelled to meet Army. Poor ice prevented any real teamwork and the Aggie players were outclassed by the Cadets. After allowing a pair of quick goals in the third, Phinney was subbed in for Devine but that didn't spark any offensive pushback. Rounding out the road trip, the team made a stop in Clinton to take on Hamilton. On the first good ice of the season, the team looked more composed and played a solid defensive game. Phinney looked good in his first start while Forest got the Aggies on the board for the first time all season. However, their efforts were not enough to save MAC and the team lost once more.
The following week saw the team play two games on back-to-back nights. To add to the difficulty score, the first matches were road games and forced the team to take an overnight train for the second before playing on short rest. The first of the two contests was against New Hampshire. The Wildcats were a much bigger team than MAC, averaging about 30 pounds heavier, and used their size to their advantage. UNH pushed the Aggies around on rough ice and built a comfortable lead by the start of the third. After the home team inserted subs into the lineup, captain Forest swiftly caged a pair of goals in about 1 minute to get the team within striking distance. The quick outburst forced the Wildcat starters back into the game and they nursed what remained of their lead to the end of the game. The second contest was played on a much better surface and MAC battled Bates hard in a rematch. The two were mostly even through the first two periods, however, the Aggies began to tire in the third and were eventually outpaced by the Bobcats.
After a few days rest, the team played host to Amherst on a very cold day. With the ice in about as good of shape as it had been all season, the game was fast. Unfortunately, from the start it was apparent that the Lord Jeffs were the better of the two and the Sabrinas gave few opportunities to the Aggies. Amherst scored in each period and had total control of the game thanks to their oppressive defense. Patch got MAC on the board with just 20 seconds left in the game to prevent a shutout but that didn't stop the team from dropping its sixth consecutive game. There were still a few games left on the schedule, however, the weather turned afterwards and made it impossible to play any of those matches. In terms of winning percentage, this was the worst season in the history of the program despite the fact that the team had not played particularly poorly during the year.
James Cunningham served as team manager.

## Standings

1927–28 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 |
| Amherst | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | .643 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7 |
| Army | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .125 | 6 | 36 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 44 |
| Bates | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 21 | 26 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 26 | 28 |
| Boston College | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .417 | 18 | 23 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 25 |
| Boston University | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | .722 | 42 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 42 | 23 |
| Bowdoin | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | 16 | 27 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 28 |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | – | – |
| Clarkson | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | 59 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 61 | 14 |
| Colby | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 10 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 19 |
| Colgate | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 4 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 18 |
| Cornell | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 11 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 29 |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 64 | 23 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | – | – |
| Harvard | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 28 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 13 |
| Holy Cross | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Massachusetts Agricultural | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 5 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 17 |
| Middlebury | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | .857 | 27 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 11 |
| MIT | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | .300 | 7 | 36 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 36 |
| New Hampshire | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | .813 | 27 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 25 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | – |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Rensselaer | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| St. Lawrence | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – |
| Syracuse | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Union | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | .100 | 10 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 21 |
| Williams | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | .750 | 27 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 12 |
| Yale | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | .846 | 88 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 114 | 39 |
| YMCA College | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .333 | 10 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 15 |

## Schedule and results

| Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Record |
| Regular Season |||||
| January 12 | Bates* | Alumni Field Rink • Amherst, Massachusetts | L 0–2 | 0–1–0 |
| January 18 | at Army* | Bear Mountain Rink • Bear Mountain, New York | L 0–3 | 0–2–0 |
| January 21 | at Hamilton* | Russell Sage Rink • Clinton, New York | L 1–2 | 0–3–0 |
| January 27 | at New Hampshire* | UNH Ice Rink • Durham, New Hampshire | L 2–4 | 0–4–0 |
| January 28 | at Bates* | Bartlett Street Rink • Lewiston, Maine | L 1–2 | 0–5–0 |
| January 29 | Amherst* | Alumni Field Rink • Amherst, Massachusetts | L 1–4 | 0–6–0 |
| *Non-conference game. |||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals |
| Joe Forest | RW | - | 3 |
| Robby Nash | D | - | 1 |
| Chub Patch | LW | - | 1 |
| Howard Abrahamson | D | - | 0 |
| Richard Bond | D | - | 0 |
| Al Cook | RW | - | 0 |
| John Devine | G | - | 0 |
| Paul Frese | C | - | 0 |
| Paul Phinney | G | - | 0 |
| William Pillsbury | LW | - | 0 |
| Peter Waechter | LW | - | 0 |
| Al Zuger | RW | - | 0 |
| Total | | | 5 |