# 1927–28 Colgate men's ice hockey season

The 1927–28 Colgate men's ice hockey season was the 5th season of play for the program. The team was coached by James Ballantine in his 3rd season.

## Season

After a hiatus of 5 years, the Colgate athletic council voted to bring the ice hockey program back as a minor sport. Lt Col James Ballantine, who had been the head coach in the early 20s, agreed to held the club once more while J. Howard Starr, a former player at YMCA College, would serve as his assistant. About $400 was made available to the team with three quarters of that going to game-related expenses and the remaining fourth reserved for equipment costs.
The team began practicing in the Huntington Gymnasium while a temporary rink was built atop the freshman football field. The Maroons did what they could to get ready for their first game, however, the weather was not accommodating and forced the team to cancel or postpone several games in January. The lack of ice also forced the team to take their practices on Taylor Lake as some of the wrinkles with the new rink were being ironed out.
Because most of the early games were supposed to take place at home, the hockey team could only sit and wait for the weather to turn. However, in the end, the Maroons wouldn't play their first match until the beginning of February when they travelled to the north country. The opening match with St. Lawrence started badly for Colgate as the team surrendered two goals within the first few minutes. The Maroons settled down after that and slowly crawled back into the game. After tying the score in the second, Colgate found itself down by a goal heading into the third period. Just when it looked like overtime was a sure thing, the Larries scored to take their final lead of the game. The next evening the team was a short distance away facing down a very powerful Clarkson squad. The Maroons fought valiantly but they were clearly overmatched by the Golden Knights. Despite the disparity in play, Colgate only allowed 4 goals in the match which was a decent result for the inexperienced team.
Due several more cancellations, Colgate did not play another game until the end of the month. Miraculously, the team's rink was usable for the rematch with Clarkson. Unfortunately, the time off had not been kind to the Maroons. Colgate's defense was no match for the stunning Clarkson offense. Chambers was under attack from the Knights all game and made several impressive saves but wasn't able to stop the puck from entering the cage nine times. A few days later a postponed match with Cornell was finally played and the Maroons gave everything they had to the Big Red. The defense was far better than it had been against Clarkson and held Cornell to just a single score in the middle frame. The offense generated several chances, however, nothing was able to find the back of the net and Colgate ended the season without a victory.
Charles Fistere served as team manager with Paul Wish as his assistant.
Note: Colgate's athletic teams did not have a moniker until 'Red Raiders' was adopted in 1932.

## 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 |||||
| February 3 | at St. Lawrence* | Weeks Field Rink • Canton, New York | L 3–4 | 0–1–0 |
| February 4 | at Clarkson* | Ives Park • Potsdam, New York | L 0–4 | 0–2–0 |
| February 24 | Clarkson* | Freshman Football Rink • Hamilton, New York | L 1–9 | 0–3–0 |
| February 27 | at Cornell* | Beebe Lake • Ithaca, New York | L 0–1 | 0–4–0 |
| *Non-conference game. |||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals |
| Robert Hofheins | D/LW | 4 | 1 |
| Francis Howe | C | 4 | 1 |
| James Nelson | RW | 4 | 1 |
| James Visel | C/LW | 4 | 1 |
| Clifton Anderson | LW | 1 | 0 |
| Robert Bailey | RW | 1 | 0 |
| George Brewer | D | 1 | 0 |
| Robert Blakeslee | D | 2 | 0 |
| John Spelder | D | 2 | 0 |
| Donald Terry | D | 2 | 0 |
| Warren Barnes | D | 3 | 0 |
| Albert Chambers | G | 4 | 0 |
| Total | | | 4 |
Note: Assists were not recorded as a statistic.