# 1920–21 Massachusetts Agricultural Aggies men's ice hockey season

The 1920–21 Massachusetts Agricultural Aggies men's ice hockey season was the 13th season of play for the program. The Aggies were coached by Elton Mansell in his 4th season.

## Season

The season began with the school building a new rink near Alumni Field which was supposed to have more consistent ice and cut down on the number of games lost to the weather. The veteran team, led by Justin "Jerry" McCarthy, was expected to compete against some of the best teams in college hockey.
After returning from the winter break, the team opened with an exhibition game against the Springfield Hockey Club to help get them into shape for the season. The first official game happened a few days later when they met cross-town rival Amherst and won a narrow victory. Though the score was close, MAC carried the balance of play and allowed just 7 shots from the Lord Jeffs. New entry Harold Poole was integral in keeping Phil Newell's crease clear all night and even managed to open the scoring. A few days later the team travelled up to New Hampshire to take on Dartmouth. The two fought a mostly even battle in the first with coach/rover Sonny Mansell leading the charge but it was the greens who ended the first half on top by a pair. Both squads increased the pace of play in the second half but a pair of quick goals saw the score tied by the efforts of the Aggies' offense. A fast overtime saw both teams get their chances before the Dartmouth captain, Rothchild, netted the winning goal, in the second 5-minute period.
The next game saw the Aggies take on the best team in the nation when they faced off against Harvard. The Crimson were already well on their way to winning another championship but Mansell's men were undaunted. In possibly their best and fastest game of the year, nearly every player was an equal to their Harvard counterpart but the Aggies could not overcome the conditioning of the Crimson skaters. Harvard scored twice in the third to take the match but the Aggies had still proven themselves as a worthy opponent.
A lack of ice caused the next two games to be postponed which left the Aggies with little practice time ahead of their game with Fordham. The team had a letdown against the Maroons, which was played on a very strange surface. The small 181st Street Ice Palace was not normally used as an ice hockey rink and the two were restricted to 6-players per team. Additionally, the ice had 4 pillars arranged about 20 feet from the boards on either side. Because Fordham used the venue for its practice the team was used to avoiding these impediments while MAC found it very difficult to contend with the obstacles. Worse, the team was called for 5 separate penalties in the game which only served to boost Fordham to a 3–8 drubbing of the Aggies. MAC returned to Boston for a match with Boston College and returned to their earlier form, however, they still ended up on the losing side of the ledger. The two goaltenders starred for most of the match but the forwards shone briefly with spectacular individual efforts. McCarthy's goal came when he stole the puck in front of the BC cage and then whipped it into the goal in one motion. Unfortunately, the final goal came after a blistering run up the ice by Frank Morrissey that culminated with the winning goal. The next night, the Aggies were finally able to end their losing streak by taking down MIT. Newell played another strong game in goal and every save was needed as the teams were tied for most of the match. Mansell broke the tie in the third with a charge from his own zone and beating the Engineer netminder with a quick shot.
MAC was finally able to get in a home game when they played Tufts two days later and were in control of the match from start to finish. Mansell started the scoring in the first half and ended with a hat-trick while four others added scores to finish with a 8–0 win. While the team had a few games left on its schedule, every subsequent match was cancelled due to a lack of ice, thanks to warm weather.
Joseph Evers served as team manager.

## Standings

1920–21 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 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 19 |
| Army | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .167 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 11 |
| Bates | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 20 |
| Boston College | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | .857 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 18 |
| Bowdoin | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .125 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 23 |
| Buffalo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| Carnegie Tech | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | .100 | 4 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 18 |
| Clarkson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 14 |
| Colgate | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 8 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 14 |
| Columbia | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 21 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 24 |
| Cornell | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 22 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 10 |
| Dartmouth | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | .611 | 24 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 30 | 27 |
| Fordham | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 42 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 55 | 8 |
| Massachusetts Agricultural | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | 18 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 17 |
| Michigan College of Mines | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 21 |
| MIT | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 13 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 25 |
| New York State | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Notre Dame | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | .438 | 17 | 37 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 44 |
| Princeton | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 23 |
| Rensselaer | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 7 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| Tufts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Williams | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | 17 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 10 |
| Yale | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | .438 | 21 | 33 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 25 | 47 |
| YMCA College | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | .917 | 17 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 16 |

## Schedule and results

| Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Record |
| Exhibition |||||
| January 8 | Springfield Hockey Club* | Campus Pond • Amherst, Massachusetts (Exhibition) | W ? | |
| Regular Season |||||
| January 12 | Amherst* | Alumni Field Rink • Amherst, Massachusetts | W 2–1 | 1–0–0 |
| January 15 | at Dartmouth* | Occom Pond • Hanover, New Hampshire | L 2–3 $^{2OT}$ | 1–1–0 |
| January 19 | at Harvard* | Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts | L 0–2 | 1–2–0 |
| January 29 | at Fordham* | 181st Street Ice Palace • Manhattan, New York | L 3–8 | 1–3–0 |
| January 31 | at Boston College* | Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts | L 1–2 | 1–4–0 |
| February 1 | at MIT* | Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts | W 2–1 | 2–4–0 |
| February 3 | Tufts* | Alumni Field Rink • Amherst, Massachusetts | W 8–0 | 3–4–0 |
| *Non-conference game. |||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals |
| Sonny Mansell | R/C | 7 | 6 |
| Jerry McCarthy | RW | 7 | 4 |
| Hubba Collins | CP | 7 | 3 |
| Sharkey Lyons | R/C | 7 | 2 |
| Harold Poole | P | 7 | 2 |
| John Snow | R/LW | 6 | 1 |
| Charles Anderson | LW | 1 | 0 |
| Harry Haskins | LW | 1 | 0 |
| Doc Gordon | LW | 5 | 0 |
| Phil Newell | G | 7 | 0 |
| Total | | | 18 |

## Goaltending statistics

Note: goals against average is based upon a 40-minute regulation game.