Ivy League Hockey: A Long and Winding Road

To think it all started on a frozen pond.

In 1896, Brown and Harvard duked it out on a frozen pond in a friendly game of ice polo.

The pond has melted by now (the modern indoor ice rink has long since replaced it), but as Ivy League hockey nears the 100th anniversary of the first Brown-Harvard ice duel, what was then a friendly game of ice polo has emerged as one of the most successful NCAA programs in the Ivies.

"Our history goes way back to when they were playing on a lake," Cornell Coach Brian McCutcheon says.

Ever since Dartmouth won the first Ivy title in 1934, the league--currently made up of six teams (Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale)--has had its share of success. Success, unlike football and basketball, that has consistently reached a national level.

Take Cornell, for example. The Big Red won the Ivy title from 1966 to 1973. During that span, the Ithacans appeared in the NCAA Tournament six times, capturing the national title in 1967 (a 4-1 win over Boston University) and in 1970 (a 6-4 victory over Clarkson).

Harvard is now the example many league coaches point to when talking about Ivy League hockey. The Crimson has earned a reputation as one of the best teams in college hockey during the 1980s. Harvard, which has won seven straight Ivy titles since 1982, has made six NCAA appearances, including three trips to the Final Four in the '80s.

Theories of why the Ivy League has been so successful very. But one word tends to stand out: tradition.

"It is a traditionally New England sport," says Herb Hammond, former Brown coach and current Brown assistant athletic director. "Ivy League schools were the first to have rinks."

"First of all, there is a tradition," Yale Coach Tim Taylor says. "We were among the earliest teams to play hockey in the country."

"There are a number of sports in which we've been traditionally successful," Jeffrey H. Orleans, executive director of the council of Ivy Group Presidents says. "We offer athletes a history of success in those sports."

But for all the tradition the Ivy League has weaved into its hockey program, other factors exist. Factors such as the academic aura of the schools and their abilility to draw quality student-athletes.

"Certainly our academic reputation attracts the premier athlete," Dartmouth Coach Brian Mason says. "It is a strong athlete, who is certainly committed to academics."

"The biggest reason I could think of would be the strength of the schools," Harvard Associate Coach Ronn Tomassoni says. "There have been some pretty good student athletes that happen to play hockey."

Yet is the success of Ivy League hockey equivalent to the success of other schools in other sports? Say, Oklahoma in football, or North Carolina in basketball? In other words, how "national" is college hockey?

With only 36 teams partcipating in four established Division I hockey leagues (the ECAC, Hockey East, CCHA and WCHA) and 17 independents that now compete for one bid to the NCAA Tournament, college hockey is far from becoming a national sport.

St. Lawrence Coach Joe Marsh, who took his team to this year's NCAA Championship game against eventual champion Lake Superior State and plays all the Ivy teams in ECAC competition, recalls his team's Final Four game with Minnesota this year. Marsh calls the Saints' 3-2 overtime victory "the best college hockey game I ever saw," but ESPN, the cable sports network that had the rights to televise the game, decided instead to telecast the NCAA women's basketball semifinals.

"Hockey is played in localized pockets," Marsh says. "I think hockey should reach a national level, but I don't think that will ever happen."

"I don't see college hockey expanding," Hammond says. "The major problem is ice rinks. I'd be surprised if a North Carolina or a UCLA invests a couple of million dollars on a rink."

Because the talent pool of hockey players is more concentrated in certain regions of North America (New England and Canada, in particular), schools such as the Ivies have a better chance of continuing to attract quality hockey players and maintaining their national reputations.

"There are many sports that are not national sports," Orleans says. "Because we compete in all sports, we have more of a chance to win a national championship."

"The Ivy League is still able to be successful in sports that a lot of people don't play in," Executive Director of ECAC Hockey Joe Bertagna says.

But problems still exist for Ivy schools. Problems such as competing with scholarship schools like Minnesota and Wisconsin, two major college hockey breeding grounds.

"Myself and other coaches are concerned with the other non-Ivy schools," Mason says. "The pool of players is getting smaller."

The decrease in the number of quality players affected Ivy teams this year. Brown, Dartmouth and Yale all failed to make the eight-team ECAC Tournament. Twelve years ago, Brown made the Final Four. In 1979 and 1980, Dartmouth made consecutive appearances in the Final Four. Just two years ago, Yale, along with Harvard, was one of the top two teams in the ECAC.

"You have to do your homework," says Tomassoni, who handles recruiting for Harvard. "We're competing against other Ivies and scholarships schools."

Harvard has done its homework during the 1980s. Unlike other Ivies, Harvard has the extra advantage of its proximity to Boston. Add a tradition of academic and athletic excellence to a city that houses three other Division I hockey teams and hosts the Beanpot--the most well-attended annual college tournament in the nation--and you get a school with serious hockey clout.

"Boston creates a college center for sports," Tomassoni says. "You tell me that a kid wouldn't like the chance to play in front of 16,000 screaming fans at the Garden?"

"Harvard's got a nice backyard," Yale's Taylor says enviously.

Cornell is also in a unique situation. Since Ithaca is not a major professional sports town, Cornell hockey is the main attraction-Ithaca's version of the Greatest Show on Earth. Lynah Rink is consistently and boisterously sold out.

"Our community becomes very attached to our hockey teams," McCutcheon says. "It's not just Cornell's team, it's Ithaca's team."

Cornell and Harvard are by far the two most successful Ivy teams. Since the 1954-55 season, Harvard and Cornell have each amassed a winning percentage of close to .700 in Ivy League games. Every league has its elite teams; the Ivy League has Cornell and Harvard.

"There are two groups in the Ivy League," Bertagna says.

Yet it has gotten tougher for all the Ivy teams to attract the players they used to attract before. While Harvard and Cornell may be more successful because of other intangible factors, one problem affects every school: the question of financial aid.

Hammond offers a theory about the average hockey family, a middle- to upper-middle class family. The family supports his son by enrolling him in a private school, where the quality of hockey is the best around. After spending a substantial amount of money on the son's high-school experience as a hockey player, the question of which college to attend becomes a financial problem.

"It all comes down to this: how much money is Harvard going to give me as compared to Boston College?" Hammond says.

"The people hit the hardest are the middle-income people," Taylor says. "That's where the majority of players come from."

Mike Richter, a goalie for the 1988 United States Olympic Team, would have gone to Harvard if it weren't for financial problems. Richter opted to go to Wisconsin.

The Ivy League's influence on academics has also caused problems for some coaches. Admissions criteria for student-athletes have become higher, affecting the availability of players.

"The standards in the Ivy League have gone up," Princeton Coach Jim Higgins says. "Within the last six years, the standards have changed. It's getting harder for us here at Princeton."

The Tigers last year made the ECAC playoffs, but have never played in the NCAA Tournament. Princeton won its only Ivy title in 1953.

But the future of Ivy League hockey looks strong as long as the tradition that it evolved from remains just as strong. That tradition, along with a solid academic reputation, will continue to attract quality students athletes.

"When you're going head to head with the Ivies on academics, you've got a fight on your hand," says Marsh, whose St. Lawrence program does not offer scholarships.

"I think [the tradition of the Ivies] is going to continue," Tomassoni says. "It's the strength of the schools. People want to go to the best possible schools."

And, as long as college hockey remains the "regional-national" sport that it has become, Ivy League hockey--although hindered by problems such as competition from other schools, the question of financial aid and tougher academic standards--can enter its second century with a philosophy that blends academic success with success on the ice.

Tradition takes longer to melt than a frozen pond.

The Ivies in the NCAA Tournament

Brown: three Final Four appearances (1951, 1965, 1976). Best finish: 1951, a 7-1 loss to Michigan in the championship game.

Cornell: seven Final Four appearances (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1980). Best finishes: 1967, a 4-1 victory over B.U. in the championship game; 1970, a 6-4 victory over Clarkson in the championship game.

Dartmouth: four Final Four appearances (1948, 1949, 1979, 1980). Best finish: 1949, a 4-3 loss to B.C. in the championship game.

Harvard: 10 Final Four appearances (1955, 1957, 1958, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1983, 1986, 1987). Best finish: 1986, a 6-5 loss to Michigan St. in the championship game.

Princeton: no Final Four appearances.

Yale: one Final Four appearance (1952). Best finish: 1952, a 4-1 loss to St. Lawrence in the consolation game.