Jump to content

Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's ice hockey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's ice hockey
Lehigh Mountain Hawks athletic logo
UniversityLehigh University
ConferenceECHA
First season1939–40
Head coachJosh Hand
ArenaSteel Ice Center
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
ColorsBrown and white[1]
   

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's ice hockey team is a college ice hockey program that represents Lehigh University. The program currently operates as a club team at the Division I level but the university previously sponsored varsity ice hockey.

History

[edit]

After the construction of the Albeth Ice Rink in 1939, Lehigh was able to add a varsity program, furthering the expansion of college ice hockey in the Philadelphia area. The team was one of handful of clubs at the time and, while most were classified as club organizations, they were all able to play one another after reaching an agreement with the Philadelphia Arena. The league shuttered in 1942 due to World War II and remained dormant after the war's end. Lehigh, however, restarted its program in 1946 and continued on for over a decade. On the ice, the team was able to get some success in the early-50s. However, due to Albeth being an open-air rink that was designed for figure skating, the Engineers had a hard time scheduling home games. By the mid-50s, the Engineers were down to playing just a few games per year and eventually the athletic department decided against continuing the program after 1956. In spite of the lack of support, the team continued on as a club sport for several years.[2]

Lehigh had its second revival in 1969 as the proliferation of College Division hockey was skyrocketing. The team joined ECAC 2 upon their return and, two years later, becoming an inaugural member of ECAC 3.[3] Lehigh produced a few good seasons in the mid-70s but the team's success did not last. For most of their time in ECAC 3, Lehigh was in the bottom half of the standings and never made an appearance in the conference tournament. After a short break in the early 80s, the school gave the program one more chance at varsity status but four more years with little to show for its efforts consigned the team to demotion.

After returning to club status in 1986, the team has continued as unofficial representatives of the school. As of 2024, the team is a member of the ECHA and coached by Josh Hand.[4]

Season-by-season results

[edit]

Varsity

[edit]
NCAA D-I Champions NCAA Frozen Four Conference Regular Season Champions Conference Playoff Champions
Season Conference Regular Season[a] Conference Tournament Results National Tournament Results
Conference Overall
GP W L T Pts* Finish GP W L T %
Charles W. Simmons (1939–1942)
Program suspended
1939–40 EPIHL 5 1 4 0 .200
1940–41 EPIHL 12 4 8 0 .333
1941–42 EPIHL 13 7 6 0 .538 Won Semifinal, 2–0 (St. Joseph's)
Won Championship, 3–2 (Pennsylvania)
Program suspended
Charles W. Simmons (1946–1953)
1946–47 Independent 5 0 5 0 .000
1947–48 Independent 10 0 10 0 .000
1948–49 Independent 6 2 4 0 .333
1949–50 Independent 6 4 2 0 .667
1950–51 Independent 5 4 1 0 .800
1951–52 Independent 3 2 1 0 .667
1952–53 Independent 3 2 1 0 .667
Program suspended
Frey (1955–1956)
1955–56 Independent 8 2 5 1 .313
Program suspended
College Division
Marty Matijasich (1969–1970)
1969–70 ECAC 2 5 2 2 1 .500 15th 15 12 2 1 .833
Jim Todaro (1970–1971)
1970–71 ECAC 2 6 1 5 0 .167 25th 19 9 10 0 .474
Gary Bishop (1971–1973)
1971–72 ECAC 3 5 0 5 0 .000 T–7th 18 7 11 0 .389
1972–73 ECAC 3 6 0 6 0 .000 12th 19 8 11 0 .421
Division III
Don Cahoon (1973–1974)
1973–74 ECAC 3 1 0 1 0 .000 T–17th 17 10 5 2 .647
Joe Biedron (1974–1976)
1974–75 ECAC 3 1 0 1 0 .000 T–18th 16 10 4 2 .688
1975–76 ECAC 3 7 2 5 0 .286 13th 18 10 7 1 .583
Steve Penman (1976–1981)
1976–77 ECAC 3 6 4 2 0 .667 8th 16 11 5 0 .688
1977–78 ECAC 3 2 1 1 0 .500 T–10th 15 5 10 0 .333
1978–79 ECAC 3 11 2 9 0 .182 20th 14 4 10 0 .286
1979–80 ECAC 3 6 2 4 0 .333 17th 13 5 7 1 .423
1980–81 ECAC 3 5 0 5 0 .000 T–25th 18 9 9 0 .500
Program suspended
Kris Kollevol (1982–1985)
1982–83 Independent 18 5 13 0 .278
1983–84 ECAC 3 9 1 8 0 .111 26th 16 5 11 0 .313
1984–85 ECAC 3 14 5 9 0 .357 19th 19 8 11 0 .421
Bob Beck (1985–1986)
1985–86 ECAC North/South 16 4 12 0 .250 22th 17 4 13 0 .235
Program suspended
Totals GP W L T % Championships
Regular Season 342 148 186 8 .444
Conference Post-season 2 2 0 0 1.000
NCAA Post-season 0 0 0 0
Regular Season and Post-season Record 344 150 186 8 .448

Source:[5]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Code explanation; GP—Games Played, W—Wins, L—Losses, T—Tied games, Pts—Points

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Lehigh University" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Epitome 1957". Lehigh University. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  3. ^ "NCAA - ECAC Northeast history and statistics". Hockey DB. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  4. ^ "Contact Page". Lehigh Mountain Hawks. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  5. ^ "Lehigh University Periodicals". The Internet Archive. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
[edit]