1911–12 Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey season

The 1911–12 Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey season was the 13th season of play for the program.

1911–12 Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey season
Intercollegiate Champion Intercollegiate Hockey Association, Champion
Conference	1st IHA
Home ice	Lake Carnegie
Record
Overall	8–2–0
Conference	4–0–0
Road	2–0–0
Neutral	6–2–0
Coaches and Captains
Captain(s)	Alfred Kay
Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey seasons « 1910–11 1912–13 »

Season

After a disappointing end to their previous season, second-year captain Alfred Kay looked to lead the team back to the top of the Intercollegiate Hockey Association. That job was made slightly easier due to Harvard removing itself from the conference due to a new policy by the operators at the St. Nicholas Rink.[1] The Tigers began their season just after the start of the winter break with a game against Williams. Princeton won the extraordinarily lopsided game 14–0 and the headed to Cleveland for a three-game series with Yale. As they had the year before, Princeton won two of the three games but through their first four games it was apparent that the Tigers had a budding star on their hands.[2]

Hobey Baker

Sophomore Hobey Baker distinguished himself from the first game against Williams and, though scoring statistics were only partially recorded during the break, he was the focal point of the Princeton offense. Baker's first real test with the team came in early January against Dartmouth. In their first conference game of the year Princeton utterly dominated the greens, posting the largest victory in the history of IHA play, 14–0.[3] Throughout the game Baker was obvious as the best player on the ice and, while he scored four goals himself, he was responsible for a dozen of Princeton's scores, assisting directly on five of Kuhn's six tallies.

The next game came against Harvard who, despite having left the IHA, had agreed to play two games against Princeton that year. Despite their impressive wins to that point the Tigers had yet to face a team as talented as the Crimson and that was proven when Harvard skated away with a 3–2 win.[4] Even in defeat Baker starred, scoring a goal and assisting on the other while simultaneously trying to hold back the vaunted Harvard attack. Still stinging after the defeat, Princeton laid into defending champion Cornell in their next game with Baker again the center of attention. The rover scored his second hat-trick of league play and assisted on at least two other goals in the Tigers' 6–1 win.[5] A week later the Tigers played their second game against Harvard, this time at the Crimson's home venue. Princeton repaid Harvard for the earlier loss with their own 3–2 victory with Baker's second goal of the game serving as the eventual game-winner.[6]

Princeton returned to its conference schedule just two days later against an improving Columbia team. The Lions kept the game close until midway through the second half when Baker scored a natural hat-trick to give the Tigers a commanding lead that they would ride to a 6–2 victory.[7] In Princeton's final game of the season they took on Yale, the only team that could stop them from claiming the IHA championship. The two teams battled to a 0–0 draw after the first half but in the second half, as he had done all season, Hobey Baker came alive for the Tigers. He recorded yet another hat-trick and added an assist on Alfred Kay's goal to give the Tigers a 4–1 victory and their second championship in three years.[8]

Despite being a sophomore, Hobey Baker was the best player on his team and likely the best in college hockey, if not the entire country. He scored a hat-trick in each of the four IHA games and, with records for the first game being unavailable, he notched at least 20 goals and 14 assists in just 9 games. The team, recognizing his talent and leadership, elected him captain for the following season.

Roster

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team
		Hobey Baker	Sophomore	R	5' 9" (1.75 m)	161 lb (73 kg)	1892-01-15	Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania	St. Paul's School
		Lawrence Blair	Senior	D
		Thornton Emmons	Sophomore	D
		Dean Kalbfleisch	Senior	G
		Alfred Kay	Senior	RW				Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
		Wendel Kuhn	Sophomore	C
		Robert C. Lee	Junior	D
		James McKinney	Senior	LW

[9]

Standings

1911–12 Collegiate ice hockey standings
	Intercollegiate								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PCT.	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Amherst	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		7	2	4	1	–	–
Army	4	2	1	1	.625	8	12		4	2	1	1	8	12
Columbia	4	3	1	0	.750	21	16		4	3	1	0	21	16
Cornell	8	2	6	0	.250	14	25		10	3	7	0	22	31
Dartmouth	5	0	5	0	.000	12	35		5	0	5	0	12	35
Harvard	8	5	3	0	.625	26	19		10	7	3	0	36	21
Massachusetts Agricultural College	7	5	1	1	.786	33	9		7	5	1	1	33	9
MIT	6	5	1	0	.833	32	7		10	6	4	0	43	24
Notre Dame	0	0	0	0	–	0	0		1	1	0	0	7	1
Princeton	10	8	2	0	.800	63	16		10	8	2	0	63	16
Rensselaer	5	1	3	1	.300	5	14		5	1	3	1	5	14
Springfield Training	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–
Stevens Tech	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–
Syracuse	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–
Trinity	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–
Williams	6	1	4	1	.250	10	29		7	2	4	1	11	29
Yale	16	9	7	0	.563	41	46		18	11	7	0	46	49

1911–12 Intercollegiate Hockey Association standings
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Princeton *	4	4	0	0	1.000	30	4		10	8	2	0	63	16
Columbia	4	3	1	0	.750	21	16		4	3	1	0	21	16
Yale	4	2	2	0	.500	11	15		18	11	7	0	46	49
Cornell	4	1	3	0	.250	8	16		10	3	7	0	22	31
Dartmouth	4	0	4	0	.000	9	28		5	0	5	0	12	35
* indicates conference champion

Schedule and Results

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Record
Regular Season
December 21	vs. Williams*	St. Nicholas Rink • New York, New York	W 14–0	1–0–0
December 28	vs. Yale*	Elysium Arena • Cleveland, Ohio	W 4–1	2–0–0
December 29	vs. Yale*	Elysium Arena • Cleveland, Ohio	W 7–2	3–0–0
December 30	vs. Yale*	Elysium Arena • Cleveland, Ohio	L 3–4 ^OT	3–1–0
January 6	vs. Dartmouth	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 14–0	4–1–0 (1–0–0)
January 10	vs. Harvard*	St. Nicholas Rink • New York, New York	L 2–3	4–2–0
January 13	vs. Cornell	St. Nicholas Rink • New York, New York	W 6–1	5–2–0 (2–0–0)
January 20	at Harvard*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 3–2	6–2–0
January 22	at Columbia	St. Nicholas Rink • New York, New York	W 6–2	7–2–0 (3–0–0)
January 27	vs. Yale	St. Nicholas Rink • New York, New York	W 4–1	8–2–0 (4–0–0)
*Non-conference game.

[10]

References

1. "Volume 36, Number 158". The Princeton Daily. January 12, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
2. "Volume 36, Number 154". The Princeton Daily. January 5, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
3. "Volume 36, Number 156". The Princeton Daily. January 8, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
4. "Volume 36, Number 159". The Princeton Daily. January 11, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
5. "Volume 36, Number 162". The Princeton Daily. January 15, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
6. "Volume 36, Number 168". The Princeton Daily. January 22, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
7. "Volume 36, Number 169". The Princeton Daily. January 23, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
8. "Volume 36, Number 171". The Princeton Daily. February 8, 1912. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
9. "1911-1912 Roster". Elite Prospects. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
10. "Men's Hockey All-Time Results". Princeton Tigers. Retrieved January 4, 2020.