*Photograph courtesy of the Dickinson
College Archives
The picture above
is from the 1978-79 Dickinson Hockey Club season. Hockey is an exciting
sport which originates from Canada. Ice hockey at Dickinson College
has never been a varsity sport. Nevertheless, this club sport manages
to get fans to go all the way to Mechanicsburg in order to cheer on their
school. This was one of the best years Dickinson had in ice
hockey. The squad finished with a record of 10-1-1. The team
employed the services of the Skatium in Mechanicsburg as their home
ice. They played in the Central PA. Collegiate Hockey League, which
includes schools like Franklin and Marshall and Susquehanna. Under the
captaincy of Jay Nader, and without the benefit of a head coach for part
of the season, Dickinson ice hockey team managed to destroy opponents by
scores like 11-1, 11-0, and 15-2. Sadly, despite the success of the
team, the College denied the club funds that would have enabled it to join
the Delaware Valley Conference with such institutions as Lafayette.
1860 is the year that ice hockey really separated
itself from field hockey by using a puck instead of a ball. The first
modern ice hockey team, McGill Hockey Club, was formed in 1880. The
sport moved south and the first game played in the United States was in
1893 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Hockey quickly
became a popular sport in the United States after this. Today, in
addition to the National Hockey League there are numerous hockey leagues
in North America, both professional and amateur.
David Wilock
Sources: Dickinsonian 1978-79
Dickinson College, Carlisle Arlott, John editor, The
Oxford Companion to Sports and Games. Oxford University Press, New
York, 1975
