Men's hockey wins title for first time in team's 126-year history

Upper West Side NY

08 March, 2022

4:32 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY STEPHEN DAMES MARCH 7, 2022 In Columbia men's hockey's 126-year history, the events of Feb. 20 were unprecedented. Facing off against the formerly undefeated Sacred Heart University Pioneers (15-1) in the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference league finals, many fans of Columbia men's hockey (12-4) may think they know the rest of the story, coming up with images from the team's unsuccessful and unstable past. Despite being one of the oldest college hockey teams in America, men's hockey has, until this year, failed to win a title for over a century, floundering with an all-time 0.336 win percentage in the MCHC. But this time around, things were different. On the day of the final, senior captain Benjamin Vermette said that he had "rarely seen that kind of energy" from his team—the spirit he saw translated into the Lions crushing the Pioneers by a score of 9-3, taking home the first championship in the program's history. In what Vermette dubbed the "biggest game of our careers," Columbia, who had already lost to Sacred Heart twice previously this season, produced an inspired performance, taking the lead in the first period and never looking back. Although this victory was undoubtedly special for the players involved, it was perhaps even more significant for the men's hockey program as a whole. A turbulent program, men's hockey's troubles can partially be traced back to its exclusion from Columbia varsity athletics, and the instability coming from its status as a club team. In 1912, the nascent Columbia team was expelled from the Intercollegiate Hockey Association, a league formed between members of the not yet created Ivy League. The Lions took issue with new league rules that both prohibited first-years from participating and forbade all players from playing for three or more years. After this expulsion, men's hockey had a long stretch of years where it had difficulty finding a rink to practice on and teams to play against, forcing it into decades of instability. The team went so far as to attempt to construct its own rink on numerous occasions, though the ice was never solid enough to play on. On several occasions, Columbia Athletics has canceled funding for the program due to fluctuating popularity and difficulty of finding a rink, however the team eventually found its permanent home as a club team in the MCHC, where it has competed since 1968. Being a club team has not resolved all of the team's problems, as Vermette says being a club athlete is a much more volatile position than being an athlete on a varsity team. "The advantage varsity teams have is they just can focus on their game. They have nothing else to worry about, they just take the bus to wherever they're playing, and the bus is there ready for them to leave. But here, you know, we have to book our buses." Vermette further elaborated that the team is run almost entirely by the players, who handle all their own administrative matters, including booking their own practice rinks. Junior Chris Mendell said that while varsity athletes have practice five days a week with premier training facilities always available, club athletes have to be more self-directed. Though the team gained the consistency of a regular league once it was formally a club, it was still unstable, failing to compete for several stretches, as recently as 2003 to 2005. Vermette spoke about what the championship meant for the program, saying that "for those [alumni] who are still alive, it means a lot to them; we have a LinkedIn alumni group with some players who played in the team in the '90s and the '80s, and they still cannot believe it." Relegated from varsity athletics, rejected by their league, and hurt by their perennial losses, men's hockey has often been counted out. But, to those who have doubted them in the past, this season of men's hockey served as a powerful refutation. "I came into the season confident that this was our year," Vermette said, before going on to further affirm that once he saw both the crop of new first-years and the group of returning veterans, he was confident Columbia could win. The start of the season showed promise of greatness, but also some inconsistencies. Through its first six games, Columbia was 3-3, losing to Sacred Heart, the Stevens Institute of Technology (9-5), and St. Thomas Aquinas College (9-7). However, as the year went along and the team continued to improve—and as their schedule got easier—Columbia began to win more and more, raking up victories against the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (8-6), Western Connecticut State University (4-10), and Maritime College (8-6), among other wins. However, the spectre of Sacred Heart still haunted the Lions, as the second contest between the schools in mid-December—the final game before the mid-season break—went to the Pioneers by a score of 9-4. However, this would be the last time the Lions would lose all season. Beating Maritime, Suffolk County Community College (2-13), Farmingdale State College (7-6) to close out the regular season, the Lions entered the playoffs not necessarily as favorites, but as strong contenders for the title. Graduate student Jake Lessick was central in the playoff push. He was named the MCHC player of the month in December to January, scoring seven goals and picking up four assists in four games. In their semi-final matchup, Columbia quickly dispatched Stevens by a score of 7-2, before facing, for the third and final time this season, the undefeated Sacred Heart Pioneers. Columbia and Sacred Heart were far stronger teams than the rest of the competition, both scoring over 100 goals on the season, while the next highest was No. 5 SUNY Maritime with 86. But the Pioneers still beat out the Lions statistically, scoring 105 goals to Columbia's 101, and allowing only 39 goals to the Light Blue's 58. Coming to the Dix Hills Ice Rink on Long Island to play perhaps the most important game of their Columbia careers, the team was focused. "We kind of ran into a couple of Sacred Heart players before the game and made eye contact, just letting them know that … we're ready to play them," Vermette recalled. Emphasizing how the whole season was building to this moment, the captain added, "We don't say '1, 2, 3 Lions' or '1, 2, 3 Columbia' or whatever, we say title on three, '1, 2, 3, title!'" As soon as the whistle blew and the game began, Columbia started scoring. Taking the lead in the first period, Columbia never gave it up, but, knowing how quickly the tide can turn, the Lions kept fighting, not taking anything for granted. As Mendell iterated, this "keep working" mentality is what allowed the team to be successful against Sacred Heart this time around: "Worry about the next goal. Let's worry about making our plays. Nothing is guaranteed." Fighting down to the very last minute, the Lions emerged with a powerful statement victory, beating the Pioneers by a score of 9-3 and claiming their first championship in 126 years. Vermette made sure to note that to him, this victory was both for the program and the players, but also for some of the program's most dedicated members, including longtime coach Bruce Baker, who has been coaching for eight years at Columbia, and former captain Andy Dunn. In a post on the Columbia men's hockey website, Dunn said the following: "The cliche thing to say is that I would not trade my years with Columbia Hockey for anything. In this case, the cliche is true … [b]ecause Columbia Hockey, with all of its wild highs and lows, was the truest ending to a life, to this point, spent in the rink." Deputy Sports Editor Stephen Dames can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DamesStephen Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.