Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Rivalry Was Born

A Rivalry Was Born

One of college hockey’s greatest charms is its history and tradition, and a significant milestone in that history is celebrated on January 19. As the blog Third String Goalie points out, it’s been 114 years to the day since the first meeting of an active rivalry in the sport.

Brown beat Harvard, 6-0, that day, and the blog traces the evolution of those programs from that date:

Brown would win again the following year by a score of 2-1, but Harvard would even the score in 1900 with a pair of wins over Brown in back to back games.

Brown, based in Providence, Rhode Island, originally played men’s hockey from 1898 until 1906. They resumed play in 1926-27 through 1939 before taking an extended break during World War II.

That game wasn’t the first college hockey game played in the U.S., as Yale had fielded a team two years earlier. On Feb. 1, 1896, the Bulldogs skated to a 2-2 tie against Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. The Bulldogs went on to win intercollegiate titles in 1899, 1900 and 1902.

By the end of the first decade of the 20th Century, teams had been established at Princeton, Cornell, Rensselaer, Union, Army, Dartmouth and Massachusetts.

Another date of significance in college hockey history took place this week, more than six years before that first Brown-Harvard game. On Jan. 15, 1892, Hobart Amory Hare Baker was born in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.