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1923–24 Middlebury Panthers
men's ice hockey season
1923–24 Middlebury Panthers; men's ice hockey season
Conference	Independent
Home ice	Middlebury Rink; Porter Pond
Record
Overall	0–6–1
Home	0–2–1
Road	0–3–0
Neutral	0–1–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	Erwin Drost
Captain(s)	Paris Fletcher
	Middlebury Panthers men's ice hockey seasons; « 1922–23 1924–25 »

The 1923–24 Middlebury Panthers men's ice hockey season was the 2nd season of play for the program. The Panthers were coached by Erwin Drost in his 2nd season.

Season

Despite the teams lack of success and minimal games played, the enthusiasm shown by the student body convinced the school to continue the ice hockey program.^[1] Most of the players were lost to graduation so the Panthers had to form essentially a brand new team. Erwin Drost, the coach of the freshman teams, returned and put the prospective players through their paces while a temporary rink was built atop the tennis courts near the chemistry building.^[2]

The first scheduled game was to be at Williams on January 12, however the match was cancelled due to poor ice. The extra week gave the team time to get in more practice time on Otter Creek and Porter Pond since the home rink had yet to become suitable for play.^[3] A week later the team took a trip to the capital district for a pair of games, finally opening their season against Union. Middlebury played well in the game but there was a distinct lack of teamwork that hamstrung their efforts to score.^[4] The following night went pretty much the same with Middlebury dropping a 0–2 decision to Rensselaer. After returning home, the team had several weeks before their next match, which would come after the exam break.

Early February saw the home rink finally in a usable state and provide the team with a much-needed playing surface. Unfortunately, the state of the ice was questionable and hampered the Panthers' performance. Many passing attempts were thwarted by rough ice and the same story played out when Clarkson arrived on the 8th. Despite showing a greater level of teamwork, Middlebury was shutout for the third consecutive game, though they gave the sizable home crowd something to cheer about with the pace of play. The match saw the return of McLaughlin to the lineup, which allowed Weekes to move up to wing and allow Fletcher to take over from Gonsalves at center.^[5] The next evening, the team was in Burlington to face Saint Michael's. Team captain Paris Fletcher scored the first goal of the season for the Panthers but it was not enough to carry the day. The Knights scored off a rebound in the waning moments of the match to take the contest 1–2.^[6]

A week later, the team faced off against Vermont on Porter Pond. Finnegan took over from Connelly in goal and performed well in the game. However, the Panthers' offense was still very weak despite ideal conditions for the game. Fletcher scored the only marker in the 1–3 loss.^[7] The team ended the season with back-to-back rematches against their in-state opponents. First, against Saint Michael's, the team had its best outing of the season, holding the Purples to just a single goal in the match. Leary managed the only tally for Middlebury to force a draw between the two. No overtime was played due to the visitors needing to catch a train. This was the first game in program history that did not end with the loss for the Panthers.^[8] The following day, in Burlington, the team was unable to avenge its earlier loss to Vermont and were blanked for the fourth time on the year. Despite the sorry state of the offense, the team continued to receive attention from the student body which was a good sign for the continued existence of the program.

Paris Fletcher served as team manager.

Roster

Player	Class	Pos	DoB	Hometown
John E. Connolly Jr.	Sophomore	G		New York, New York
Joseph L. Finnegan	Freshman	G	1901-11-10	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Paris Fletcher (C)	Senior	C/LW		Middlebury, Vermont
John H. Gonsalves	Sophomore	C	1901-04-09
John J. Leary	Junior	D		Boston, Massachusetts
William J. McLaughlin	Sophomore	D		Dorchester, Massachusetts
Edward S. Twitchell	Sophomore	RW		New Britain, Connecticut
Donald F. Weeks	Senior	D/LW	1901-02-07	Lynn, Massachusetts
George W. Wilson	Senior	LW		Springfield, Massachusetts

^[1]

Standings

1923–24 Eastern Collegiate ice hockey standings v t e
	Intercollegiate							Overall
	GP	W	L	T	Pct.	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Amherst	11	5	5	1	.500	16	17	11	5	5	1	16	17
Army	6	3	3	0	.500	15	13	8	3	5	0	23	30
Bates	8	8	0	0	1.000	31	3	11	9	2	0	34	9
Boston College	1	1	0	0	1.000	6	3	18	7	10	1	32	45
Boston University	7	1	6	0	.143	10	34	9	1	8	0	11	42
Bowdoin	5	1	2	2	.400	10	17	6	1	3	2	10	24
Clarkson	4	1	3	0	.250	8	12	7	3	4	0	12	19
Colby	7	1	4	2	.286	9	18	8	1	5	2	11	21
Cornell	4	2	2	0	.500	22	11	4	2	2	0	22	11
Dartmouth	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17	10	5	2	81	32
Hamilton	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	12	7	3	2	–	–
Harvard	9	6	3	0	.667	35	19	14	6	7	1	–	–
Maine	7	3	4	0	.429	20	18	12	4	8	0	33	60
Massachusetts Agricultural	8	2	6	0	.250	18	38	9	3	6	0	20	38
Middlebury	5	0	4	1	.100	2	10	7	0	6	1	3	16
MIT	4	0	4	0	.000	2	27	4	0	4	0	2	27
Pennsylvania	6	1	4	1	.250	6	23	8	1	5	2	8	28
Princeton	13	8	5	0	.615	35	20	18	12	6	0	63	28
Rensselaer	5	2	3	0	.400	5	31	5	2	3	0	5	31
Saint Michael's	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Syracuse	2	1	1	0	.500	5	11	6	2	4	0	11	24
Union	4	2	2	0	.500	13	10	5	3	2	0	18	12
Williams	11	2	7	2	.273	11	22	13	4	7	2	18	24
Yale	15	14	1	0	.933	60	12	23	18	4	1	80	33
YMCA College	6	1	5	0	.167	6	39	7	2	5	0	11	39

Schedule and results

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Record
Regular Season
January 18	at Union*	Union Rink • Schenectady, New York	L 0–3	0–1–0
January 19	at Rensselaer*	RPI Rink • Troy, New York	L 0–2	0–2–0
February 8	Clarkson*	Middlebury Rink • Middlebury, Vermont	L 0–2	0–3–0
February 9	vs. Saint Michael's*	Centennial Rink • Burlington, Vermont	L 1–2	0–4–0
February 16	Vermont ^†*	Porter Pond • Middlebury, Vermont	L 1–3	0–5–0
February 22	Saint Michael's*	Porter Pond • Middlebury, Vermont	T 1–1	0–5–1
February 23	at Vermont ^†*	Centennial Rink • Burlington, Vermont	L 0–3	0–6–1
*Non-conference game.

† Vermont did not officially sanction ice hockey until 1926.^[9]
^[1]

Scoring statistics

Name	Position	Games	Goals
Paris Fletcher	C/LW	-	2
John Leary	D	-	1
John Connelly	G	-	0
Joe Finnegan	G	-	0
John Gonsalves	C	-	0
William McLaughlin	D	-	0
Ed Twitchell	RW	-	0
Donald Weekes	D/LW	-	0
George Wilson	D	1	0
Total			3

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "The Kaleidoscope 1925". Middlebury College. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ "Hockey Team to Meet Williams Saturday". Middlebury Campus. January 9, 1924. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ "Puck Chasers to Meet Union Friday". Middlebury Campus. January 16, 1924. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ "Garnet Hockey Team Outplay Middlebury 3-0". Concordiensis. January 22, 1924. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
^ "Clarkson Wins Hockey Contest". Middlebury Campus. February 13, 1924. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ "St. Michael's Wins Hockey Contest". Middlebury Campus. February 13, 1924. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ "Blue Puck-Chasers Lose by 3-1 Score". Middlebury Campus. February 20, 1924. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ "Hockey Team Ties with St. Michaels". Middlebury Campus. February 27, 1924. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ "Ariel 1925". The University of Vermont. Retrieved August 1, 2023.