1947–48 Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey season

The 1947–48 Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey season was the 26th season of play for the program but first under the oversight of the NCAA. The Terriers represent Boston University and were coached by Harry Cleverly, in his 3rd season.

1947–48 Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey season
NEIHL, Champion
Conference	1st NEIHL
Home ice	Boston Arena
Record
Overall	20–4–0
Conference	12–1–0
Home	7–1–0
Road	6–1–0
Neutral	7–2–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	Harry Cleverly
Captain(s)	Benjamin Forbes
Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey seasons « 1946–47 1948–49 »

Season

With the advent of a national tournament for this season, Boston University was one of the eastern teams favored to receive one of the two available bids. The Terriers didn't disappoint early when their offense, led by the top line of Dana Hixon, Irving Haynes and Jack Clopeck, showed up in force. BU scored in bunches and dominated their first four opponents. Their fifth game would be their biggest test, however, as Dartmouth was another prospective tournament hopeful, having won the last four eastern intercollegiate titles. Both teams were the measure of the other in the match and the two heavyweights fought to a draw in regulation. Unfortunately for the Terriers, Dartmouth pulled out the victory in overtime.^[1]

BU responded to their first loss of the season by going on a tear through eastern teams, winning their next four games by wide margins. After a week off the Terriers slowed down a bit but continued to pile up the victories and ran their record to 11–1. The team was hoping to break even with Dartmouth in the rematch, however, the second edition looked eerily similar to the first as the Indians took the match 5–6 in regulation. With the two losses to the greens and Dartmouth being the best team in the east, Boston University would need to win its conference championship if it had any hope of making the tournament.

To that point, the Terriers had been undefeated in league play and that trend continued as BU went on a third winning streak. Their final game of the regular season came against rival Boston College and was a rematch of an earlier BU victory. While the game would not affect BU's position in the standings, as they had already guaranteed themselves the NEIHL title, It could still impact the selection committee's decision on who would be the second eastern team. The Eagles, who were now playing with a full complement of players, stunned BU with a 2–9 drubbing and evened the season series. Fortunately, the Terriers had a chance to improve their standing because the NEIHL had instituted a conference tournament this season. BU was set against 3rd-place team Northeastern and were expecting the beat the Huskies for the third time that season, however, BU's defense faltered for the second straight game and the Terriers fell 5–8. The loss all but guaranteed that BU would not be selected for the tournament and the Terriers took their frustration out on Bowdoin in the consolation game, hammering the Polar Bears 18–4 and setting a new program record (since broken) for the most goals scored in one game.

Roster

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team
1		Ralph E. Bevins	Sophomore	G			1924-10-07
2		James Smith	Senior	D
5		Jerome Gleason	Junior	D
6		William Kirrane	Junior	F				Brookline, Massachusetts
8		Irving Haynes	Sophomore	F				Waltham, Massachusetts
9		Larry Dutton		D
10		Benjamin Forbes (C)	Senior	F
11		William Jurgelevich	Sophomore	D
12		Don Cleary	Junior	F				Cambridge, Massachusetts
14		Donald M. Dockrell		F			1925-10-20	Weathersfield, Connecticut
15		Lloyd Robinson		F				Wellesley, Massachusetts
16		Jack Clopeck		F			1925-05-15	Schenectady, New York
17		Bob Bell	Sophomore	F				Framingham, Massachusetts
18		Dana Hixon	Sophomore	F				Framingham, Massachusetts
20		Walt Anderson	Sophomore	D				Waltham, Massachusetts
		Bill Gibson		F
		Dick Grant		F
		John D. Pynchon	Sophomore	D			1927-06-24	Boston, Massachusetts

^[2]

Standings

1947–48 NCAA Independent ice hockey standings v t e
	Intercollegiate								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	Pct.	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Army	16	11	4	1	.719	78	39		16	11	4	1	78	39
Bemidji State	5	0	5	0	.000	13	36		10	2	8	0	37	63
Boston College	19	14	5	0	.737	126	60		19	14	5	0	126	60
Boston University	24	20	4	0	.833	179	86		24	20	4	0	179	86
Bowdoin	9	4	5	0	.444	45	68		11	6	5	0	56	73
Brown	14	5	9	0	.357	61	91		14	5	9	0	61	91
California	10	2	8	0	.200	45	62		17	5	12	0	87	89
Clarkson	12	5	6	1	.458	67	39		17	10	6	1	96	54
Colby	8	2	6	0	.250	28	41		8	2	6	0	28	41
Colgate	10	7	3	0	.700	54	34		13	10	3	0	83	45
Colorado College	14	9	5	0	.643	84	73		27	19	8	0	207	120
Cornell	4	0	4	0	.000	3	43		4	0	4	0	3	43
Dartmouth	23	21	2	0	.913	156	76		24	21	3	0	156	81
Fort Devens State	13	3	10	0	.231	33	74		–	–	–	–	–	–
Georgetown	3	2	1	0	.667	12	11		7	5	2	0	37	21
Hamilton	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		14	7	7	0	–	–
Harvard	22	9	13	0	.409	131	131		23	9	14	0	135	140
Lehigh	8	0	8	0	.000	8	95		10	0	10	0	12	108
Massachusetts	2	0	2	0	.000	1	23		3	0	3	0	3	30
Michigan	18	16	2	0	.889	105	53		23	20	2	1	141	63
Michigan Tech	19	7	12	0	.368	87	96		20	8	12	0	91	97
Middlebury	14	8	5	1	.607	111	68		16	10	5	1	127	74
Minnesota	16	9	7	0	.563	78	73		21	9	12	0	100	105
Minnesota–Duluth	6	3	3	0	.500	21	24		9	6	3	0	36	28
MIT	19	8	11	0	.421	93	114		19	8	11	0	93	114
New Hampshire	13	4	9	0	.308	58	67		13	4	9	0	58	67
North Dakota	10	6	4	0	.600	51	46		16	11	5	0	103	68
North Dakota Agricultural	5	3	2	0	.600	27	28		6	4	2	0	37	29
Northeastern	19	10	9	0	.526	135	119		19	10	9	0	135	119
Norwich	9	3	6	0	.333	38	58		13	6	7	0	56	70
Princeton	18	8	10	0	.444	65	72		21	10	11	0	79	79
St. Cloud State	12	10	2	0	.833	55	35		16	12	4	0	73	55
St. Lawrence	9	6	3	0	.667	65	27		13	8	4	1	95	50
Suffolk	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–
Tufts	4	3	1	0	.750	17	15		4	3	1	0	17	15
Union	9	1	8	0	.111	7	86		9	1	8	0	7	86
Williams	11	3	6	2	.364	37	47		13	4	7	2	–	–
Yale	16	5	10	1	.344	60	69		20	8	11	1	89	85

1947–48 New England Intercollegiate Hockey League standings v t e
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Boston University †	13	12	1	0	.923	86	40		24	20	4	0	179	86
Boston College *	10	9	1	0	.900	77	29		19	14	5	0	126	60
Northeastern	14	8	6	0	.571	108	79		19	10	9	0	135	119
Bowdoin	6	3	3	0	.500	32	38		11	6	5	0	56	73
MIT	14	5	9	0	.357	62	87		19	8	11	0	93	114
Middlebury	6	2	4	0	.333	27	48		16	10	5	1	127	74
New Hampshire	10	3	7	0	.300	42	56		13	4	9	0	58	67
Norwich	7	2	5	0	.286	25	50		13	6	7	0	56	70
Fort Devens State	11	3	8	0	.273	30	55		–	–	–	–	–	–
Colby	5	1	4	0	.200	17	27		8	2	6	0	28	41
† indicates conference champion * indicates conference tournament champion

Schedule and results

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Record
Regular Season
December 6	vs. MIT	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 10–5	1–0–0 (1–0–0)
December 8	Fort Devens State	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 10–1	2–0–0 (2–0–0)
December 10	vs. Harvard*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 8–2	3–0–0
December 16	vs. MIT	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 7–0	4–0–0 (3–0–0)
December 18	at Dartmouth*	Davis Rink • Hanover, New Hampshire	L 5–6 ^OT	4–1–0
December 22	vs. Northeastern	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 7–5	5–1–0 (4–0–0)
January 5	Holy Cross*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 13–5	6–1–0
January 7	at Colby	South End Arena • Waterville, Maine	W 5–0	7–1–0 (5–0–0)
January 8	at Brown*	Rhode Island Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island	W 13–2	8–1–0
January 17	at Yale*	New Haven Arena • New Haven, Connecticut	W 4–3	9–1–0
January 20	Fort Devens State	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 6–3	10–1–0 (6–0–0)
January 24	at New Hampshire	UNH Ice Rink • Durham, New Hampshire	W 6–4	11–1–0 (7–0–0)
January 26	Dartmouth*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	L 5–6	11–2–0
January 27	New Hampshire	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 4–1	12–2–0 (8–0–0)
January 30	at Army*	Smith Rink • West Point, New York	W 4–3	13–2–0
January 31	at Princeton*	Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey	W 8–1	14–2–0
February 2	vs. Northeastern	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 12–2	15–2–0 (9–0–0)
February 3	vs. Boston College	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 5–3	16–2–0 (10–0–0)
February 10	Norwich	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 7–3	17–2–0 (11–0–0)
February 11	vs. Harvard*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 10–6	18–2–0
March 2	Middlebury	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	W 5–4 ^OT	19–2–0 (12–0–0)
March 3	vs. Boston College	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts	L 2–9	19–3–0 (12–1–0)
NEIHL Tournament
March 8	vs. Northeastern*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts (NEIHL Semifinal)	L 5–8	19–4–0
March 9	Bowdoin*	Boston Arena • Boston, Massachusetts (NEIHL Consolation)	W 18–4	20–4–0
*Non-conference game.

^[3]

Scoring statistics

Name	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	PIM
Dana Hixon		-	33	16	49	-
Don Cleary		-	21	16	37	-
Bill Gibson		24	13	18	31	-
Benjamin Forbes		-	17	13	30	-
William Kirrane		-	8	13	21	-
Donald Cockrell		19	2	3	5	-
John Pynchon		8	0	0	0	-
Irving Haynes		-	-	23	-	-
Walt Anderson		-	-	-	-	-
Bob Bell		-	-	-	-	-
Jack Clopeck		-	-	-	-	-
Larry Dutton		-	-	-	-	-
Jerome Gleason		-	-	-	-	-
William Jurgelevich		-	-	-	-	-
Lloyd Robinson		-	-	-	-	-
James Smith		-	-	-	-	-
Ralph Bevins	G	24	-	-	-	-
Total			123	130	253	-

^[4]

References

1. "Boston University - HUB Yearbook (Boston, MA) - Class of 1948". Boston University. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
2. "Boston Univ". Elite Prospects. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
3. "Boston University men's Hockey 2021-22 Record Book" (PDF). Boston University Terriers. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
4. "Boston University 1947-48 roster and statistics". EliteProspects. Retrieved February 9, 2023.

External links