Penn-Ohio Intercollegiate Hockey League

The Pennsylvania-Ohio Intercollegiate Hockey League, sometimes called the Penn-Ohio Intercollegiate Hockey League, Ohio-Penn Intercollegiate Hockey League or Cleveland-Pittsburgh Intercollegiate Hockey League, was a varsity men's collegiate ice hockey conference from 1937-41.

Penn-Ohio Intercollegiate Hockey League
AssociationNCAA

History

The conference existed as early as 1930 as a loose affiliation of varsity and non-varsity programs.

In Pittsburgh, Duquesne University had a desire to align themselves with local schools who had a commitment to varsity intercollegiate hockey. In Cleveland, Al Supthin, owner of the Cleveland Barons was looking to fill the schedule of his newly completed Cleveland Arena. Supthin helped establish the league by offering Cleveland Arena as a home rink for local colleges. The league was officially formed in 1937 and divided into Eastern (Pittsburgh colleges)[1] and Western (Cleveland area colleges) divisions.

The original members were Baldwin Wallace College, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Case Institute of Technology, Duquesne University, Fenn College, John Carroll University, University of Pittsburgh, and Western Reserve College.

Just before the 1939-40 season, Pittsburgh abruptly discontinued their hockey program leaving just two teams in the Eastern division. The league abandoned the two-division format for 1939-40. The other Pittsburgh colleges, Duquesne and Carnegie Tech, dropped hockey after 1940 leaving the league with only the Ohio colleges of Case, Fenn, John Carroll and Western Reserve. The four schools continued competing as a league dropping the "Penn-Ohio" name for the 1940-41 season.

The league ceased to exist after 1941.

Regular Season Champions

Eastern Division
  • 1938 Duquesne University
  • 1939 Duquesne University

Western Division
  • 1938 John Carroll University
  • 1939 John Carroll University

League
  • 1940 John Carroll University
  • 1941 John Carroll University

Playoff Champions

Eastern Division
  • 1938 University of Pittsburgh (defeated Duquesne)
  • 1939 University of Pittsburgh (defeated Duquesne) [2]

Western Division
  • 1938 John Carroll University (defeated Western Reserve)
  • 1939 John Carroll University (defeated Western Reserve)

League
  • 1938 John Carroll University (defeated Pittsburgh 2-0 in a best-of-three series)
  • 1939 John Carroll University (defeated Pittsburgh 2-0 in best-of-three series) [3]
  • 1940 John Carroll University (defeated Duquesne 2-0 in best-of-three series) [4]
  • 1941 Case Institute of Technology (defeated John Carroll 2-1 in best-of-three series) [5]

Playoff Format
  • 1938 A four team divisional playoff (top two teams from each division) with the semifinals being a two games, total goals format and the championship being a best-of-three format.
  • 1939 The four team divisional format was retained in 1939 with the semifinals switching to a best-of-three series.
  • 1940-1941 Playoff was played between the top two teams in the league in a best-of-three series format.

Members

Eastern Division

Western Division

After Baldwin Wallace College and the University of Pittsburgh dropped hockey in 1939, the two division structure was abandoned.[7]

John Carroll's Unbeaten Streak

John Carroll's hockey team played without recording a loss for 41 straight games[8]. The unbeaten streak began with a 9-1 victory over Case on January 20, 1939. Case ended the streak two years later. After John Carroll defeated Case, 6-4, in game one of the conference championship, Case recorded a triple-overtime win in game two on March 21, 1941.

Winning Streak

The team also recorded 29 consecutive wins during the 41-game unbeaten streak. The winning streak began just as the unbeaten streak did on January 20, 1939. John Carroll won every game played through the end of the 1939-40 season. The last win of the streak was a 6-5 overtime win over Duquesne in game two of the conference championship. The streak ended in the 1940-41 season opener when John Carroll tied Western Reserve, 1-1, on December 6, 1940.

Controversial End

The winning streak ended in controversy. John Carroll's game with Western Reserve was the second game of a double-header. The first game between Case and Fenn started late which delayed the start of John Carroll's game. A paid public skate was scheduled following the double-header at 9 p.m. After regulation time expired with a tied score, arena management would not permit an overtime period in favor of starting the public skate.

Modern Record Comparrison

The 41-game overall beaten streak and 29-game overall winning streak are not in official record books. The NCAA began record-keeping for ice hockey with the 1947-48 season.

Unbeaten Streak Comparrison

Compared to the modern NCAA overall unbeaten streak record of 38 games, John Carroll's unbeaten streak is three games better. The NCAA record is held by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Division I and St. Norbert College and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in Division III.

Winning Streak Comparrison

John Carroll's 29-game overall winning streak would be second-best in Division I and third-best in Division III. Rensselaer and Cornell University hold the Division I record with a 30-game winning streak. The Division III record and second-best record are held by UMass-Dartmouth (38 games) and Adrian College (36 games), respectively.

Eddie Arsenault

The best player during the conference's existence was John Carroll University's Eddie Arsenault. A native of Waterville, Maine, Arsenault was known to John Carroll fans as the "Flying Frenchman."[9] He led the conference in goals scored for three consecutive seasons and finished his three-year career with 123 total goals. Arsenault scored 38 goals in 16 games in 1937-38, 52 goals in 23 games in 1938-39, and 33 goals in 14 games in 1939-40. His 123 goals were scored in games timed 15 minutes per period under Penn-Ohio league rules, unlike today's 20-minute periods.

Scoring Streak

Arsenault recorded a 28-game point streak starting on January 20, 1939, when he scored seven goals in a 9-1 win over Case. On March 10, 1939, Arsenault scored five goals against Baldwin Wallace to start a 21-game goal-scoring streak. Arsenault's point and goal streaks only ended when he was graduated in 1940.

Of his final 28 games, Arsenault scored at least one goal in 27 games. A game against Pittsburgh on March 8, 1939, was Arsenault's lone goalless performance. He had played the entire Pittsburgh game with a broken hand.

Modern Record Comparrison

The NCAA does not track records for ice hockey previous to the 1947-48 season. However, his 123 total career goals scored in 53 games averaged to 2.32 goals-per-game. Arsenault's average would be a record in NCAA Division I (Bill Munro of Clarkson College averaged 1.97 in 36 games from 1949-52) and second-best in NCAA Division III (Phil Latreill of Middlebury College averaged 2.94 in 85 games from 1958-61).

References
  1. "50 Years Ago (1937)". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Press. October 19, 1987. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  2. "Dukes Win Hockey Title". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The NEws-Dispatch (evening edition). March 2, 1939. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  3. "Carroll in Title Win over Pitt". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (evening edition). April 1, 1939. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  4. "Carroll Wins Over Dukes". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (evening edition). March 31, 1940. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  5. "Case Ends Carroll's Reign as College Hockey Champion, 2-1". Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Plain Dealer. April 5, 1941. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  6. "College Icers In Duel Bill". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 11, 1940. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  7. "Dukes, Tech Icers Clash". Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Press. December 3, 1939. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  8. "Carroll's Icers Halted By Case". Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Plain Dealer. March 22, 1941. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  9. "Winslow's French-Canadian Express". Kennebec Valley, Maine: Discover Maine Magazine. January 9, 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
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