1922–23 Dartmouth Indians men's ice hockey season

After narrowly missing out on a championship in 1922, Dartmouth entered this season looking to finally claim a title. In order to prevent one of the biggest problems from reoccurring, the team scheduled most of their games to be on the road as Occom Pond could not be counted on for consistent ice. Leon Tuck returned as coach after a year's absence and found a roster waiting for him that was already well experienced. While the Indians lost a few players to graduation, they got a boost from the return of Lloyd Neidlinger, who had been the starting goaltender in '21. The biggest problem was the ineligibility of Colder and Hall who would not be able to return to the team until at least February.

The team opened the season against Columbia at Lake Placid. The Greens found themselves in a tough fight at times but overall they proved that they were the better team.[1] Dartmouth swept the three-game series and then took a week break over Christmas. The players then travelled to Buffalo for a two-game series with the Nichols Hockey Club. The Green found the semi-pros to be a stronger opponent than Columbia but were still able to keep their record spotless.

A few weeks later, the team was back on the road to New York for a pair of matches. After a relatively easy win over Hamilton, the Indians were stunned by the pushback they received from Cornell. Despite this being the Big Red's first game of the season, the typically weak squad fought hard against the undefeated greens. Goals from Sheehy and Foster were swiftly matched by the Cornell and regulation ended in a tie. Team captain Osborne made sure that Dartmouth would not lose its perfect record to the Reds with the first goal in overtime. Sheehy's second a few minutes later made sure that Dartmouth would return home with the record unblemished.[2]

The team's narrow escape apparently did nothing to prepare them for their next match the following week because the Indians found themselves down by 4 goals midway through the second period. Dartmouth got off to a poor start in the match, allowing 3 goals to Williams in the first minutes of the game. Foster cut into the lead before the end of the period but that still left the Greens down by a pair. The sluggish play continued in the middle period and two more goals from the Purple made the game's result almost inevitable. However, the 5th goal from Williams appeared to light a fire under the team and Dartmouth began to resemble the dominant team that warranted their record. Sheehy, Lyon and Osborne all tallied before the end of the second to shrink the deficit to 1. Both defenses tightened in the third period and only one goal was scored. Fortunately for Dartmouth, it was Sheehy's second goal of the game and the two would need overtime to settle matters. Two 5-minute overtimes resulted in no further scoring so a third, sudden death period of 15 minutes (maximum) was adopted. About halfway through the third extra period, Foster fired the puck from center ice which then deflected off of Osborne's shoulder into the net, giving Dartmouth one of the most dramatic victories in its history.[3]

Dartmouth had a few week off before the next game in which to relax and they returned against Massachusetts Agricultural with a more determined game. Playing at home for the first time, the team was able to demonstrate that they were worth of their undefeated record. The Aggies got on the scoresheet first but then Dartmouth's superior experience and training led them to take over for the rest of the game. Four different players joined in to score 5 goals for the Indians. The team was in such control that coach Tuck was able to let Ed Learnard get a turn in goal.[4] With 9 wins already under its belt, Dartmouth headed south for the big showdown with Yale. Though the Elis were already out of the running for an intercollegiate title, they were still a dangerous team. Luckily, both Colder and Hall were now able to play for the Indians once more and the two were needed against a very fast Bulldog sextet. Yale opened the scoring early but, despite furious attempts by both teams, neither was able to score in the next 20 minutes. Sheehy finally tied the score in the second and, after the Elis regained the lead, Lyons potted two more before the period was over to give his team a 1-goal edge. The third saw Yale put all of their skaters on the offense but the Greens held and skated away with a 3–2 victory.[5]

On the way back to Hanover, Dartmouth made a stop in New York to face Army. Still jubilant over their 10th win of the season, the Indians didn't take the Cadets seriously as their opponents had lost 4 out of their last 5 games. That hubris came back to haunt the Greens as Army played possibly the finest defensive game in its history and shutout Dartmouth. The lone goal from the Cadets was all they needed to end the Indians' perfect season and put in doubt their intercollegiate title. Because Dartmouth still had two of the other teams vying for a championship left on its schedule the team would be able to overcome the single loss but Dartmouth could not afford a second defeat.

The second and final home game of the year came against MIT. Just like the first, the Indians were no match for their opponent and Dartmouth was able to set a new program record with its 11th win of the year. After a week off to catch their breath, the team returned with a match against St. Paul's School. Despite being one of the top prep teams in the country, the teenagers were hopelessly outmatched by Dartmouth and gave the Indians their biggest win on the season. A few days later, Dartmouth headed south for the first of two games that would conceivable decide the championship. First up was Harvard and the three-time defending intercollegiate champions were loathe to give up their crown. The two juggernauts fought a defensive battle with Harvard platooning wave after wave of fresh troops against Dartmouth to overwhelm the visitors. Dartmouth absorbed the attack and then countered with a single goal. Neidlinger and the defense made sure that lone tally held up and Dartmouth exorcised the Crimson demon, giving the Greens their first win over Harvard since 1915.

At 13–1, Dartmouth only had Princeton left on its schedule. Though the Tigers were having a bit of a renaissance season, they had lost twice to Harvard in the interim and were no longer in competition for the intercollegiate title. The only thing that Princeton could do in their final match was ruin Dartmouth's chances for the Indians' first title. Similar to the Harvard game, the two teams began with a defensive struggle that was vitally important for Dartmouth as Neidlinger was unavailable for the match and Learnard replaced him as the starting netminder. Dartmouth played a fairly rough game and was whistled for several penalties in the first two periods, however, rather than cost the Indians, the aggressive style put Princeton on the defensive and enabled Dartmouth to get a lead. The Greens did what they could to make Perry's goal early in the second stand up like that had against Harvard. Unfortunately, Princeton's offense fought back in the third. Less than a minute into the final frame, the score was tied and that caused Dartmouth to cease its overly-physical play. With the extra space needed, the Princeton forwards scored twice in the second half of the period and then played a 5-man defense over the last few minutes. Dartmouth was caught off-guard by the sudden turn of evens and the Indians were unable to mount a comeback.[6]

The loss to Princeton was akin to a torpedo in the side of Dartmouth's championship hopes. While the Indians still had wins over Harvard and Yale, they did not have a match with the other team vying for the title: Boston College. BC had an undefeated record against intercollegiate opponents but they had only played 5 games and had not faced any of the ivies during the season. Unfortunately for Dartmouth, the two did have several opponents in common. Both had defeated the Nichols Hockey Club twice; both had shut out wins over MIT; both had sizable road victories at Hamilton. However, while Dartmouth had lost to Army, BC had smashed the Cadets 9–1 and finished the year with one loss to a western semi-pro team. In spite of the otherwise glorious season, Dartmouth would have to settle for second place once more.[7]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team
		Charles A. Colder	Senior	C/LW			1901-05-25	Cleveland, Ohio
		Morton W. Fletcher	Senior	RW			1901-08-27	Greenfield, New Hampshire
		John E. Foster	Senior	D			1900-06-28	Montclair, New Jersey
		Edward R. Furey	Senior	LW			1897-05-10	New York, New York
		Robert B. Hall	Junior	C/LW	5' 8" (1.73 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	1899-10-13	Oak Park, Illinois	Brooklyn Crescents
		Edward H. Learnard	Junior	G			1902-12-19	Brighton, Massachusetts
		Stanley H. Lyon	Junior	D/F			1903-02-05	Dorchester, Massachusetts
		Lloyd K. Neidlinger	Senior	G			1901-12-23	Brooklyn, New York
		James M. Osborne (C)	Senior	LW/RW			1901-05-09	Cleveland, Ohio
		David A. Perry	Junior	D/F			1902-03-12	Sharon, Massachusetts
		Francis E. Sheehy	Junior	C/LW			1902-04-16	Roxbury, Massachusetts
		James B. Sly	Junior	C			1901-09-16	Elmira, New York

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† Dartmouth records have the score at 0–7 while contemporary accounts list the final as 0–2.
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