1947–48 MIT Engineers men's ice hockey season

MIT entered the season by putting together the most expansive slate of games in program history. The Engineers were scheduled to play 19 matches, 14 of which coming against NEIHL opponents.[1] With most of the games being played at the Boston Arena, MIT could at least be assured that weather would not impact their season too severely.

The Beavers played their first match in early December but had to do so without two of their star players as both Ed Thompson and Don Lea were both injured.[2] Without the standout forwards, MIT had to rely on its defense and team captain Jack Clifford led the way to a pair of victories after opening the year with a loss.

The following week, MIT was putting forth a tremendous performance against Northeastern despite missing three forwards. Don Lea was back in action and had paced the Engineers to a 4–2 lead. Unfortunately, he reinjured his twisted ankle in the second period while Tom Tsotsi was ejected after a fight. Short five regulars in the final period, MIT could not keep up the scoring pace and fell to the Huskies. The lack of offense was keenly felt in the next game when the Techmen were bowled over by Boston University 0–7.[3] Lea fought through his injury and returned for the match against Boston College. He proved to be pivotal in the team attempted comeback after falling down 1–4 in the first. He scored twice to pull the Engineers into a tie with the vaunted Eagles but BC played a stingy brand of defense thereafter and managed to grind out two goals to capture the match.[4]

After returning from the winter break, the Engineers had recovered from their various ailments and ice a full team for the first time that season. The result was a commanding victory over Suffolk with Clifford pacing all players with 7 points (4 g, 3 a).[5] The offense got a bit too loose in the next game and, despite scoring 5 goals, missed the net with 50 attempts. The unconverted opportunities led to MIT's 4th-consecutive conference loss and put the Engineers in a nearly impossible position for making the NEIHL playoffs.[6] To add injury to insult, Tsotsi was checked hard into the boards and was knocked unconscious for 20 minutes. He was sent to the Homberg Infirmary where he recovered.

The following week, MIT rallied to score two conference victories in convincing fashion.[7] They followed that up with a win over Fort Devens State to lift them up to an even record. However, those would be the final games for captain Clifford as he graduated after the fall semester.

After returning from the break, the team felt Clifford's absence on both sides of the ice as neither the offense nor the defense were performing at the same level.[8] The team knew it still needed to finish strong if it wanted to have a shot at the postseason berth, but losing the very next game to Bowdoin dealt a mortal blow to those chances. MIT's forwards were able to band together to overcome Clifford's loss; however, the defense was never able to fully recover and caused the Engineers to lose their last three conference matches.[9] The defeats dropped MIT to 5th place, just 1 behind Bowdoin for the final playoff berth.

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team
		Jack Adams		G
		George Aery		F
		Bradley		F
		John M. Clifford	Senior	D
		John Densmore		D
		Donald C. Lea	Sophomore	F			1927-08-20	Concord, New Hampshire
		Theodore R. Madden	Junior	D			1925-03-04	Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
		Clint McKim		F
		Don Molino		D
		William T. Morris	Sophomore	F			1928-11-12	Concord, Massachusetts
		Charles D. Nolan	Sophomore	F			1926-10-29	Saint Paul, Minnesota
		Charlie Seifert		F
		Mike Tenney		F
		Ed Thompson		F
		Norm Tisdale		F
		Tom Tsotsi		F
		Gerard J. Walworth	Junior	F			1926-06-30	Arlington, Massachusetts
		Bud Willard		F

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