The St. Thomas Tommies men's ice hockey team was an ice hockey team representing the St. Thomas Tommies athletics program of St. Thomas University. The team was a member of the Atlantic University Sport conference and competed in U Sports. The program was discontinued in 2016 due to budget constraints.

History St. Thomas fielded an ice hockey squad at least as early as 1916, however, the sparse records do not indicate whether or not this was a varsity team. The records for an official squad do not begin until the Tommies joined the Maritime Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1937. In the early years, the team found itself lagging behind its contemporaries, however, the team's situation changed after returning following World War II. St. Thomas steadily improved throughout the 1950s and won its first regular season title in '59. Two years later, the Tommies captured their first league championship.

Unfortunately, the team was unable to sustain their success and began slipping down the standings afterwards. By the mid-70s, St. Thomas was playing so poorly that they won just 2 games over a 3-year span. The team suspended operations in 1975 but returned four years later, hoping that the time off could do them some good. For the first half of the 1980s, little appeared to have changed for the Tommies; the team routinely finished at the bottom of the standings and couldn't get a sniff of the postseason. The team was finally able to put together a winning season in 1986 and, three years later, made its first playoff appearance in nearly 20 years. That season saw the Tommies come achingly close to making their first appearance in the national tournament but a loss in the conference championship put those dreams on hold. Over the succeeding decade, the Tommies were mostly a mediocre team in their conference but they began to raise their level of play at the end of the 90s. After a few near misses, St. Thomas was finally able to win a second conference championship in 2001. The squad was quickly bounced from the national tournament, losing both round-robin games, and then finished last in the standings the following year.

Hopes were renewed in 2003 when St. Thomas won a regular season title but they were upset in the Semifinal round. The program declined afterwards, sinking to the bottom of the conference by 2010. Over a 7-year span, St. Thomas finished last every season save one and didn't make a single postseason appearance. With little hope on the horizon, the school's administration decided to end the program and invest the money elsewhere. At the time the team was running a deficit of approximately $250,000 per year with little to show for the price tag. Dawn Russell, the then-university president, reasoned that funding a competitive ice hockey team was beyond the means of the school.

Throughout its history, the program had three players that would go on to play in the NHL: Kevin MacDonald, Yannick Tremblay, and Patrick Bordeleau. Former NHL player Al MacAdam was head coach of the program from 1987-1997, while former NHL player Mike Eagles was head coach from 2002-2011.

Season-by-season results

Senior and collegiate play Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points

U Sports Champion U Sports SemifinalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTPts*FinishGPWLT%1937–38MIAA41302?????? 1938–39MIAA60600?????? 1939–40MIAA61413?????? Program suspended due to World War II1946–47MIAA0000––????? won Quarterfinal series, 14–12 (New Brunswick)lost Semifinal series, 10–13 (Saint Dunstan's)1947–48MIAA41307th????? 1948–49MIAA0000––????? won Quarterfinal series, 13–11 (Saint Dunstan's)lost Semifinal series, 5–11 (New Brunswick)1949–50MIAA6222T–3rd????? 1950–51MIAA0000––????? won Quarterfinal series, 16–9 (Saint Dunstan's)won Semifinal series, 13–7 (New Brunswick)Lost Championship series, 8–13 (St. Francis Xavier)1951–52MIAA–––––—????? no contest Quarterfinal series, withdrew (Saint Dunstan's)1952–53MIAA00000–????? won Quarterfinal series, 7–4 (New Brunswick)lost Semifinal series, 5–13 (Mount Allison)1953–54MIAA00000–????? Lost Quarterfinal series, 9–10 (New Brunswick)Totals GP W L T %ChampionshipsRegular Season ? ? ? ? ? Conference Post-season ? ? ? ? ? Regular Season and Postseason Record ? ? ? ? ?

Collegiate only Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points U Sports Champion U Sports SemifinalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTOTLSOLPts*FinishGPWLT%1954–55MIAA6321––73rd6321 1955–56MIAA6420––8 T–3rd6420 1956–57MIAA6060––0T–8th6060 Program suspended1958–59MIAA6501––11 1st10811 Won Semifinal series, 16–5 (Mount Allison)Lost Championship series, 1–10 (St. Francis Xavier)1959–60MIAA6510––10 1st8530 Lost Semifinal series, 5–11 (New Brunswick)1960–61MIAA6330––6T–5th10541 Won Semifinal series, 4–3 (Mount Allison)Won Championship series, 13–10 (St. Francis Xavier)1961–62MIAA6411––93rd8521 Lost Semifinal series, 6–7 (New Brunswick)1962–63MIAA11632––143rd11632 1963–64MIAA11740––144th11740 1964–65MIAA11650––124th11650 1965–66MIAA14581––115th14581 1966–67MIAA133100––67th133100 1967–68MIAA16871––175th16871 1968–69AIAA181161––234th201271 Won Semifinal, 4–2 (Saint Dunstan's)Lost Championship, 2–4 (Saint Mary's)1969–70AIAA181071––214th191081 Lost Semifinal, 1–7 (Saint Mary's)1970–71AIAA173140––69th173140 1971–72AIAA185112––128th185112 1972–73AIAA201190––10th201190 1973–74AUAA200200––10th200200 1974–75AUAA181170––210th181170 Program suspended1979–80AUAA274230––89th274230 1980–81AUAA218130––169th218130 1981–82AUAA260242––210th260242 1982–83AUAA244191––99th244191 1983–84AUAA244200––88th244200 1984–85AUAA244191––99th244191 1985–86AUAA2414100––5th2414100 1986–87AUAA247170––7th247170 1987–88AUAA266200––128th266200 1988–89AUAA261790––34T–4th3421130 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–1 (Prince Edward Island)Won Semifinal series, 2–1 (Acadia)Lost Championship series, 0–2 (Moncton) 1989–90AUAA2110110––20T–6th2411130 Lost Quarterfinal series, 1–2 (Moncton) 1990–91AUAA2610142––228th2810162 Lost Division Semifinal series, 0–2 (Prince Edward Island) 1991–92AUAA2611141––235th2811161 Lost Division Semifinal series, 0–2 (Prince Edward Island) 1992–93AUAA2611132––246th2811152 Lost Division Semifinal series, 0–2 (Moncton) 1993–94AUAA2614111––294th2915131 Lost Division Semifinal series, 1–2 (Moncton) 1994–95AUAA2611123––256th3113153 won Division Semifinal series, 2–1 (New Brunswick)Lost Division Final series, 0–2 (Moncton) 1995–96AUAA261961––39 T–1st292081 Lost Division Semifinal series, 1–2 (Moncton) 1996–97AUAA2814113––314th3216133 won Division Semifinal series, 2–0 (Prince Edward Island)Lost Division Final series, 0–2 (New Brunswick) 1997–98AUAA28141131–324th3216133 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–0 (Moncton)Lost Semifinal series, 0–2 (New Brunswick) 1998–99AUS2614932–33 1st3016113 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–0 (Prince Edward Island)Lost Semifinal series, 0–2 (Moncton) 1999–00AUS2618802–38 2nd3121100 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–0 (Prince Edward Island)Lost Semifinal series, 1–2 (New Brunswick) 2000–01AUS2816841–372nd3620124 Won Semifinal series, 2–1 (Dalhousie)Won Championship series, 2–1 (St. Francis Xavier) Lost Pool B Round-Robin, 1–6 (Quebec–Trois-Rivières), 2–3 (Wilfrid Laurier)2001–02AUS2871821–178th287192 2002–03AUS2816750–37 1st311795 Lost Semifinal series, 1–2 (New Brunswick) 2003–04AUS28111322–266th3414182 Won Semifinal series, 2–1 (Saint Mary's)Lost Semifinal series, 1–2 (St. Francis Xavier) 2004–05AUS2891720–208th289172 2005–06AUS2814923–335th3115142 Lost Quarterfinal series, 1–2 (Saint Mary's) 2006–07AUS281414–0–285th3416180 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–1 (Saint Mary's)Lost Semifinal series, 0–3 (Moncton) 2007–08AUS281111–6–28T–4th3413210 Won Quarterfinal series, 2–1 (St. Francis Xavier)Lost Semifinal series, 0–3 (New Brunswick) 2008–09AUS28816–4–207th288200 2009–10AUS28719–2–168th287210 2010–11AUS28321–4–108th283250 2011–12AUS28518–5–158th285230 2012–13AUS28324–1078th283241 2013–14AUS28620–20147th286220 2014–15AUS28222–4198th282260 2015–16AUS28225–0158th282251 Totals GP W L T/SOL %ChampionshipsRegular Season 1226 438 736 52 3 West Division Titles, 3 MacAdam Division Titles, 2 MIAA Championships, 1 AUAA Championships, 2 AUS ChampionshipsConference Post-season 90 38 50 2 1 MIAA Championship, 1 AUS ChampionshipU Sports Postseason 2 0 2 0 1 National tournament appearanceRegular Season and Postseason Record 1318 476 788 54 Note: Totals include results from 1954–55 onward.

See also St. Thomas Tommies (Canada) women's ice hockey

References

External links St. Thomas University Athletics