The McMaster Marauders men's ice hockey team (formerly the McMaster Marlins) was an ice hockey team representing the McMaster Marauders athletics program of McMaster University. McMaster previous fielded a team off-and-on for over 80 years, winning the inaugural University Cup in 1963.
History McMaster began its ice hockey program in 1902, playing first at the intermediate level. The team remained in the second tier of Canadian college hockey for several years but saw little success. After returning following the end of World War I, McMaster found itself mired at the bottom of the standings and decided to change tack. In 1920, the school decided to field a junior team in the Ontario Hockey Association. After the 20-and-under team went winless, the school abandoned the idea and then left the IIS for the Intermediate Groups. Again, the team went winless and the administration decided to suspend all of its hockey programs afterwards. The Marlins remained dormant for a few years but made a triumphant return in 1925, winning their IIS group in 1926. After taking the following year off, the school decided to support the program once more. McMaster jointly played both Intermediate and Senior hockey for a few years but then began to switch between the two in the early 30s. The club went dormant for a few years after 1935 in part due to financial problems brought about by the Great Depression. The Marlins returned in 1937 but were once again forced off of the ice after the outbreak of World War II.
After the second world war, McMaster returned to the Intermediate level but found that the state of Canadian college hockey had changed. The IIS was not restarted following the war and the schools were left to fend for themselves. McMaster was active at the time but few records of their time in the 40s and 50s persist. In 1958, several of the Intermediate programs took matters into their own hands and formed a new ice hockey league. The Marlins quickly became on the better teams and won the league championship in 1961.
The following season, McMaster was one of three clubs who were invited to join the Quebec–Ontario Athletic Association and they all played concurrently in both conferences. McMaster was league champion in both but lost their playoff match in the QOAA. The following season, the CIAU announced the inaugural University Cup and would invite the league champion of the four major conferences across the country. Because the OIAA was not to be included, McMaster played solely out of the QOAA and repeated as regular season champions. This time, however, they won the postseason championship and advanced to the national tournament. McMaster won a pair of 1-goal games to claim the title as the first national champion in Canadian college history.
After winning the title, McMaster quickly tumbled down the league standings and became a bottom-feeder by the end of the decade. After they were placed in the Ontario University Athletic Association (OUAA) during the great realignment in 1971, McMaster recovered some of their former glory. The team made the conference postseason many times between '72 and '83 with their best performance coming in 1979. Unfortunately, as the 80s wore on, the team experienced another lull and sagged towards the bottom of the standings. 1988 was the worst season the program had ever seen, with the Marauders finishing last in the standings. After an even worse campaign the year after, the school decided that it was too costly to support an expensive losing program and suspended the team for good.
Season-by-season results Senior and collegiate play Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points Extra-League ChampionU Sports SemifinalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTPts*FinishGPWLT%1902–03IIS??????????? Lost Western Round-Robin, 1–1 (Toronto II) 1903–04IIS??????????? Won Western Semifinal series, 13–11 (Toronto II)Lost Championship, 16–19 (Royal Military College) 1904–05IIS??????????? Lost Semifinal series, ?–? (Toronto II)1905–06IIS??????????? ? 1906–07IIS??????????? Lost Quarterfinal series, 7–16 (Toronto II)1907–08IIS??????????? Lost Semifinal series, 8–25 (Toronto II)1908–09IIS??????????? Lost Semifinal series, 9–16 (Toronto II) Program suspended1911–12IIS??????????? Lost Championship series, 7–12 (Royal Military College)1912–13IIS??????????? Won Divisional Final, ?–? (Toronto II)Lost Championship series, 7–17 (Royal Military College) 1913–14IIS??????????? Lost Semifinal series, 5–14 (Toronto II)1914–15IIS??????????? Lost Semifinal Round-Robin, 1–1 (Toronto II) Program suspended due to World War I1918–19Intermediate404003rd????? 1919–20IIS505004th????? 1920–21IIS??????????? OHA Jr.404003rd1921–22Intermediate606004th????? Program suspended1925–26IIS44000 1st????? Lost Championship series, 2–6 (Royal Military College) Program suspended1927–28IIS622262nd????? 1928–29IIS835064th?????OHA Sr.64208 T–1st Lost Group Championship series, 2–6 (Georgetown) 1929–30IIS??????????? OHA Sr.624043rd 1930–31IIS / OHA Sr. B †404004th????? 1931–32IIS303004th????? 1932–33IIS61502T–3rd????? 1933–34OHA Intermediate61502T–3rd????? 1934–35OHA Intermediate22004 T–1st????? Lost First Round series, 9–12 (Waterloo Hockey Club) Program suspended1937–38IIS605114th????? 1938–39IIS632172nd????? Program suspended due to World War II1945–46OHA Intermediate312043rd????? 1946–47Independent??????????? 1947–48Independent??????????? 1948–49Independent??????????? 1949–50Independent??????????? 1950–51Independent??????????? 1951–52Independent??????????? 1952–53Independent??????????? 1953–54Independent??????????? 1954–55Independent??????????? 1955–56Independent??????????? 1956–57Independent??????????? 1957–58Independent??????????? Totals GP W L T %ChampionshipsRegular Season ? ? ? ? ? 1 IIS Section Championship, 1 OHA Sr. Group Championship, 1 OHA Intermediate Group ChampionshipConference Post-season ? ? ? ? ? Regular Season and Postseason Record ? ? ? ? ? † The Western section of IIS play was also used for the standings of the OHA Senior B Group 2.
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%1958–59OIAA????––??????? 1959–60OIAA????––??????? 1960–61OIAA????––? 1st????? Won Semifinal, ?Won Championship, ? (Ontario Agricultural)1961–62QOAA111010––20 1st????? Lost Championship series, 10–13 (Toronto)OIAA????––? 1st Won Championship, forfeit (Ryerson) 1962–63QOAA121200––24 1st161600 Won Championship series, 12–7 (Laval) Won Semifinal, 4–3 (St. Francis Xavier)Won Championship, 3–2 (British Columbia)1963–64QOAA12651––133rd12651 1964–65QOAA16583––136th16583 1965–66QOAA166100––12T–5th166100 1966–67QOAA16790––145th16790 1967–68QOAA16952––203rd17962 Lost Semifinal, 5–6 (Waterloo) 1968–69QOAA155100––10T–9th155100 1969–70QOAA141113––411th141113 1970–71QOAA15393––9T–10th15393 1971–72OUAA191081––216th201091 Lost Quarterfinal, 1–2 (Guelph) 1972–73OUAA17890––1610th17890 1973–74OUAA196111––1310th196111 1974–75OUAA17953––217th18963 Lost Quarterfinal, 1–2 (Waterloo) 1975–76OUAA12921––192nd13931 Lost Quarterfinal, 1–2 (Guelph) 1976–77OUAA16790––1410th16790 1977–78OUAA161132––244th171142 Lost Quarterfinal, 4–5 (Wilfrid Laurier) 1978–79OUAA161321––27 1st????? Won Quarterfinal, 4–3 (OT) (Toronto)Won Semifinal, ?Lost Championship series, ?–? (Guelph) 1979–80OUAA221525––353rd????? results unavailable 1980–81OUAA221372––28T–5th231382 Lost Quarterfinal, 4–8 (Toronto) 1981–82OUAA221372––28T–3rd251492 Won Quarterfinal, 6–5 (York)Lost Semifinal series, 0–2 (Guelph) 1982–83OUAA2414100––285th2514110 Lost Quarterfinal, 4–3 (Queen's) 1983–84OUAA247134––18T–8th247134 1984–85OUAA2411121––238th2411121 1985–86OUAA245172––12T–11th245172 1986–87OUAA248133––197th248133 1987–88OUAA262222––617th262222 1988–89OUAA262231––2617th262231 Program suspendedTotals GP W L T/SOL %ChampionshipsRegular Season 503 217 243 43 2 OIAA Championships, 2 QOAA Championships, 1 OUAA Championship, 3 Central Division TitlesConference Post-season 11 3 8 0 2 OIAA Championships, 1 QOAA ChampionshipsU Sports Postseason 2 2 0 0 1 National tournament appearanceRegular Season and Postseason Record 516 222 251 43 1 National Championship Note: Totals include results from 1962–63 onward except for the 1979 and 1980 conference tournaments.
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