The Winnipeg Wesmen men's ice hockey team was an ice hockey team representing the University of Winnipeg. The team was active from 1967 until 1984 and played out of the Pioneer Arena, now known as the Charlie Gardiner Arena.
History Wesley College, a small school in Winnipeg, was one of the first colleges in Western Canada to field a varsity ice hockey team, possibly as far back as the 1890s. The team was active when the school was amalgamated into United College in 1938, which then assumed control of the team. United's tenure with varsity hockey lasted just one season before the program was closed due to the outbreak of World War II. After the war, the school decided not to bring the team back. In 1967, United College became the University of Winnipeg and resurrected the ice hockey team.
The inaugural season for the Winnipeg Wesmen did not see much success. Under direction of Bill Johnson, the won just once in twenty games. Though they fired Johnson after the season, the team was able to earn admittance into the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WCIAA), the top collegiate circuit in Western Canada. Their inaugural season in the league went even worse when the Wesmen went winless in 20 games under former NHLer Bill Juzda. Winnipeg turned to Tommy Marshall as the third head coach in as many seasons. Modest improvements with the team allowed Marshall to stick around and he remained with the club for the rest of its existence. In his third season behind the bench, Marshall led the team to a division title and its first postseason appearance.
In 1972, the WCIAA was plait in two primarily as a way of cutting down on travel expenses. Winnipeg were founding members of the Great Plains Athletic Association (soon to be called Great Plains Athletic Conference) and finished as runners-up in the first two seasons of play. Unfortunately, that was the high water mark for the program. While there was some criticism of Marshall's ability as coach, the team was hamstrung by its subpar (for the college level) rink and its lack of recruiting. After 1974, the team never finished higher than 4th in the standings and was often dead-last. With little hope for the foreseeable future, the university decided to suspend the program in 1984 and, as of 2024, it has yet to return.
Season-by-season results Senior and collegiate play Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points Extra-League ChampionNational SemifinalistConference regular season championsConference Division ChampionsConference Playoff Champions SeasonConferenceRegular SeasonConference Tournament ResultsNational Tournament Results Conference OverallGPWLTPts*FinishGPWLT% 1967–68Independent––––––201190 Totals GP W L T %ChampionshipsRegular Season 20 1 19 0 Conference Post-season – – – – – Regular Season and Postseason Record – – – – – Note: information prior to 1949 are incomplete or missing.
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% 1968–69WCIAA200200––146th200200 1969–70WCIAA144100––87th144100 1970–71WCIAA206140––126th206140 1971–72WCIAA2010100––204th2110110 Lost Semifinal, 5–6 (Calgary) 1972–73GPAA12840––162nd12840 1973–74GPAC181080––202nd181080 1974–75GPAC213180––64th213180 1975–76GPAC187110––144th187110 1976–77GPAC229121––19T–3rd229121 1977–78GPAC248151––174th248151 1978–79GPAC246180––125th246180 1979–80GPAC201190––25th201190 1980–81GPAC246180––124th246180 1981–82GPAC243210––65th243210 1982–83GPAC243192––85th243192 1983–84GPAC243210––65th243210 Program SuspendedTotals GP W L T/SOL %ChampionshipsRegular Season 329 87 238 4 1 East Division TitleConference Post-season 1 0 1 0 U Sports Postseason 0 0 0 0 Regular Season and Postseason Record 330 87 239 4 Totals include only games at senior collegiate level. Note: Games not counted towards University Cup appearances are not included.
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