The 1947–48 Tufts Jumbos men's ice hockey season was the 10th season of play for the program but 1st under NCAA oversight. The Jumbos represented Tufts College and were coached by Harry Briggs for the first three games before Frank Anderson took over for the final match.
Season
Prior to the start of the season, the university's athletic association announced that there would not be an ice hockey team in 1948. Despite the news, Harry Briggs and the players from last year's squad organized on their own and arranged a limited schedule.[1] The club arranged a date with MIT in early December and, despite having limited ice time and no access to the school's equipment, the team performed well in a loss with Joe Saunders being under siege all game. The refusal of the team to quietly disperse had attracted a contingent of some 350 students for the game and many more in the aftermath. The club petitioned the school for formal recognition and pressured the administration to allow them to wear the school colors.
In early January, the college president (Leonard Carmichael) and vice president (Richard Kelley) met with three representatives from the team; Charles Kerrigan, Roger Peck and Robert Harris. The players asked for the school to give formal recognition for the team and were told that, while the administration wasn't against the idea in principle, the issue at hand was where the team could play. Acting A.D. William S. Yeager had cancelled the team because, in his opinion, all teams representing the college should play their home games on campus. While this wasn't an issue with most programs, the fact that Tufts College did not have an on-campus ice rink meant that the team was forces to go elsewhere to play their games. Yeager believed that if the players were good enough to play ice hockey then they should attend a different school that featured the game. I the end, however, Yeager relented and dropped his opposition to the team. The school agreed to formally recognize the outfit but would not financially support the program.[2]
In the meantime, the club had won two matches and were gearing up for a rematch with the Engineers. In the final game of the year, the team, now wearing official school sweaters, found themselves in trouble. After allowing two goals in the first, they allowed another pair in the first five minutes of the middle frame and were down 1–4. While everything appeared to being going the way of MIT, the Jumbos were able to turn the momentum in their favor with a power play goal before the midway point of the game. Just a few minutes later, Scooter Haines got the team's third goal and Tufts was suddenly down by just one goal. The Engineers hunkered down and kept the Jumbos back for several minutes but Dave Merrow managed to tie the score with just 25 seconds left in the period. Tufts kept MIT hemmed in their own end for most of the third and Peck was able to net the final goal of the game, giving the Jumbos a winning season and a perfect end to a tumultuous year.[3]
Frank Anderson served as head coach for the final game, taking over from Harry Briggs after the winter break. Russell Brewer served as team manager.
