Men’s Hockey Pays Homage to Past with Retro Alternate Jersey – Penn State

THE HISTORY

Penn State played its first-ever varsity contest against Carnegie Tech on December 6, 1940, after the Athletic Association voted in ice hockey, along with skiing, as an official varsity sport back in the spring. Penn State won that opening game 3-1 and went on to finish the 1940-41 season with a 6-3-1 record.

After the first season, the university’s Athletic Advisory Board granted hockey full status with full financial support. However, just three seasons later, with the effects of World War II being felt throughout the university, the Athletic Association would suspend hockey along with cross country, swimming, gymnastics, tennis and golf, as part of a war-time economy measure.

Hockey returned to Happy Valley following the war for one final season in 1946, with a seven-game schedule that saw four contests eventually cancelled due to warm weather. Prior to the start of the next season the Athletic Association once again dropped hockey, citing limited facilities. It would be nearly 25 years before University Park saw hockey once again, this time returning as a club sport in 1971 after a petition to bring the sport back to campus was signed by more than 3,000 members of the community.