…Maritime Intercollegiate Champions
After an absence of eight years, the provincial and tri-province hockey titles returned to Acadia during the Winter of ’48. Superior conditioning, plenty of practice, a long twenty-nine game schedule and the expert coaching of Major Fred Kelly paid-off for the red and blue powerhouse.
Statistics for the season indicated that the Axemen scored an average of 8.1 goals per game while the opposition managed 4.9 per game against acrobatic netminder Jack Proud and alternate Roy MacLean.
Bryson “Kid” Crowell was the team’s high scorer with 27 goals and 36 assists for 63 points. He was followed by linemate Murray “Moe” Smith with 53 points and Bob “Gint” MacKenzie with 50. Jack Walker established a new mark for defensemen with 30 points, while rugged John Bateman took “bad man” honours with 49 minutes in the penalty box.
The first full season of play on artificial ice obviously paid dividends for the Kellymen as they struggled to accommodate playing schedules in both the Valley and Intercollegiate leagues.
In Valley League play-offs, the Axemen defeated Wolfville Red Wings by scores of 10-7 and 9-3 as “Gint” MacKenzie and Ralph McKelvie scored four and three goals respectively. In the championship series against Windsor Maple Leafs, and 4-2 and 9-5 losses, rear-guards Reg Crosby {still making those great length-of-the-ice rushes} and Pat Leightizer were singled out for praise.
In regular schedule play against the intercollegiate clubs, the Axemen posted a 7-2 win over St. F.:X. as Jack Walker, Neil MacVicar, Doug Roach, Bryson Crowell, “Moe” Smith and Captain Ed Bagnall took care of the scoring. Jack Proud, as was his custom, stopped many an Antigonish attack. Paced by their “Punch Line” of Crowell, Smith and Lloyd “Rocky” MacFarlane, they blasted Nova Scotia Tech, 10-7. In a 15-1 shellacking of St. Mary’s, Jack Walker earned five assists. In a deciding 10-5 triumph, the Axemen were paced by “Gint” MacKenzie’s three goals and Jack Proud’s netminding.
It is indeed an honour to welcome for induction to Acadia’s Sports Hall of Fame, members of the 1947-48 Hockey Team -the Maritime Intercollegiate Champs.
