The Queen's Gaels men's ice hockey team is an ice hockey team representing the Queen's Gaels athletics program of Queen's University at Kingston. The team is a member of the Ontario University Athletics conference and compete in U Sports. The Gaels play their home games at the Memorial Centre Arena in Kingston, Ontario.
History 19th century The earliest recorded game for Queen's came in 1884 but its unclear if the match was officially sanctioned by the University or not. In 1886, a group of students from Queen's arranged a match against fellow undergraduates from the Royal Military College. The game took place on Kingston harbor and is typically regarded as the first game between two teams from Ontario. The two schools have been rivals ever since, the oldest such rivalry in the sport. The young program played when it was able to find the time and opposition but was stabilized when it became a founding member of the Ontario Hockey Association.
In 1886, Queen's challenged the Royal Military College of Canada to a game played on the frozen Kingston harbour; the two schools play annually for the Carr-Harris Cup, to continue the world's oldest hockey rivalry. Queen's hockey is one of the oldest hockey clubs in the world; only McGill University's team, started in 1875, is older among Canadian university teams. Queen's played its first season in 1883–84, with the first game for which records exist played against a team from Petawawa.Queen's Journal, March 3, 1884.
In the 1890s, Queen's played in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), winning its championship three times consecutively, taking the Cosby Cup into its permanent possession. Queen's won the inaugural J. Ross Robertson Cup during the 1898–99 season, as the senior ice hockey champion of the OHA. As Ontario champion, the Queen's hockey team was a regular in Stanley Cup Challenge Games by challenging in 1895,Legends of Hockey [Accessed 30 April 2007] 1899 and 1906.
Playing senior hockey at the time, Queen's won a league championship in 1895 and challenged the Montreal Hockey Club for the Stanley Cup. They were reportedly outmatched in the game and lost 1–5. Four years later the team had its second opportunity for the cup when they faced the Montreal Shamrocks in 1899. This match went about as well as the last with Queen's losing 2–6.
Allan Cup At the beginning of the 20th century, Queen's joined with McGill and Toronto to form the first college conference in Canada. Queen's won two league championships in the first four years of play and leveraged their second intercollegiate title into a third challenge for the Stanley Cup. The Ottawa Hockey Club (later known as the 'Senators') easily dismissed the school boys with a pair of victories totaling 14–28. By 1909, the sport had become such a sensation in Canada that he various teams were separated into professional and amateur ranks. The Allan Cup was created as the amateur's version of the Stanley Cup and was initially awarded to the Ottawa Cliffsides. Queen's, by winning the intercollegiate title that season, earned the first challenge for the cup and defeated Ottawa 5–4, becoming the national amateur champions in the process. Queen's retained possession of the cup for a year and, after repeating as intercollegiate champs, they received their first challenge from the Cliffsides. Queen's cemented their place as the better of the two with a second win but were then beset by St. Michael's College and fell 4–5. Queen's returned to intercollegiate play afterwards and, though they were champions again in 1914, they did not challenge for the Allan Cup.
Interwar years In 1915 the college schedule was cancelled due to World War I and Queen's rejoined the OHA for the duration. After the war, the Tricolour, as they were then known, returned to the intercollegiate conference but found they had been outpaced by Toronto. Over an 8-year span, Queen's would not post a winning record and eventually they withdrew from the league altogether. Queen's returned to the OHA in 1929, playing two seasons before suspending play due to financial constraints. Queen's was able to restart its program in the mid 30's and joined a new international intercollegiate league. Queen's played well in the four seasons of league play but the arrangement ended with the outbreak of World War II.
Queen's operated a junior ice hockey team during the 1920s in the OHA. The junior team won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as the provincial champions in 1926, and had been finalists in 1921. Queen's reached the 1926 Memorial Cup finals, but lost to the Calgary Canadians for the national championship.
Transition period Queen's returned to play after the war but had fallen even further behind their contemporaries. The newly christened 'Golden Gaels' posted dismal records for five years, routinely finishing last in the conference, and withdrew in 1950. After one season in the OHA, which was no better, the program was suspended for the remainder of the decade. The Gaels returned to play in 1960 and joined the Quebec-Ontario Athletic Association. They were a middle of the pack team for most of the next two decades and remained with the Ontario side when the conference was realigned in 1971. 1981 saw Queen's win its first conference championship in over 65 years and the Gaels made their first appearance in the national tournament.
Long recovery After the title, Queen's had a few good years in the early 80s but slipped into the bottom half of the conference by the middle of the decade. After 1984, Queen's did not post a winning record for over 20 years and didn't fully regain their previous form until 2014. The Gaels finally returned to the national tournament in 2017 and won their second league championship two years later.
In 2018–19, the Gaels won their first Queen's Cup in 38 years, 4–1 over Guelph Gryphons in front of a 2,900 people at the Kingston Memorial Centre.
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%Senior Hockey1890–91OHA32104–????? Lost Semifinal, 0–4 (Ottawa Hockey Club) 1891–92OHA32104–????? Won First Round, 9–1 (Royal Military College)Won Second Round, 11–1 (Kingston Hockey Club)Lost Quarterfinal, 0–5 (Ottawa Hockey Club) 1892–93OHA43106–????? Won Quarterfinal, 14–2 (Peterborough)Lost Semifinal, 3–6 (Ottawa Hockey Club) 1893–94OHA31202–????? Lost Semifinal, 1–4 (Ottawa Hockey Club)‡Lost Championship, 2–3 (Osgoode Hall) 1894–95OHA44008 1st????? Won Semifinal, 19–5 (Toronto)Won Championship, 17–3 (Trinity) Lost Stanley Cup Challenge, 1–5 (Montreal Hockey Club)1895–96OHA00000–????? Won Semifinal, 6–3 (Ayr)Won Championship, 12–3 (Stratford) 1896–97OHA00000–????? Won Semifinal series, default (Peterborough)Won Championship series, 12–7 (Toronto) 1897–98OHA00000–????? Won Quarterfinal series, 32–6 (Royal Military College)Won Semifinal series, 7–5 (Brockville)Lost Championship, 3–7 (Osgoode Hall) 1898–99OHA22004 1st????? Won Quarterfinal series, 25–8 (Brockville)Won Championship series, 19–11 (Toronto) Lost Stanley Cup Challenge, 2–6 (Montreal Shamrocks)1899–00OHA00000–????? Won Group Semifinal, default (Brockville)Won Group Final series, 19–5 (Royal Military College)Won Semifinal series, 17–6 (Cornwall)Lost Championship series, 4–6 (Toronto Wellingtons) 1900–01OHA21102 1st????? Lost Provincial Final series, 2–7 (Toronto Wellingtons) 1901–02OHA211022nd????? Senior and Collegiate Hockey1902–03CIAU422042nd????? 1903–04CIAU43106 1st????? 1904–05CIAU422042nd????? 1905–06CIAU43106 1st????? Lost Stanley Cup Challenge series, 0–2 (Ottawa Silver Seven)1906–07CIAU413023rd????? 1907–08CIAU633062nd????? 1908–09CIAU651010 1st????? Won Allan Cup Challenge, 5–4 (Ottawa Cliffsides)1909–10CIAU64208 T–1st????? Won Championship, 8–2 (Ottawa) Won Allan Cup Challenge, 6–3 (Ottawa Cliffsides)Lost Allan Cup Challenge, 4–5 (St. Michael's College)1910–11CIAU422043rd?????1911–12CIAU404005th?????1912–13CIAU413023rd????? 1913–14CIAU43106 1st????? 1914–15CIAU41302T–2nd????? 1915–16OHA31202?????? 1916–17OHA70700?????? 1917–18OHA51402?????? Program suspended1919–20CIAU404003rd????? 1920–21CIAU404003rd????? 1921–22CIAU404043rd????? 1922–23CIAU633062nd????? 1923–24CIAU633062nd????? 1924–25CIAU633062nd????? 1925–26CIAU624043rd????? 1926–27CIAU606004th????? Program suspended1928–29OHA11650122nd????? Lost Championship series, 5–9 (Toronto)1929–30OHA12651133rd????? Program suspended1934–35OHA41302T–2nd????? Program suspended1936–37CIAU615024th????? IIL †1046085th 1937–38CIAU642082nd????? IIL10820162nd 1938–39CIAU642082nd????? IIL10730143rd 1939–40CIAU404043rd????? IIL844085th Program suspended1945–46CIAU606004th?????1946–47CIAU918024th????? 1947–48CIAU1239063rd????? 1948–49CIAU12012004th????? 1949–50CIAU12111024th????? 1950–51OHA34529010?????? Program suspendedTotals GP W L T %ChampionshipsRegular Season ? ? ? ? ? 3 OHA Championships, 5 CIAU ChampionshipsConference Post-season ? ? ? ? ? 4 OHA Championships, 1 CIAU ChampionshipRegular Season and Postseason Record ? ? ? ? ? 2 Allan Cup Championships † The International Intercollegiate League (IIL) was a joint venture between Canadian and American colleges. ‡ Ottawa refused to play in the championship due to a dispute of the site of the final game. Queen's assumed their place instead.
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