Bryn Athyn College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 15

Philly goal, only to have his shot lost by Hauser’s clever
stopping. Schnarr finally got one through Hauser for
the final tally of the game.

Bryn Athyn played its final league game against
Swarthmore on March 11. The score was 24-2 in
Bryn Athyn’s favor, and the team was crowned the
first ever scholastic ice hockey champions in the
Philadelphia area (Bryn Athyn successfully defended
the title the following year).
The press had noticed that the Bryn Athyn
hockey team was on the same level as some of the
University teams of the day. The Evening Bulletin
wrote: “Bryn Athyn has one of the strongest school
teams in the country and is on a par with some of the
college [teams].” The confidence of Bryn Athyn in its
team’s abilities is apparent as it was actively looking
for games against teams from universities. A Bryn
Athyn publication called The Bulletin of the Sons of
the Academy explained:
Strenuous efforts were made to schedule some games
with University teams. This was found to be impossible;
such teams had nothing to gain and everything to
lose by risking their athletic reputations in our hands.
However, through the courtesy of the managers of
the Philadelphia Ice Palace and the coaches of their
respective teams, two practice games were arranged with
Pennsylvania and Princeton Universities respectively.

The first of these practice games game took
place on February 18, when Bryn Athyn played the
University of Pennsylvania. The game ended with a
6-0 win for Bryn Athyn. Two weeks later Bryn Athyn
played Princeton University. The local community
newsletter Bryn Athyn Post did its part to rally the
Bryn Athyn community to come to the game:
Bryn Athyn Academy will play Princeton University
on Wednesday night Mar. 2nd…You may be interested
to know that Bryn Athyn beat the University of
Pennsylvania at hockey several weeks ago by a score of 6
to 0. This is a big score. Come Wednesday evening if you
can. There will be no disappointments.

There were no disappointments. Again the Bryn
Athyn crowd was treated to another win against an
Ivy League University, as Bryn Athyn skated past
Princeton by a score of 5-1. The successful 1921
ice hockey season culminated with the scholastic
Pennsylvania State championship, in which Bryn
Athyn faced an all-star team from the Pittsburgh
schools that was coached by none other than
McCormick who had been a member of the 1920 US
Olympic ice hockey team. The championships series
consisted of two games on March 25 and 26, 1921, at
the Ice Palace. The first game was a one-sided affair
as Bryn Athyn beat the Pittsburgh team 7-0. College

Philadelphia Public Ledger wrote the
following after the Bryn Athyn beat
Princeton University 5-1:

student Theodore
When speaking of scholastic and collegiate
Doering had a shutout
competition, one naturally uses different
breaths. It is hard to connect the one with
in the Bryn Athyn goal,
the other, save the relation that the higher
and Werner Schnarr
ever has to the lower. One follows the
scored all the goals for
other in the regular course of events; never
do they come together. In other words,
Bryn Athyn.
the preparatory institution never meets
The second game
the college in actual play. The scrubs of
was won by an even
the more advanced institutions may be
scheduled by an ambitious high school,
bigger margin as
but beyond that nothing can be done.
Doering had another
To pit youths of seventeen and nineteen
shutout performance
years against the more mature young men
of the universities would seem idiotic.
as Bryn Athyn won
With the preceding arguments in mind,
13-0 to claim the
listen to this: The writer no more than a
Pennsylvania State
week ago saw an academy ice hockey
team meet and defeat the varsity of a
hockey championship.
college famous the world over. And the
Offensively, the
boys did the trick with precision and éclat.
Schnarrs scored all the
Their victory resulted not from luck but
from a planned system of attack, executed
goals: Werner nine, his
with co-operation and supported by
brother Clarence three
no little amount of individual brilliancy.
and cousin Rud one.
The score was 5 goals to 1. Assuredly
that banishes all thought of luck.
The Pittsburgh Gazette
Times summarized with
the headline: Schnarr Family Too Much For Local Star
[Team]. Bryn Athyn dominated the game completely
and the Public Ledger wrote:
Pittsburgh was outclassed all the way. During the
second and third periods Pitt was entirely on the
defensive, seldom taking the puck down the ice, being
content to keep all six men on the defense and just
shoot the puck back into Bryn Athyn territory… Bryn
Athyn was the aggressor all the way. They played highclass hockey and left little doubt as to their right to the
state title.

The incredible success of Bryn Athyn Hockey almost
100 years ago was exhilarating for the players and
fans alike. Another energetic build around the sport
at BAC is resurging, evidenced by the increased fan
base and intensified fan culture. Just as devoted
followers made the journey downtown to the Ice
Palace in support of their boys in 1921, present-day
BAC Hockey fans traveled all the way to Alabama in
2015 to cheer their team in the ACHA D3 Nationals.
Strong BA youth and Secondary School hockey
programs, along with BAC recruitment efforts and
a higher profile reputation are attracting gifted
athletes, and the college team is gaining momentum
and reaching new heights. Knowing our rich history
reveals that we’ve been standing on the shoulders of
giants all along, and as we continue our climb, we
nod to the greats that came before.

B RY N AT H Y N A LU M N I M AG A Z I N E

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