Never one to avoid a topic only peripherally related to college hockey, I
decided to investigate what nicknames were used by SLU while I was at RPI.
The earliest item that I could find is the program from the RPI-SLU game
in my sophomore year from 12/4/65 -- a moral victory for the worst RPI
team since hockey was reintroduced in 49-50, we only lost 4-0, with SLU
scoring all four goals in the third period.  Anyway, there it is on a box
on page 12:
 
St. Lawrence University
Location: Canton, N.Y.
Enrollment: 1,670 Coed
Colors: Scarlet and Brown
Nickname: Larries
Coach: George F. Menard
 
An accompanying article refers to them twice as Larries, never as Saints.
Similar information is contained in the program from 3/4/67, the next time
RPI played SLU in Troy.  I find five uses of Larries, none of Saints.  On
12/2/67, I find three uses of Larries and one of Larrie as an adjective --
still no Saints.
 
In the 3/1/69 program, I can find only one use of a nickname for SLU, and
that is Larries.  There is also a picture of SLU's ice dance group who
preformed that evening between periods called the Larriettes.  (Do they
still exist?  It's curious that I remember them but not the game, even
though RPI won this one.)
 
In the 12/6/69 program, I find four instances of Larries, still no Saints.
Also in an article discussing each team in the ECAC, the nickname Larries
is used.  (There probably are other such articles in other programs that I
did not look for.)
 
On 2/27/71, there was no article about SLU.  I found no nickname anywhere
in the program.  On 12/4/71 the nickname Larries is used six times and
Larrie once.  On 2/24/73, I find four Larries.  On 2/24/74, I find five
Larries.
 
That was the last time that I saw SLU while at RPI.  SLU participated in
the 12/28-30/78 RPI Invitational Tournament.  Here I read the nickname
Saints five times, Skating Saints once, and Saint as an adjective twice.
So the nickname (Skating)Saints was adopted sometime between 1974
and 1978.
 
The last time that I saw SLU was in the 12/29-30/81 RPI Invitational.  There
I see one Saints and one Skating Saints.
 
In order to try to fill in the gap between 1974 and 1978, I looked through
copies of The Intercollegiate Hockey Newletter.  Apparently the nickname
Saints was adopted in 1974/5.  In the preseason prediction issue, only
Larries was used.  To quote from the yearend issue of 4/75 "It was a
disappointing year at Canton.  The SAINTS, who had been picked to finish as
high as sixth in the pre-season poll, ended up 14th in the ECAC with a
7-14-1 record ... Brian Bennett topped LARRIE scoring with 14 goals and 15
assists ..."
 
Although, it is quite possible that I missed it, I couldn't find any
specific mention of SLU's change of nickname. I knew that there was a
reason that I kept all of this literature. :-)
 
So I guess that it is only old people like me who remember when SLU was
apparently officially called the Larries.  I suppose that I would regard it
as odd if someone joined Hockey-L who referred to RPI as the Bachelors, so
I agree that (Skating) Saints is what we should use.
 
Now to see if anyone has actually read all of this.  In the March 12, 1974
issue of The Intercollegiate Hockey Newletter, I note that a Dr. Joseph
Machnik was replaced as coach of the University of New Haven.  Any
relation, Mike?  If Mike does not read this, probably nobody did. :-)
 
Now back to your regularly scheduled band discussion.
 
Ralph Baer
RPI '68, '70, '74
 
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