The 1896–97 Penn Quakers men's ice hockey season was the inaugural season of play for the program.
Season
Univ. of Penn team in 1896–97, its first season of existence. Top row, from left: Arthur Stackhouse, William Agnew, George Orton, Clinton Decker. Middle row, from left: William Phymister, Horace Gibbons, Miles Gibbons, John Chattin, Stanley Willett. Bottom row, from left: John Gosman, Arthur Moore.
After seeing Yale and Johns Hopkins play the first intercollegiate game the year before, George Orton a graduate student from Canada, organized the first ice hockey team for Pennsylvania University.[1] The Quakers won their first game against Columbia with William Agnew recording the first hat-trick in program history.
Pennsylvania's season was hampered by a lack of local facilities, something that Orton would fix the following year when he helped build the first indoor rink in the Philadelphia area, the West Park Ice Palace.