St. Francis Xavier X-Men ice hockey

The St. Francis Xavier X-Men ice hockey team is an ice hockey team representing the St. Francis Xavier X-Men athletics program of St. Francis Xavier University. The team is a member of the Atlantic University Sport conference and compete in U Sports. The team plays their home games at the Charles V. Keating Millennium Centre in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

History
St. Francis Xavier formed its first varsity ice hockey team in 1905. That season the X-Men competed with other local colleges for the inaugural Hewson Cup, donated by E.E. Hewson. Rules stipulated that the first team to win the trophy three times would be allowed to keep the cup. SFX proceeded to win the title in the first three years of contention and lay permanent claim to the trophy. A second trophy was made, called the Sumner Cup, however, due to St. Francis being accused of knowingly using ineligible players (despite no governing body or official eligibility rules at the time) SFX was not included in competition for the second trophy. After returning from World War I, the animus against St. Francis had ebbed and the X-Men were one of the founding member of a new intercollegiate conference, the Maritime Intercollegiate Athletic Association. St. Francis Xavier swiftly became one of the league's best teams and won several championships in the interwar years. SFX left the MIAA sometime in the early 30s but the team was still invited to participate in the conference tournament each year. During this time, St. Francis also played in a local senior league and competed for the Allan Cup on multiple occasions.

During World War II, St. Francis was one of three teams who attempted to play for the duration but the program was eventually forced to suspend operations in 1944. It returned after a 1-season break and became the dominant force in the MIAA. The X-Men won every single conference tournament from 1950 to 1959 (The 1953 tournament was cancelled due to a bleacher collapse) and were by far the best team of the maritime colleges. In 1954, the MIAA teams ended their senior hockey play and focused solely on the college level. When the CIAU championship began in 1963, SFX was the first entrant from MIAA but the X-Men had trouble winning on the national stage. Despite making 6 appearance in the first 15 years of competition, St. Francis Xavier failed to make an appearance in the finals.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the fortunes of the program changed and the once-lofty X-Men became a middling team at best for most of the next 15 years. St. Francis Xavier did not regain its former status until the late 90s. Even then, it wasn't until 2004 that the team won another league championship, however, that year also saw St. Francis win its first national championship. SFX has made several trips to the national tournament in the years since with their best finishes coming in 2016 and 2018 as runners-up (as of 2023).

Senior and collegiate play
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points

Collegiate only
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points Note: Totals include results from 1954–55 onward.