ship in Halifax harbor loaded with 10 tons of gunpowder, 35 tons of airplane fuel and 200 tons of TNT. More than 1,700 people were killed in the explosion. Barss was not injured and helped tend to the injured in the aftermath of the disaster. University of Michigan In 1919, Barss enrolled at the University of Michigan as a graduate student in bacteriology. In 1920, he enrolled at the Medical School, receiving a medical degree from the university in 1924. While attending medical school at Michigan, Barss also served as the first coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team. According to Wilfred Byron Shaw's four-volume history of the University of Michigan, hockey had its beginning at Michigan in 1921 with Barss as the coach. Other sources indicate that Barss became the coach of the Michigan hockey team in 1922. According to Bacon, Barss officiated many of the games for the 1922 team and then asked athletic director Fielding H. Yost if he could start a varsity hockey team. Bacon wrote that Yost "might not have known much about hockey, but he knew a natural coach when he met one" and accepted Barss' offer. It was not until 1923 that the Michigan hockey team received formal recognition as a varsity sport. The first "official" college hockey game played west of the Alleghenies was a game between Michigan and Wisconsin, played on January 12, 1923, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The game went into overtime with Michigan prevailing by a score of 2-1. Barss coached the Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team during its first five years as a formal varsity sport. During those five years (1923 to 1927), the Michigan hockey team compiled a record of 26-21-4. As the popularity of college hockey grew in the early 1920s, other colleges looked to Barss' pupils for coaching candidates. In January 1923, former Michigan hockey star Russell Barkell was hired as the coach of the hockey team at Williams College. In February 1924, after a 3-0 victory by Michigan over Wisconsin, a Madison newspaper praised the defensive play of the Barss-coached Wolverines: "With an almost air-tight defense and a definite scoring attack the Michigan hockey team defeated the Badger six by a score of 3 to 0 yesterday afternoon. Wisconsin could not stop Michigan's fast team work and was unable to penetrate their defense to take any close shots at the goal."