1948 NCAA men's ice hockey tournament

Collegiate ice hockey tournament

The 1948 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1947–48 NCAA men's ice hockey season, the 1st such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 18 and 20, 1948, and concluded with Michigan defeating Dartmouth 8-4. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This inaugural tournament possesses two distinctions beyond being the first of its kind: it was the championship with the fewest games played (3) with all succeeding tournaments having a minimum of 4 games. Additionally, the overtime rules used were not sudden-death, allowing Michigan to score multiple times in the first overtime game in tournament history (the next overtime game would not happen until 1954).

Qualifying teams

Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The teams were selected by a committee based upon both their overall record and the strength of their opponents.

East							West
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Dartmouth	Independent	20–2–0	At-Large	1st	Never	1	Michigan	Independent	18–2–1	At-Large	1st	Never
2	Boston College	Independent	14–4–0	At-Large	1st	Never	2	Colorado College	Independent	19–7–0	At-Large	1st	Never

^[1]

Format

The eastern and western teams judged as better were seeded as the top regional teams. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game.

Bracket

Semifinals March 18–19			National Championship March 20

E1	Dartmouth	8

W2	Colorado College	4
			E1	Dartmouth	4

			W1	Michigan	8
W1	Michigan	6*

E2	Boston College	4

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

Semifinals

Dartmouth vs. Colorado College

March 18

Dartmouth

8 – 4

Colorado College

Broadmoor Ice Palace

Michigan vs. Boston College

March 19	Michigan		6 – 4^[2]^[3]	OT	Boston College	Broadmoor Ice Palace
(unassisted) Connie Hill - 17:13		First period			10:23 - Giles Threadgold (McCusker)
(Renfrew) Connie Hill - 19:57		Second period			5:41 - PP - Bob Mason (Corcoran) 8:24 - Joe McCusker (Threadgold, McIntyre)
(unassisted) Connie Hill - 03:44 (McMillan) Al Renfrew - 05:41		Third period			19:20 - EA - Jim Fitzgerald (Lewis)
(Grant) Wally Gacek - GW - 00:18 (Hill) Wally Gacek - EN - 19:30		First overtime period			No scoring
Jack McDonald		Goalie stats			Bernie Burke

National Championship

Michigan vs. Dartmouth

March 20

Michigan

8 – 4

Dartmouth

Broadmoor Ice Palace

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	UM	Wally Gacek	Grant	0:50	1–0 UM
	DC	Bill Riley	Merriam	4:25	1–1
	UM	Wally Gacek	Grant	10:55	2–1 UM
	DC	Crawford Campbell – PP	unasisted	17:25	2–2
2nd	DC	Walt Crowley	B. Riley	26:55	3–2 DC
	DC	Arnold Oss	Malone	31:05	4–2 DC
	UM	Wally Grant	Gacek	35:20	4–3 DC
	UM	Gordon McMillan	Greer	36:40	4–4
3rd	UM	Wally Grant– GW	Gacek and Greer	41:30	5–4 UM
	UM	Gordon McMillan	Renfrew	46:15	6–4 UM
	UM	Wally Gacek	Grant and Greer	46:20	7–4 UM
	UM	Ted Greer	Gacek	55:14	8–4 UM

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	T
Michigan	10	13	18	41
Dartmouth	12	9	8	29

Goaltenders
Team	Name	Saves	Goals against	Time on ice
UM	Jack McDonald	25	4
DC	Dick Desmond	33	8

All-Tournament Team

First Team

G: Bernie Burke (Boston College)
D: Connie Hill (Michigan)
D: Ron Newson (Colorado College)
F: Wally Grant (Michigan)
F: Bill Riley (Dartmouth)
F: Joe Riley* (Dartmouth)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[4]

^[5]

Second Team

G: Dick Desmond (Dartmouth)
D: Ross Smith (Michigan)
D: Ed Songin (Boston College)
F: Wally Gacek (Michigan)
F: Bruce Stewart (Colorado College)
F: Joe Slattery (Colorado College)

References

^ "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
^ "Sextet Tops Eagles 6-4". The Michigan Daily. March 20, 1948. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
^ "Boston College Sextet Bows to Michigan, 6-4 Wolverines to Play Dartmouth In Finals Tonight". Battle Creek Enquirer. March 20, 1948. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
^ "NCAA Division I Awards". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
^ "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2013.

NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

Tournaments

Records & achievements

v t e NCAA Division I men's ice hockey champions
1948 Michigan 1949 Boston College 1950 Colorado College 1951 Michigan 1952 Michigan 1953 Michigan 1954 Rensselaer 1955 Michigan 1956 Michigan 1957 Colorado College 1958 Denver 1959 North Dakota 1960 Denver 1961 Denver 1962 Michigan Tech 1963 North Dakota 1964 Michigan 1965 Michigan Tech 1966 Michigan State 1967 Cornell 1968 Denver 1969 Denver 1970 Cornell 1971 Boston University 1972 Boston University 1973 Wisconsin 1974 Minnesota 1975 Michigan Tech 1976 Minnesota 1977 Wisconsin 1978 Boston University 1979 Minnesota 1980 North Dakota 1981 Wisconsin 1982 North Dakota 1983 Wisconsin 1984 Bowling Green 1985 Rensselaer 1986 Michigan State 1987 North Dakota 1988 Lake Superior State 1989 Harvard 1990 Wisconsin 1991 Northern Michigan 1992 Lake Superior State 1993 Maine 1994 Lake Superior State 1995 Boston University 1996 Michigan 1997 North Dakota 1998 Michigan 1999 Maine 2000 North Dakota 2001 Boston College 2002 Minnesota 2003 Minnesota 2004 Denver 2005 Denver 2006 Wisconsin 2007 Michigan State 2008 Boston College 2009 Boston University 2010 Boston College 2011 Minnesota–Duluth 2012 Boston College 2013 Yale 2014 Union 2015 Providence 2016 North Dakota 2017 Denver 2018 Minnesota–Duluth 2019 Minnesota–Duluth 2020 No tournament 2021 Massachusetts 2022 Denver 2023 Quinnipiac 2024 Denver

NCAA Division I men's ice hockey champions