1955–56 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1955–56 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1955 and concluded with the 1956 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 17, 1956, at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 9th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 62nd year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.

Clarkson completed the first undefeated season, going 23–0, since the inception of the NCAA tournament. As of 2016 only Cornell (in 1970) has been able to accomplish the same feat.

Regular season

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Season tournaments

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Tournament Dates Teams Champion
Boston Arena Christmas Tournament December 26–31 9 Clarkson
Rensselaer Holiday Tournament December 30–January 2 4 Minnesota
Beanpot February 6, 8 4 Boston College

Standings

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Intercollegiate Overall
GP W L T Pct. GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Amherst 14 7 7 0
American International 15 11 4 0
Army 14 9 5 0 .643 62 42 16 11 5 0 72 46
Babson
Boston College 21 14 7 0 105 82
Boston University 22 11 11 0 .500 107 113 22 11 11 0 107 113
Bowdoin 14 6 8 0
Brown 19 10 9 0 82 62
Colby 13 5 8 0
Dartmouth 23 5 18 0 71 134
Hamilton 13 4 9 0
Harvard 25 15 10 0 125 77
Lehigh 3 0 2 1 .167 9 25 8 2 5 1 15 58
Massachusetts 11 5 6 0 44 46
MIT 8 2 6 0 23 43
New Hampshire 14 3 11 0 39 80
Northeastern 25 13 12 0 123 130
Norwich 12 6 6 0
Princeton 20 11 9 0 80 70
Providence 23 7 16 0 100 152
St. Olaf 8 4 4 0
Tufts 17 5 12 0
Williams 13 5 8 0
Yale 18 9 9 0 60 68
Conference Overall
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Minnesota–Duluth 12 12 0 0 1.000 23 17 6 0
Augsburg
Concordia 8 2 6 0
Gustavus Adolphus 11 7 4 0
Hamline
Macalester
Saint John's 17 12 4 1
St. Thomas 12 6 8 0
indicates conference champion
Conference Overall
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Clarkson 6 6 0 0 12 44 12 23 23 0 0 172 58
St. Lawrence 6 4 2 0 8 31 24 23 18 5 0 130 47
Rensselaer 6 2 4 0 4 18 26 18 12 6 0 105 56
Middlebury 6 0 6 0 0 10 42 21 10 11 0
indicates conference regular season champion
Conference Overall
GP W L T PCT PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Michigan 18 15 2 1 .858 19 80 37 23 20 2 1 109 49
Michigan Tech 20 14 6 0 .700 17 82 61 28 21 7 0 156 83
Colorado College 18 10 8 0 .556 14 72 66 28 17 11 0 144 100
Minnesota 22 11 10 1 .523 12 63 60 29 16 12 1 106 80
North Dakota 20 7 13 0 .350 10 67 93 28 11 16 1 100 129
Denver 16 6 8 2 .438 10 58 58 26 12 11 3 130 84
Michigan State 18 1 17 0 .056 2 35 82 23 5 18 0 55 96
indicates conference regular season champion
Note: All games played between league members counted in the standings. When teams played each other twice, two points were awarded for a win, one point for a tie.

When teams met each other four times, one point was awarded for a win, one-half point for a tie. Maximum of 24 points available.[1]

[2]

1956 NCAA Tournament

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Semifinals
March 15–16
National championship
March 17
      
W1 Michigan 2*
E2 St. Lawrence 1
W1 Michigan 7
W2 Michigan Tech 5
E1 Boston College 4
W2 Michigan Tech 10 Third-place game
E1 Boston College 2
E2 St. Lawrence 6

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

[3]

Player stats

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Scoring leaders

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The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the season.

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player Class Team GP G A Pts PIM
Ed Rowe Junior Clarkson 23 27 38 65 -
Ken Yackel Senior Minnesota 30 31 27 58 102
Garry Kearns Sophomore Rensselaer 18 26 32 58 23
Richard Cavanaugh Junior Northeastern 24 30 27 57 -
Grant Childerhouse Sophomore Clarkson 23 36 17 53 -
Jack McManus Junior Michigan Tech 28 29 23 52 14
John Andrews Freshman Colorado College - 27 25 52 -
Bill Reichart Junior North Dakota 28 28 23 51 24
Clare Smith Junior Colorado College - 24 26 50 -
Bob Cleary Sophomore Harvard 25 23 27 50 -

[4]

Leading goaltenders

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The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average at the end of the regular season while playing at least 33% of their team's total minutes.

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player Class Team GP Min W L OT GA SO SV% GAA
Andy LaHaye Junior Michigan Tech - - - - - - - .928 2.00
Bill Sloan Senior St. Lawrence 20 1049 16 4 0 37 4 .912 2.12
Dave Broadbelt Sophomore Denver 10 - - - - - 1 .907 2.50
Eddie MacDonald Sophomore Clarkson 23 1381 23 0 0 58 2 - 2.52
Jack McCartan Sophomore Minnesota 24 1440 - - - 67 0 - 2.80
John Stopen Junior Rensselaer 18 1088 12 6 0 56 2 .892 3.09
Bob McManus Junior Michigan Tech - - - - - - - .895 3.13
George Scherer Senior Yale - - - - - - - - 3.38
Tom Yurkovich Junior North Dakota 28 - 11 16 1 - 2 .862 3.96

[4]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 97-112" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  2. ^ "2008-09 WCHA Yearbook 97-112" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  3. ^ "NCAA Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  4. ^ a b "1955-56 NCAA Division I Statistics". Elite Prospects. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  5. ^ "NCAA Division I Awards". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  6. ^ "1955-1956 All-American Team". The American Hockey Coaches Association. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  7. ^ "WCHA All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
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