# 1952–53 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1952–53 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1952 and concluded with the 1953 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 14, 1953, at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 6th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 59th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| Beanpot | December 26–27 | 4 | Harvard |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | January 1–3 | 4 | Princeton |

### Standings

1952–53 NCAA Independent ice hockey standingsvte :
| | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Intercollegiate | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | Pct. | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Amherst | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| American International | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | – | – |
| Army | 13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | .385 | 42 | 56 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 56 | 64 |
| Boston College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 71 | 41 |
| Boston University | 22 | 14 | 7 | 1 | .659 | 117 | 86 | 22 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 117 | 86 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 67 | 83 |
| Colby | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 84 | 90 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 79 | 49 |
| Lehigh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 17 |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 49 |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 64 | 70 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | – | – |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 66 | 49 |
| Providence | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 66 | 79 |
| St. Olaf | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Tufts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | – | – |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 85 | 56 |
1952–53 Midwest Collegiate Hockey League vte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Minnesota† | 20 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 92 | 46 | 29 | 23 | 6 | 0 | 149 | 74 |
| Michigan† | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 91 | 49 | 24 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 139 | 71 |
| North Dakota | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 82 | 59 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 109 | 68 |
| Denver | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 70 | 54 | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 142 | 79 |
| Colorado College | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 52 | 86 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 98 | 106 |
| Michigan Tech | 16 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 53 | 94 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 75 | 100 |
| Michigan State | 18 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 45 | 94 | 22 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 74 | 104 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1952–53 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ice hockey standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Minnesota–Duluth † | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | .857 | – | – | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| St. Thomas † | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Augsburg | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Concordia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Gustavus Adolphus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | – | – |
| Hamline | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Macalester | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Saint John's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference champion |||||||||||||||
1952–53 Tri-State League standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Rensselaer† | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 23 | 13 | 20 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 124 | 45 |
| St. Lawrence | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 23 | 14 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 105 | 50 |
| Clarkson | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 29 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 88 | 94 |
| Middlebury | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||

## 1953 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 12–13 | Semifinals March 12–13 | Semifinals March 12–13 | National championship March 14 | National championship March 14 | National championship March 14 |
| W1 | Minnesota | 3 | | | |
| E2 | Rensselaer | 2 | | | |
| E2 | Rensselaer | 2 | W1 | Minnesota | 3 |
| | | | W2 | Michigan | 7 |
| E1 | Boston University | 2 | W2 | Michigan | 7 |
| W2 | Michigan | 14 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | E1 | Boston University | 3 |
| | | | E2 | Rensselaer | 6 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Player stats
### Scoring leaders

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 |
| John Mayasich | Sophomore | Minnesota | 27 | 42 | 36 | 78 | 16 |
| Abbie Moore | Junior | Rensselaer | 20 | 35 | 38 | 73 | 4 |
| Frank Chiarelli | Sophomore | Rensselaer | 20 | 36 | 32 | 68 | 8 |
| Richard Dougherty | Sophomore | Minnesota | 27 | 35 | 32 | 67 | 35 |
| Richard Rodenhiser | Junior | Boston University | 22 | 29 | 20 | 49 | 12 |
| John Matchefts | Senior | Michigan | 24 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 24 |
| George Chin | Junior | Michigan | 24 | 20 | 27 | 47 | 0 |
| Bill Abbott | Sophomore | Denver | - | 27 | 18 | 45 | - |
| Gene Campbell | Sophomore | Minnesota | 26 | 21 | 24 | 45 | 16 |
| Ben Cherski | Sophomore | North Dakota | 20 | 30 | 14 | 44 | 10 |

### Leading goaltenders

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 |
| Bob Fox | Sophomore | Rensselaer | 20 | 1182 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 45 | 2 | - | 2.28 |
| Jim Mattson | Sophomore | Minnesota | 27 | 1627 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 64 | 4 | .910 | 2.36 |
| Richard Whelan | Sophomore | Yale | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.62 |
| Bill Sloan | Freshman | St. Lawrence | 18 | 1058 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 50 | 1 | .894 | 2.83 |
| Walter Morin | Senior | Denver | - | - | 16 | 5 | 1 | - | 0 | .866 | 3.05 |
| Alex Finkelstein | Junior | North Dakota | 20 | - | 15 | 5 | 0 | - | 1 | .884 | 3.40 |
| Gerald Bergin | Junior | Michigan State | 14 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.28 |