# 1950–51 Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey season

The 1950–51 Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team represented the University of Michigan in intercollegiate college ice hockey during the 1950–51 NCAA men's ice hockey season. The head coach was Vic Heyliger and the team captain was Gil Burford. The team won the 1951 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. The team's leading scorer was Neil Celley, who broke Michigan's single-season scoring record with 79 points (40 goals, 39 assists) and led the NCAA in scoring.

## Standings

1950–51 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 |
| American International | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 8 | 8 | 1 | – | – |
| Army | 12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | .125 | 29 | 74 | 13 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 33 | 76 |
| Boston College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 105 | 89 |
| Boston University | 21 | 16 | 5 | 0 | .762 | 149 | 59 | 21 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 149 | 59 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | – | – |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 24 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 172 | 72 |
| Colby | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Colorado College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 16 | 8 | 1 | 192 | 130 |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 71 | 89 |
| Denver | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 134 | 111 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 117 | 91 |
| Lehigh | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 14 |
| Massachusetts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 40 |
| Michigan | 20 | 18 | 2 | 0 | .900 | 159 | 69 | 27 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 212 | 100 |
| Michigan State | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 65 | 95 |
| Michigan Tech | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 5 | 14 | 2 | 89 | 134 |
| Minnesota | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 26 | 14 | 12 | 0 | 140 | 112 |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 44 | 34 |
| North Dakota | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 26 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 116 | 139 |
| North Dakota Agricultural | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 90 | 77 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 100 | 111 |
| Saint Michael's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 39 |
| St. Olaf | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | – | – |
| Wyoming | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | – | – |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 116 | 43 |

### Schedule

During the season Michigan compiled a 22–4–1 record, the fourth consecutive year that the team won at least 80% of their games. Their schedule was as follows.
| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Venue | Location | Record |
| Dec. 8, 1950 | Detroit Auto Club | 8–6 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 1–0 |
| Dec. 15, 1950 | Princeton | 11–6 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 2–0 |
| Dec. 16, 1950 | Princeton | 10–2 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 3–0 |
| Dec. 21, 1950 | Western Ontario | 8–2 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 4–0 |
| Dec. 22, 1950 | Western Ontario | 14–1 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 5–0 |
| Dec. 27, 1950 | Boston College | 11–2 | Win | Boston Arena | Boston, MA | 6–0 |
| Dec. 29, 1950 | Boston University | 3–2 | Win | Boston Arena | Boston, MA | 7–0 |
| Jan. 5, 1951 | Minnesota | 5–4* | Win | Williams Arena | Minneapolis, MN | 8–0 |
| Jan. 6, 1951 | Minnesota | 6–4 | Win | Williams Arena | Minneapolis, MN | 9–0 |
| Jan. 12, 1951 | Montreal | 8–8* | Tie | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 9–0–1 |
| Jan. 13, 1951 | Montreal | 2–3 | Loss | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 9–1–1 |
| Jan. 19, 1951 | Minnesota | 12–2 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 10–1–1 |
| Jan. 20, 1951 | Minnesota | 8–0 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 11–1–1 |
| Feb. 5, 1951 | Denver | 5–4 | Win | DU Arena | Denver, CO | 12–1–1 |
| Feb. 7, 1951 | Denver | 3–5 | Loss | DU Arena | Denver, CO | 12–2–1 |
| Feb. 9, 1951 | Colorado College | 6–4 | Win | Broadmoor Ice Palace | Colorado Springs, CO | 13–2–1 |
| Feb. 10, 1951 | Colorado College | 7–9 | Loss | Broadmoor Ice Palace | Colorado Springs, CO | 13–3–1 |
| Feb. 16, 1951 | Toronto | 9–5 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 14–3–1 |
| Feb. 17, 1951 | Toronto | 4–6 | Loss | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 14–4–1 |
| Feb. 21, 1951 | Michigan State | 10–1 | Win | Demonstration Hall | East Lansing, MI | 15–4–1 |
| Feb. 23, 1951 | North Dakota | 11–4 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 16–4–1 |
| Feb. 24, 1951 | North Dakota | 12–4 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 17–4–1 |
| Mar. 3, 1951 | Michigan State | 9–6 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 18–4–1 |
| Mar. 9, 1951 | Michigan Tech | 8–3 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 19–4–1 |
| Mar. 10, 1951 | Michigan Tech | 7–4 | Win | Weinberg Coliseum | Ann Arbor, MI | 20–4–1 |
| NCAA TOURNAMENT |||||||
| March 15, 1951 | Boston University | 8–2 | Win | Broadmoor World Arena | Colorado Springs, CO | 21–4–1 |
| March 17, 1951 | Brown | 7–1 | Win | Broadmoor World Arena | Colorado Springs, CO | 22–4–1 |
| | | 212–100 | | | | 22–4–1 |
* Denotes overtime periods

## Roster and scoring statistics

| No. | Name | Year | Position | Hometown | Games | Goals | Assists | Pts | PIM |
| 6 | Neil Celley | Senior | LW | Eveleth, MN | 27 | 40 | 39 | 79 | 10 |
| 8 | Gil Burford | Senior | RW | Detroit, MI | 27 | 37 | 34 | 71 | 8 |
| 10 | John McKennell | Sophomore | RW | Toronto, ON | 27 | 35 | 22 | 57 | 24 |
| 4 | John Matchefts | Sophomore | C | Eveleth, MN | 27 | 25 | 31 | 56 | 30 |
| 7 | Earl Keyes | Sophomore | C/G | Tiverton, ON | 27 | 18 | 25 | 43 | 28 |
| 15 | Al Bassey | Senior | F | Walpole, MA | 27 | 16 | 17 | 33 | 14 |
| 5 | Bob Heathcott | Junior | D | Calgary, AB | 27 | 12 | 21 | 33 | 40 |
| 18 | Alex MacLellan | Sophomore | D | Montreal, PQ | 27 | 7 | 20 | 27 | 47 |
| 9 | Paul Pelow | Junior | C | Toronto, ON | 17 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 32 |
| 12 | Joe Marmo | Senior | LW | East Boston, MA | 27 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 37 |
| 11 | Graham Cragg | Junior | D | Edmonton, AB | 27 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 18 |
| 14 | Gordon Naylor | Sophomore | RW | Montreal, PQ | 27 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 10 |
| 3 | Eddie May | Junior | D | Edmonton, AB | 20 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| | Harry Stuhldreher | | | | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 1 | Hal Downes | Senior | G | Melrose, MA | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | | | | | | 212 | | | |

## Goaltending Statistics

| No. | Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
| 1 | Hal Downes | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
| 7 | Earl Keyes | 2 | – | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 49 | 0 | .875 | 3.50 |
| Total | | 27 | – | 22 | 4 | 1 | 100 | – | 1 | – | – |

## 1951 national championship
### (W1) Michigan vs. (E1) Brown

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | UM | Eddie May | Naylor and Marmo | 03:49 | 1–0 UM |
| 1st | UM | Gil Burford – GW | MacLellan | 15:24 | 2–0 UM |
| 2nd | UM | Neil Celley | unassisted | 26:41 | 3–0 UM |
| 2nd | UM | John McKennell | unassisted | 30:56 | 4–0 UM |
| 2nd | UM | Al Bassey | Keyes and MacLellan | 34:19 | 5–0 UM |
| 3rd | BRN | Tony Malo | Wheeler | 47:54 | 5–1 UM |
| 3rd | UM | John McKennell | Burford and Keyes | 51:15 | 6–1 UM |
| 3rd | UM | Neil Celley | Burford | 59:38 | 7–1 UM |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
| Michigan | 17 | 21 | 14 | 52 |
| Brown | 5 | 4 | 11 | 20 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| UM | Hal Downes | 19 | 1 | |
| BRN | Donald Whiston | 45 | 7 | |
Bob Heathcott, Gil Burford, John Matchefts and Neil Celley were named to the All-Tournament Team