# 1950–51 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1950–51 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1950 and concluded with the 1951 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 17, 1951 at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 4th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 57th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
This was the first season of play for the Tri-State League. The 6-team conference was the first to formally sponsor ice hockey as a sport at any level. The Tri-State League also produced the first conference playoff game this season when Clarkson defeated Middlebury to claim the conference title. There would not be another conference playoff until the WCHA tournament began in 1960.
The American Hockey Coaches Association awarded Eddie Jeremiah the first Spencer Penrose Award as the top coach in the college game. It is named after Spencer Penrose who helped found The Broadmoor, the hotel and resort where the Ice Palace was located.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| NEIHL Tournament | March 5–7 | 4 | Boston University |

### 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 |
1950–51 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 |
| Macalester † | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| St. Thomas † | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | – | – |
| Augsburg | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Concordia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| Gustavus Adolphus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Hamline | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Minnesota–Duluth | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | – | – | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Saint John's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference champion |||||||||||||||
1950–51 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 |
| Clarkson† | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | | | 15 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 106 | 52 |
| Middlebury | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | | | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | – | – |
| St. Lawrence | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | | | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 63 | 44 |
| Williams | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | | | 13 | 4 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| Rensselaer | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 27 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 55 | 88 |
| Colgate | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | | | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 19 | 55 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion At the conclusion of the season Clarkson defeated Middlebury 16-3 in a playoff game and were declared the sole champion. |||||||||||||||

## 1951 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 15–16 | Semifinals March 15–16 | Semifinals March 15–16 | National championship March 17 | National championship March 17 | National championship March 17 |
| E1 | Brown | 8 | | | |
| W2 | Colorado College | 4 | | | |
| W2 | Colorado College | 4 | W1 | Michigan | 7 |
| | | | E1 | Brown | 1 |
| W1 | Michigan | 8 | E1 | Brown | 1 |
| E2 | Boston University | 2 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | E2 | Boston University | 7 |
| | | | W2 | Colorado College | 4 |
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 |
| Neil Celley | Senior | Michigan | 27 | 40 | 39 | 79 | – |
| Gil Burford | Senior | Michigan | – | 37 | 34 | 71 | – |
| Don Sennott | Junior | Brown | 24 | 24 | 46 | 70 | – |
| Ron Hartwell | Junior | Colorado College | 25 | 44 | 18 | 62 | – |
| Bill Munro | Junior | Clarkson | 15 | 39 | 23 | 62 | – |
| Bob Wheeler | Junior | Brown | 23 | 33 | 27 | 60 | – |
| Tony Frasca | Junior | Colorado College | 25 | 32 | 28 | 60 | – |
| Ken Johannson | Sophomore | North Dakota | 26 | 27 | 32 | 59 | 29 |
| John McKennell | Freshman | Michigan | – | 35 | 22 | 57 | – |
| Jack Garrity | Junior | Boston University | 21 | 34 | 23 | 57 | 20 |

### 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 |
| Paul Cruikshank | Sophomore | Yale | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.31 |
| Gene Delvecchio | Senior | St. Lawrence | 16 | 960 | - | - | - | 62 | 0 | - | 3.87 |
| Larry Ross | Sophomore | Minnesota | 19 | - | - | - | - | 78 | 0 | - | 4.10 |
| Walter Morin | Sophomore | Denver | - | - | 11 | - | - | - | 1 | .845 | 4.83 |
| Rudy Lindbeck | Junior | North Dakota | 26 | - | 12 | 12 | 2 | - | 0 | .828 | 5.56 |
| Delmar Reid | Junior | Michigan State | 15 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.80 |
| Ray Weinzler | Junior | Rensselaer | 11 | 505 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 55 | 0 | - | 6.53 |

## Awards
### NCAA

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Spencer Penrose Award | Spencer Penrose Award | Eddie Jeremiah, Dartmouth |
| Most Outstanding Player in NCAA Tournament | Most Outstanding Player in NCAA Tournament | Donald Whiston, Brown |
| AHCA All-American Team |||
| Player | Pos | Team |
| Larry Ross | G | Minnesota |
| Donald Whiston | G | Brown |
| Joe deBastiani | D | Michigan Tech |
| Bob Heathcott | D | Michigan |
| John Noah | D | North Dakota |
| Jim Starrak | D | Colorado College |
| Gil Burford | F | Michigan |
| Neil Celley | F | Michigan |
| Tony Frasca | F | Colorado College |
| Jack Garrity | F | Boston University |
| Clifford Harrison | F | Dartmouth |
| John McKennell | F | Michigan |
| Gordon Watters | F | Minnesota |