# 1948–49 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1948–49 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1948 and concluded with the 1949 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 19, 1949 at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 2nd season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 55th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| NEIHL Tournament | March 8–9 | 4 | Boston College |

### Standings

1948–49 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 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 37 | 39 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 39 |
| Army | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 52 | 59 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 58 | 63 |
| Boston College | 20 | 19 | 1 | 0 | .950 | 134 | 64 | 22 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 164 | 67 |
| Boston University | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | .650 | 147 | 77 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 147 | 77 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | – | – |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 58 | 62 |
| California | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Clarkson | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 69 | 59 |
| Colby | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Colgate | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 53 | 38 |
| Colorado College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 24 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 153 | 99 |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 148 | 72 |
| Fort Devens State | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Georgetown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 130 | 112 |
| Lehigh | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 7 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 48 |
| Massachusetts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 29 |
| Michigan | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 179 | 74 |
| Michigan Tech | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 66 | 76 |
| Middlebury | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | – | – |
| Minnesota | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 120 | 101 |
| Minnesota–Duluth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 12 |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 23 |
| North Dakota | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 22 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 109 | 148 |
| North Dakota Agricultural | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 118 | 78 |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 60 | 110 |
| Saint Michael's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 38 |
| St. Lawrence | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 29 |
| Union | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – |
| Williams | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| Wyoming | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 51 | 45 |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 22 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 77 | 103 |
1948–49 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 |
| St. Thomas † | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | – | – |
| Augsburg | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Concordia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| Gustavus Adolphus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | – | – |
| Hamline | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Macalester | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Saint John's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| St. Olaf | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference champion |||||||||||||||

## 1949 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 17–18 | Semifinals March 17–18 | Semifinals March 17–18 | National championship March 19 | National championship March 19 | National championship March 19 |
| E1 | Boston College | 7 | | | |
| W2 | Colorado College | 3 | | | |
| W2 | Colorado College | 3 | E1 | Boston College | 4 |
| | | | E2 | Dartmouth | 3 |
| W1 | Michigan | 2 | E2 | Dartmouth | 3 |
| E2 | Dartmouth | 4 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | W1 | Michigan | 10 |
| | | | 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 |
| Bill Riley | Senior | Dartmouth | – | 37 | 41 | 78 | – |
| Jack Mulhern | Sophomore | Boston College | – | 34 | 31 | 65 | 18 |
| Gordon McMillan | Senior | Michigan | 25 | 24 | 36 | 60 | 19 |
| Gil Burford | Sophomore | Michigan | 25 | 26 | 30 | 56 | 20 |
| Wally Gacek | Senior | Michigan | 25 | 31 | 20 | 51 | 4 |
| Dick Rowell | Senior | Colorado College | – | 19 | 31 | 50 | – |
| Joe Slattery | Senior | Colorado College | – | 25 | 25 | 50 | – |
| Warren Lewis | Junior | Boston College | – | 23 | 24 | 47 | 6 |
| Wally Grant | Junior | Michigan | 25 | 18 | 28 | 46 | 2 |
| Neil Celley | Sophomore | Michigan | 25 | 28 | 16 | 44 | 16 |

### 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 |
| Bernie Burke | Senior | Boston College | 21 | 1243 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 0 | - | 3.09 |
| Robert O'Connor | Sophomore | Princeton | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.12 |
| Gene Delvecchio | Sophomore | St. Lawrence | 12 | 726 | - | - | - | 54 | 0 | - | 4.46 |
| James Burns | Junior | Yale | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.06 |
| Bob Murray | Junior | North Dakota | - | - | 8 | 10 | 1 | - | 0 | .819 | 6.80 |

## Awards
### NCAA

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Most Outstanding Player in NCAA Tournament | Most Outstanding Player in NCAA Tournament | Dick Desmond, Dartmouth |
| AHCA All-American Team |||
| Player | Pos | Team |
| Dick Desmond | G | Dartmouth |
| Ian Watson | G | California |
| Connie Hill | D | Michigan |
| Butch Songin | D | Boston College |
| Jim Starrak | D | Colorado College |
| Dick Starrak | D | Michigan |
| Wally Gacek | F | Michigan |
| Wally Grant | F | Michigan |
| Bill Riley | F | Dartmouth |
| Joe Riley | F | Dartmouth |
| Dick Rowell | F | Colorado College |
| Joe Slattery | F | Colorado College |