# 1968–69 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey season

The 1968–69 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey season began in November 1968 and concluded with the 1969 NCAA University Division Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 15, 1969 at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 22nd season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 75th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
Wisconsin was admitted into the WCHA beginning with this season. Because they now played each of the other three Big Ten teams they were included into the informal conference standings.
Air Force and Notre Dame both begin to sponsor their ice hockey programs. Both teams started as independents.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| ECAC Holiday Hockey Festival | December 20–21 | 4 | Clarkson |
| Great Lakes Invitational | December 20–21 | 4 | Michigan Tech |
| St. Paul Hockey Classic | December 20–21 | 4 | North Dakota |
| Big Ten Holiday Tournament | December 26–28 | 4 | Michigan |
| Boston Arena Christmas Tournament | December 27–28 | 4 | Boston University |
| Syracuse Invitational | December 27–28 | 4 | Cornell |
| Yankee Conference Tournament | December 27–28 | 4 | New Hampshire |
| Broadmoor World Tournament | December 27–29 | 3 | Denver |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | December 27–29 | 4 | Waterloo |
| Centennial Tournament | January 3–4 | 4 | Loyola |
| Beanpot | February 3, 10 | 4 | Harvard |

### Standings

1968–69 Big Ten standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | Pct. | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Michigan† | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 42 | 39 | 28 | 16 | 12 | 0 | 124 | 101 |
| Michigan State | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | .550 | 25 | 18 | 28 | 11 | 16 | 1 | 91 | 123 |
| Minnesota | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | .450 | 25 | 29 | 29 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 113 | 96 |
| Wisconsin | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | 26 | 32 | 34 | 22 | 10 | 2 | 215 | 98 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1968–69 ECAC Hockey standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | Pct. | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Cornell†* | 20 | 19 | 1 | 0 | .950 | 139 | 39 | 29 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 190 | 54 |
| Boston College | 21 | 16 | 5 | 0 | .762 | 114 | 72 | 26 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 144 | 91 |
| Harvard | 23 | 16 | 6 | 1 | .717 | 135 | 74 | 28 | 19 | 8 | 1 | 157 | 101 |
| Clarkson | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | .694 | 94 | 65 | 28 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 158 | 96 |
| New Hampshire | 16 | 10 | 5 | 1 | .656 | 68 | 56 | 29 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 155 | 77 |
| Boston University | 21 | 13 | 8 | 0 | .619 | 107 | 69 | 29 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 154 | 84 |
| Rensselaer | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | .607 | 58 | 54 | 21 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 93 | 77 |
| Brown | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | .525 | 98 | 83 | 22 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 100 | 86 |
| St. Lawrence | 18 | 8 | 8 | 2 | .500 | 83 | 76 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 102 | 96 |
| Army | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | .409 | 45 | 48 | 28 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 167 | 104 |
| Yale | 23 | 9 | 14 | 0 | .391 | 72 | 113 | 24 | 9 | 15 | 0 | 72 | 113 |
| Colgate | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 53 | 68 | 25 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 116 | 110 |
| Dartmouth | 21 | 6 | 13 | 2 | .333 | 83 | 146 | 23 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 91 | 154 |
| Providence | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | .267 | 43 | 76 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 67 | 95 |
| Northeastern | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | .222 | 56 | 108 | 23 | 7 | 16 | 0 | 74 | 127 |
| Princeton | 23 | 5 | 18 | 0 | .217 | 62 | 91 | 24 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 62 | 91 |
| Pennsylvania | 15 | 1 | 14 | 0 | .067 | 44 | 116 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 79 | 131 |
| Championship: Cornell † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||
1968–69 Independent College Athletic Conference 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† | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 18 | 21 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 93 | 77 |
| Clarkson | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 18 | 28 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 158 | 96 |
| St. Lawrence | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 102 | 96 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1968–69 NCAA University Division Independent 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 |
| Air Force | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 85 | 100 |
| Alaska–Fairbanks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | - | - |
| Notre Dame | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 27 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 149 | 117 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 29 | 11 | 18 | 0 | 122 | 161 |
1968–69 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PCT | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Michigan Tech†* | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | .725 | 86 | 56 | 32 | 21 | 9 | 2 | 144 | 95 |
| Denver* | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0 | .700 | 94 | 50 | 32 | 26 | 6 | 0 | 160 | 71 |
| North Dakota | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0 | .682 | 97 | 89 | 29 | 18 | 10 | 1 | 130 | 125 |
| Michigan | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | .556 | 75 | 63 | 28 | 16 | 12 | 0 | 124 | 101 |
| Minnesota | 22 | 11 | 9 | 2 | .545 | 74 | 60 | 29 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 113 | 96 |
| Michigan State | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | .417 | 51 | 57 | 28 | 11 | 16 | 1 | 91 | 123 |
| Colorado College | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | .222 | 47 | 94 | 28 | 12 | 16 | 0 | 105 | 121 |
| Minnesota–Duluth | 22 | 3 | 19 | 0 | .136 | 64 | 119 | 29 | 6 | 23 | 0 | 91 | 147 |
| Championship: Michigan Tech, Denver † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||

## 1969 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 13–14 | Semifinals March 13–14 | Semifinals March 13–14 | National championship March 15 | National championship March 15 | National championship March 15 |
| W1 | Denver | 9 | | | |
| E2 | Harvard | 2 | | | |
| E2 | Harvard | 2 | W1 | Denver | 4 |
| | | | E1 | Cornell | 3 |
| E1 | Cornell | 4* | E1 | Cornell | 3 |
| W2 | Michigan Tech | 3 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | E2 | Harvard | 6** |
| | | | W2 | Michigan Tech | 5 |
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 |
| David Merhar | Senior | Army | 28 | 57 | 50 | 107 | - |
| Tony Curran | Senior | Army | - | 25 | 55 | 80 | - |
| Brian Cornell | Senior | Cornell | 29 | 22 | 52 | 74 | 26 |
| Joe Cavanagh | Sophomore | Harvard | 28 | 24 | 38 | 62 | - |
| Delbert Dehate | Junior | Wisconsin | 34 | 36 | 25 | 61 | 50 |
| Peter Tufford | Senior | Cornell | 29 | 20 | 40 | 60 | 2 |
| Tim Sheehy | Junior | Boston College | 26 | 19 | 41 | 60 | 36 |
| George Morrison | Sophomore | Denver | 32 | 40 | 18 | 58 | 12 |
| Tommy Earl | Junior | Colgate | - | 37 | 20 | 57 | - |
| David Conte | Junior | Colgate | - | - | - | 56 | - |

### 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 |
| Ken Dryden | Senior | Cornell | 27 | 1578 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 47 | 3 | .936 | 1.79 |
| John Barry | Sophomore | Notre Dame | – | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.00 |
| Brian Reynolds | Sophomore | Providence | 19 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.10 |
| Gerry Powers | Senior | Denver | 32 | - | 26 | 6 | 0 | - | 5 | .915 | 2.23 |
| Rick Duffett | Junior | Michigan State | 16 | - | - | - | - | 42 | - | .916 | 2.74 |
| Wayne Thomas | Sophomore | Wisconsin | 17 | 943 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 44 | 2 | .901 | 2.80 |
| Donald McGinnis | Junior | Brown | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | .919 | 2.83 |
| Rick Metzer | Senior | New Hampshire | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | .896 | 2.84 |
| Gord McRae | Junior | Michigan Tech | 28 | 1680 | - | - | - | 84 | 1 | .897 | 3.00 |
| Bob Vroman | Junior | Wisconsin | 18 | 948 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 49 | 3 | .884 | 3.10 |

## Awards
### WCHA

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Most Valuable Player | Most Valuable Player | Murray McLachlan, Minnesota |
| Sophomore of the Year | Sophomore of the Year | George Morrison, Denver |
| Coach of the Year | Coach of the Year | John Matchefts, Colorado College |
| All-WCHA Teams |||
| First Team | Position | Second Team |
| Murray McLachlan, Minnesota | G | Gerry Powers, Denver |
| Keith Magnuson, Denver | D | Paul Domm, Michigan |
| Terry Abram, North Dakota | D | John Marks, North Dakota |
| George Morrison, Denver | F | Dave Kartio, North Dakota |
| Bob Munro, North Dakota | F | Tom Miller, Denver |
| Al Karlander, Michigan Tech | F | Bob Collyard, Colorado College |

## 1969 NHL Amateur Draft

| Round | Pick | Player | College | Conference | NHL team |
| 3 | 30 | Bernie Gagnon | Michigan | WCHA | St. Louis Blues |
| 5 | 57 | Wally Olds | Minnesota | WCHA | Detroit Red Wings |
| 5 | 60 | Mike Baumgartner | North Dakota | WCHA | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 6 | 68 | Lynn Powis | Denver | WCHA | Montreal Canadiens |
| 6 | 70 | Dale Yutsyk | Colorado College | WCHA | St. Louis Blues |
| 6 | 71 | Dave Hudson | North Dakota | WCHA | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 7 | 73 | Bob Collyard | Colorado College | WCHA | St. Louis Blues |