# 1951–52 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1951–52 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1951 and concluded with the 1952 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 15, 1952 at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 5th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 58th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
This was the first season of play for the MCHL. The conference was the first for western teams and would eventually become the WCHA.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | December 27–29 | 8 | Brown |
| New England Invitational Tournament | March 1–3 | 4 | Boston University |

### Standings

1951–52 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 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| Amherst | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | – |
| Army | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | .214 | 42 | 80 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 46 | 87 |
| Boston College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 117 | 49 |
| Boston University | 19 | 15 | 3 | 1 | .816 | 128 | 52 | 19 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 128 | 52 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 111 | 63 |
| Colby | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 2 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 5 | 18 | 0 | 48 | 91 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 86 | 75 |
| Lehigh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 14 |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | – | – |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 43 | 41 |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 80 | 70 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 14 | 1 | 0 | – | – |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 66 | 45 |
| St. Olaf | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Tufts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | – | – |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 125 | 112 |
1951–52 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 |
| Colorado College† | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 20 | | | 25 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 168 | 94 |
| Denver | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 66 | 40 | 25 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 146 | 94 |
| Michigan | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 75 | 40 | 26 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 161 | 70 |
| North Dakota | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 55 | 56 | 25 | 13 | 11 | 1 | 126 | 105 |
| Minnesota | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 10 | | | 26 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 130 | 114 |
| Michigan State | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 6 | | | 20 | 7 | 13 | 0 | 72 | 110 |
| Michigan Tech | 12 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | | | 20 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 75 | 154 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion Only the first two games played between member teams counted for conference standings. |||||||||||||||
1951–52 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 † | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Augsburg | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Concordia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Gustavus Adolphus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Hamline | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Macalester | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Minnesota–Duluth | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | – | – | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Saint John's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference champion |||||||||||||||
1951–52 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 |
| St. Lawrence† | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 58 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 136 | 67 |
| Rensselaer | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 36 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 148 | 59 |
| Clarkson | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 31 | 33 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 75 | 53 |
| Middlebury | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | | | 21 | 10 | 11 | 0 | – | – |
| Williams | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | | | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference regular season champion St. Lawrence was declared as the sole champion when Rensselaer was found to have used an ineligible player during the season. |||||||||||||||

## 1952 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 |
| E1 | St. Lawrence | 3 | | | |
| W2 | Michigan | 9 | | | |
| W2 | Michigan | 9 | W2 | Michigan | 4 |
| | | | W1 | Colorado College | 1 |
| W1 | Colorado College | 4 | W1 | Colorado College | 1 |
| E2 | Yale | 3 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | E1 | St. Lawrence | 1 |
| | | | E2 | Yale | 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 |
| Frank Chiarelli | Freshman | Rensselaer | 18 | 55 | 24 | 79 | 6 |
| Ron Hartwell | Senior | Colorado College | 25 | 40 | 27 | 67 | 20 |
| Abbie Moore | Sophomore | Rensselaer | 18 | 31 | 34 | 65 | 4 |
| John Mayasich | Freshman | Minnesota | 26 | 32 | 30 | 62 | 10 |
| Tony Frasca | Senior | Colorado College | – | 24 | 33 | 57 | 8 |
| Neale Langill | Freshman | St. Lawrence | 18 | 28 | 27 | 55 | – |
| Ambrose Mosco | Freshman | Rensselaer | 14 | 24 | 31 | 55 | 10 |
| Bob Wheeler | Senior | Brown | – | 36 | 18 | 54 | – |
| Omer Brandt | Junior | Colorado College | – | 29 | 24 | 53 | 29 |
| Richard Dougherty | Freshman | Minnesota | 26 | 32 | 20 | 52 | 33 |

### 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 |
| Willard Ikola | Freshman | Michigan | 26 | - | 22 | 4 | 0 | 70 | 2 | - | 2.69 |
| Paul Cruikshank | Junior | Yale | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.76 |
| Rudy Lindbeck | Senior | North Dakota | 11 | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | .927 | 3.00 |
| Harris Siegel | Junior | Rensselaer | 14 | 695 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 1 | - | 3.37 |
| Jack Boylan | Freshman | St. Lawrence | 20 | 1163 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 67 | 0 | .886 | 3.46 |
| George Mooney | Sophomore | Denver | 15 | - | 11 | 3 | 1 | - | 0 | .845 | 3.46 |
| Alex Finkelstein | Sophomore | North Dakota | 24 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | .868 | 4.25 |
| Larry Ross | Junior | Minnesota | 13 | - | - | - | - | 64 | 0 | .840 | 4.90 |
| Delmar Reid | Senior | Michigan State | 15 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.73 |
| Harry Taylor | Sophomore | Michigan Tech | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | .829 | 7.00 |