# 1956–57 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1956–57 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1956 and concluded with the 1957 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 16, 1957 at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 10th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 63rd year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| Boston Arena Christmas Tournament | December 27–29 | 8 | Harvard |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | December 27–29 | 4 | Michigan Tech |
| Beanpot | February 1, 5 | 4 | Boston College |

### Standings

1956–57 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 |
| Amherst | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| American International | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | – | – |
| Army | 17 | 13 | 4 | 0 | .765 | 118 | 57 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 125 | 59 |
| Boston College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 22 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 108 | 76 |
| Boston University | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | .587 | 112 | 84 | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 112 | 84 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 3 | 14 | 0 | – | – |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 68 | 113 |
| Colby | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | – | – |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 105 | 104 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 4 | 13 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 26 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 142 | 58 |
| Massachusetts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 47 | 53 |
| Merrimack | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 49 | 39 |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 57 | 62 |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 123 | 127 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 6 | 12 | 1 | – | – |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 44 | 88 |
| Providence | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 109 | 88 |
| St. Olaf | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | – | – |
| Tufts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| Williams | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 10 | 15 | 0 | 81 | 134 |
1956–57 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 |
| Minnesota–Duluth † | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | – | – | 23 | 16 | 4 | 3 | – | – |
| Augsburg | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Concordia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| Gustavus Adolphus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | – | – |
| Hamline | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Macalester | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Saint John's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| St. Thomas | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference champion |||||||||||||||
1956–57 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 |
| Rensselaer† | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 34 | 19 | 21 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 117 | 69 |
| Clarkson | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 30 | 18 | 22 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 123 | 46 |
| St. Lawrence | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 33 | 19 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 111 | 61 |
| Middlebury | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 50 | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1956–57 Western Intercollegiate Hockey League vte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | PCT | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| Colorado College† | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | .778 | 19 | 93 | 69 | 30 | 25 | 5 | 0 | 205 | 105 |
| Michigan | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | .750 | 16½ | 76 | 55 | 25 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 112 | 79 |
| North Dakota | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | .591 | 13 | 82 | 72 | 29 | 18 | 11 | 0 | 126 | 99 |
| Michigan Tech | 20 | 8 | 8 | 4 | .500 | 12½ | 80 | 76 | 28 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 133 | 97 |
| Denver | 18 | 6 | 11 | 1 | .361 | 9 | 64 | 74 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 121 | 105 |
| Minnesota | 24 | 7 | 15 | 2 | .333 | 8 | 69 | 92 | 29 | 12 | 15 | 2 | 96 | 96 |
| Michigan State | 20 | 5 | 15 | 0 | .250 | 6 | 42 | 68 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 62 | 71 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion Note: All games played between league members counted in the standings. When teams played each other twice, two points were awarded for a win, one point for a tie. When teams met each other four times, one point was awarded for a win, one-half point for a tie. Maximum 24 points available. ||||||||||||||||

## 1957 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 14–15 | Semifinals March 14–15 | Semifinals March 14–15 | National championship March 16 | National championship March 16 | National championship March 16 |
| W1 | Colorado College | 5 | | | |
| E2 | Clarkson | 3 | | | |
| E2 | Clarkson | 3 | W1 | Colorado College | 13 |
| | | | W2 | Michigan | 6 |
| E1 | Harvard | 1 | W2 | Michigan | 6 |
| W2 | Michigan | 6 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | E1 | Clarkson | 2* |
| | | | E2 | Harvard | 1 |
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 |
| Bob Cleary | Junior | Harvard | 26 | 36 | 37 | 73 | - |
| Bill Hay | Sophomore | Colorado College | 30 | 28 | 45 | 73 | - |
| Bob McCusker | Sophomore | Colorado College | - | 47 | 24 | 71 | - |
| Ed Rowe | Senior | Clarkson | 22 | 31 | 32 | 63 | - |
| Bill Reichart | Senior | North Dakota | 29 | 36 | 24 | 60 | 13 |
| Paul Midghall | Freshman | Rensselaer | 21 | 24 | 35 | 59 | 24 |
| Dick Chiarelli | Senior | Rensselaer | 21 | 32 | 25 | 57 | 38 |
| Joe McLean | Senior | St. Lawrence | 20 | 24 | 26 | 50 | - |
| Jack McManus | Senior | Michigan Tech | 28 | 26 | 23 | 49 | 26 |
| Jim Ridley | Junior | North Dakota | 29 | 23 | 26 | 49 | 26 |

### 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 |
| Rodney Schneck | Sophomore | Denver | - | - | 10 | - | - | - | 2 | .913 | 2.20 |
| Jack McCartan | Junior | Minnesota | 15 | 900 | - | - | - | 43 | 0 | - | 2.80 |
| Sarge Whittier | Senior | St. Lawrence | 17 | 984 | - | - | - | 44 | 0 | .888 | 3.16 |
| Andy LaHaye | Senior | Michigan Tech | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | .864 | 3.20 |
| Don Vaia | Junior | Minnesota | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.20 |
| John Stopen | Senior | Rensselaer | 18 | 1052 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 59 | 0 | .876 | 3.36 |
| Tom Yurkovich | Senior | North Dakota | 29 | - | 18 | 11 | 0 | - | 2 | .874 | 3.40 |
| Joseph Selinger | Sophomore | Michigan State | 20 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.40 |
| Bob McManus | Senior | Michigan Tech | 24 | - | - | - | - | - | - | .878 | 3.50 |
| Gerry Jones | Sophomore | Yale | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.80 |