# 1958–59 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1958–59 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1958 and concluded with the 1959 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 14, 1959 at the RPI Field House in Troy, New York. This was the 12th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 65th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
After the previous season the WIHL dissolved due to an argument between member universities over recruiting practices, namely the tendency of Colorado College, Denver and North Dakota to recruit overage Canadian players. In time the practice would eventually lead to Denver's appearance in the 1973 tournament being vacated but rules prohibiting such recruits did not exist at the time. Due to the dissolution of the WIHL the three schools belonging to the Big Ten Conference formed their own ice hockey division.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| Boston Arena Christmas Tournament | December 26–30 | 8 | Michigan State |
| Cornell Invitational | January 1–3 | 6 | New Hampshire |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | January 1–3 | 4 | Michigan State |
| Beanpot | February 2, 9 | 4 | Boston College |

### Standings

1958–59 Big Ten 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 |
| Michigan State† | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 30 | 26 | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 115 | 64 |
| Minnesota | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 40 | 28 | 24 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 105 | 85 |
| Michigan | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 36 | 22 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 84 | 97 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1958–59 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 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| American International | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 6 | 14 | 0 | – | – |
| Army | 19 | 9 | 9 | 1 | .500 | 78 | 64 | 20 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 79 | 70 |
| Boston College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 28 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 136 | 105 |
| Boston University | 23 | 13 | 8 | 2 | .609 | 106 | 81 | 23 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 106 | 81 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 7 | 11 | 1 | – | – |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 24 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 84 | 109 |
| Colby | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 10 | 8 | 1 | – | – |
| Colgate | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 33 | 68 |
| Colorado College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 86 | 110 |
| Cornell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 4 | 16 | 1 | 45 | 166 |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 126 | 97 |
| Denver | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 28 | 22 | 5 | 1 | 194 | 86 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 126 | 79 |
| Massachusetts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 36 | 52 |
| Merrimack | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 105 | 67 |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 1 | 11 | 1 | – | – |
| Michigan Tech | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 27 | 16 | 10 | 1 | 116 | 88 |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 99 | 49 |
| North Dakota | 26 | 18 | 8 | 0 | .692 | 104 | 83 | 31 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 125 | 103 |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 24 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 98 | 99 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 6 | 16 | 1 | 73 | 102 |
| Providence | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 95 | 94 |
| St. Olaf | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | – | – |
| Tufts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 6 | 7 | 1 | – | – |
| Williams | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17 | 7 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 94 | 71 |
1958–59 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 † | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | – | – | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | – | – |
| Augsburg | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Concordia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Gustavus Adolphus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Hamline | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Macalester | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Saint John's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| Saint Mary's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 1 | 9 | 2 | – | – |
| St. Thomas | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference champion |||||||||||||||
1958–59 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† | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 34 | 18 | 22 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 134 | 81 |
| Rensselaer | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 21 | 24 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 120 | 90 |
| Clarkson | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 23 | 20 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 108 | 66 |
| Middlebury | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | | | 20 | 11 | 8 | 1 | – | – |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||

## 1959 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 12–13 | Semifinals March 12–13 | Semifinals March 12–13 | National championship March 14 | National championship March 14 | National championship March 14 |
| E1 | St. Lawrence | 3 | | | |
| W2 | North Dakota | 4* | | | |
| W2 | North Dakota | 4* | W2 | North Dakota | 4* |
| | | | W1 | Michigan State | 3 |
| W1 | Michigan State | 4 | W1 | Michigan State | 3 |
| E2 | Boston College | 3 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | E1 | St. Lawrence | 6 |
| | | | E2 | Boston College | 7** |
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 |
| Phil Latreille | Sophomore | Middlebury | 20 | 57 | 33 | 90 | - |
| Paul Midghall | Junior | Rensselaer | 21 | 29 | 49 | 78 | 44 |
| Ray Belasky | Junior | Rensselaer | 21 | 37 | 33 | 70 | 23 |
| Art Chisholm | Sophomore | Northeastern | 23 | 40 | 25 | 65 | 35 |
| Jim Brown | Junior | Denver | 28 | 24 | 38 | 62 | - |
| Bob Marquis | Junior | Boston University | - | 41 | 18 | 59 | - |
| John Kosiancic | Junior | Michigan Tech | 27 | 25 | 28 | 53 | 26 |
| Terry Slater | Sophomore | St. Lawrence | 22 | 21 | 29 | 50 | 4 |
| Bill Masterton | Sophomore | Denver | 23 | 21 | 28 | 49 | 6 |
| Paul Coppo | Junior | Michigan Tech | 25 | 18 | 31 | 49 | 4 |

### 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 |
| Joe Selinger | Senior | Michigan State | 24 | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | - | 2.67 |
| George Gratton | Sophomore | North Dakota | 15 | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | .876 | 2.73 |
| Rodney Schneck | Senior | Denver | - | - | 22 | - | - | - | 1 | .876 | 2.97 |
| Robert Peabody | Senior | North Dakota | 20 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | .868 | 3.20 |
| George Cuculick | Junior | Michigan Tech | 20 | - | - | - | - | - | - | .889 | 3.15 |
| Gerry Jones | Senior | Yale | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.21 |
| Ron Tanner | Sophomore | Boston University | 23 | - | - | - | - | - | - | .884 | 3.22 |
| Bill Armstrong | Sophomore | Clarkson | 19 | - | 10 | - | - | - | - | .889 | 3.40 |
| Larry Palmer | Senior | Army | 19 | 1132 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 67 | 1 | .900 | 3.55 |
| Bob Steer | Junior | St. Lawrence | 20 | 1246 | - | - | - | 74 | 0 | .887 | 3.56 |

## Awards
### NCAA

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Spencer Penrose Award | Spencer Penrose Award | John "Snooks" Kelley, Boston College |
| Most Outstanding Player in NCAA Tournament | Most Outstanding Player in NCAA Tournament | Reg Morelli, North Dakota |
| AHCA All-American Teams |||
| East Team | Position | West Team |
| Gerry Jones, Yale | G | Joe Selinger, Michigan State |
| Joe Jangro, Boston College | D | Bill Steenson, North Dakota |
| Pat Presley, St. Lawrence | D | Bob Watt, Michigan |
| Bob Marquis, Boston University | F | John Kosiancic, Michigan Tech |
| Paul Midghall, Rensselaer | F | Bob White, Michigan |
| Phil Latreille, Middlebury | F | Murray Williamson, Minnesota |