# 1953–54 NCAA men's ice hockey season

The 1953–54 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1953 and concluded with the 1954 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 13, 1954 at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This was the 7th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 60th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
Entering the season, in an effort to more accurately reflect the geographic location of the member school, the MCHL changed the conference name to 'Western Intercollegiate Hockey League'.

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| Boston Arena Christmas Tournament | December 29–30 | 4 | St. Lawrence |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | December 30–January 2 | 4 | St. Francis Xavier |
| Beanpot | January 11–12 | 4 | Boston College |

### Standings

1953–54 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 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| American International | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 5 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| Army | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 51 | 73 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 66 | 79 |
| Boston College | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 21 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 98 | 70 |
| Boston University | 20 | 4 | 15 | 1 | .225 | 62 | 122 | 20 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 62 | 122 |
| Bowdoin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | – | – |
| Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 91 | 70 |
| Colby | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – |
| Dartmouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 28 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 141 | 110 |
| Hamilton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 4 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| Harvard | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 81 | 100 |
| Massachusetts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 36 | 86 |
| MIT | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| New Hampshire | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 35 | 45 |
| Northeastern | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 59 | 99 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 9 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
| Princeton | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 47 | 65 |
| Providence | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 71 | 100 |
| St. Olaf | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Tufts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | – | – |
| Williams | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | – | – |
| Yale | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 88 | 59 |
1953–54 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 † | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | – | – | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| Augsburg | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Concordia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – |
| Gustavus Adolphus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
| Hamline | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Macalester | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Saint John's | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| St. Thomas | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference champion |||||||||||||||
1953–54 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 | 28 | 14 | 23 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 141 | 59 |
| St. Lawrence† | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 29 | 15 | 22 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 136 | 56 |
| Clarkson | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 27 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 83 | 73 |
| Middlebury | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 0 | – | – |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1953–54 Western Intercollegiate 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 |
| Minnesota† | 20 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 20½ | 117 | 61 | 30 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 186 | 86 |
| Michigan | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 18½ | 83 | 54 | 23 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 120 | 84 |
| North Dakota | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 14½ | 70 | 47 | 27 | 14 | 12 | 1 | 123 | 102 |
| Denver | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 74 | 71 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 0 | 165 | 106 |
| Colorado College | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 11 | 48 | 58 | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 118 | 88 |
| Michigan State | 18 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 6½ | 56 | 69 | 23 | 8 | 14 | 1 | 92 | 81 |
| Michigan Tech | 18 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 36 | 114 | 25 | 7 | 17 | 1 | 94 | 133 |
| † 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 of 24 points available. |||||||||||||||

## 1954 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 11–12 | Semifinals March 11–12 | Semifinals March 11–12 | National championship March 13 | National championship March 13 | National championship March 13 |
| E1 | Boston College | 1 | | | |
| W2 | Minnesota | 14 | | | |
| W2 | Minnesota | 14 | W2 | Minnesota | 4 |
| | | | E2 | Rensselaer | 5* |
| W1 | Michigan | 4 | E2 | Rensselaer | 5* |
| E2 | Rensselaer | 6 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | W1 | Michigan | 7 |
| | | | E1 | Boston College | 2 |
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 |
| John Mayasich | Junior | Minnesota | 28 | 29 | 49 | 78 | 20 |
| Richard Dougherty | Junior | Minnesota | 28 | 42 | 26 | 68 | 41 |
| Abbie Moore | Senior | Rensselaer | 23 | 36 | 32 | 68 | 14 |
| Frank Chiarelli | Junior | Rensselaer | 23 | 35 | 28 | 63 | 21 |
| John Titus | Senior | Dartmouth | - | 37 | 24 | 61 | - |
| Doug Mullen | Senior | Michigan | 23 | 22 | 39 | 61 | 24 |
| Jack Smith | Sophomore | Denver | 26 | 21 | 39 | 60 | - |
| Ben Cherski | Junior | North Dakota | 27 | 40 | 16 | 56 | 26 |
| Brian McFarlane | Junior | St. Lawrence | 22 | 31 | 24 | 55 | 12 |
| Bill MacFarland | Sophomore | Michigan | 23 | 30 | 23 | 53 | 41 |

### 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 |
| Bob Fox | Junior | Rensselaer | 23 | 1382 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 59 | 5 | .895 | 2.56 |
| Bill Sloan | Sophomore | St. Lawrence | 22 | 1265 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 56 | 3 | .908 | 2.66 |
| Jim Mattson | Junior | Minnesota | 26 | 1565 | - | - | - | 72 | 4 | .888 | 2.76 |
| Spike Schultz | Sophomore | North Dakota | 27 | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | .898 | 3.54 |
| Edward Schiller | Sophomore | Michigan State | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.73 |
| George Scherer | Sophomore | Yale | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.73 |
| Bill Begg | Junior | Denver | - | - | 12 | 9 | 0 | - | 0 | .835 | 4.54 |
| Bob McManus | Freshman | Michigan Tech | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | .891 | 5.07 |
| Harry Taylor | Senior | Michigan Tech | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | .839 | 5.14 |