# 1964–65 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey season

The 1964–65 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey season began in November 1964 and concluded with the 1965 NCAA University Division Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 20, 1965 at the Meehan Auditorium in Providence, Rhode Island. This was the 18th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 71st year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
The ECAC conference was nearly halved before the season, going from 29 teams the previous year down to 15. This happened due to the creation of a lower-tier division for the schools that couldn't afford or weren't willing to compete with the wealthier universities. The lower tier would go through several changes over the years but continues to operate as the Division III level as well as the lone remaining Division II conference, Northeast-10. (as of 2016)

## Regular season
### Season tournaments

| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
| Boston Christmas Holiday Festival | December 18–20 | 8 | Boston University |
| ECAC Holiday Hockey Festival | December 21–23 | 6 | Northeastern |
| Boston Arena Christmas Tournament | December 28–30 | 4 | Michigan |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | December 28–30 | 4 | Minnesota–Duluth |
| Yankee Conference Tournament | December 29–30 | 4 | New Hampshire |
| Brown Holiday Tournament | January 1–2 | 4 | Brown |
| Nichols School Invitational | January 1–2 | 4 | Yale |
| Beanpot | February 8, 15 | 4 | Boston College |

### Standings

1964–65 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 |
| Minnesota† | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 45 | 35 | 28 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 137 | 121 |
| Michigan State | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 37 | 38 | 29 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 165 | 118 |
| Michigan | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 36 | 45 | 26 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 110 | 122 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1964–65 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 |
| Boston University† | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 | .833 | 86 | 34 | 31 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 165 | 65 |
| Boston College* | 20 | 15 | 5 | 0 | .750 | 113 | 73 | 31 | 24 | 7 | 0 | 183 | 117 |
| Clarkson | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | .733 | 65 | 38 | 25 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 104 | 64 |
| Brown | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 | .727 | 109 | 69 | 30 | 21 | 9 | 0 | 148 | 101 |
| Cornell | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | .722 | 87 | 55 | 26 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 150 | 75 |
| Northeastern | 19 | 11 | 8 | 0 | .579 | 69 | 68 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 0 | 135 | 97 |
| Dartmouth | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 58 | 69 | 23 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 118 | 104 |
| Providence | 17 | 7 | 9 | 1 | .441 | 53 | 68 | 26 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 110 | 100 |
| Yale | 20 | 8 | 12 | 0 | .400 | 67 | 80 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 0 | 86 | 86 |
| Rensselaer | 15 | 5 | 8 | 2 | .400 | 52 | 68 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 95 | 96 |
| Harvard | 20 | 7 | 13 | 0 | .350 | 55 | 88 | 24 | 9 | 15 | 0 | 66 | 92 |
| Army | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 37 | 42 | 24 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 131 | 56 |
| Colgate | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 42 | 57 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 0 | 90 | 99 |
| Princeton | 21 | 4 | 17 | 0 | .190 | 55 | 108 | 24 | 6 | 18 | 0 | 59 | 111 |
| St. Lawrence | 14 | 1 | 12 | 1 | .107 | 34 | 67 | 22 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 63 | 96 |
| Championship: Boston College † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||
1964–65 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 |
| Clarkson† | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20 | 7 | 25 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 104 | 64 |
| Rensselaer | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 22 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 95 | 96 |
| St. Lawrence | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 19 | 22 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 63 | 96 |
| † indicates conference regular season champion |||||||||||||||
1964–65 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 |
| Alaska–Fairbanks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | - | - |
| Minnesota–Duluth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 27 | 14 | 12 | 1 | 146 | 107 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 49 | 58 |
| Wisconsin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 23 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 135 | 108 |
1964–65 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 |
| North Dakota† | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 | .813 | 75 | 48 | 33 | 25 | 8 | 0 | 184 | 106 |
| Michigan Tech* | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | .694 | 78 | 47 | 31 | 24 | 5 | 2 | 153 | 82 |
| Minnesota | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | .556 | 86 | 78 | 28 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 137 | 121 |
| Michigan State | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 69 | 61 | 29 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 165 | 118 |
| Michigan | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | .389 | 68 | 94 | 26 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 110 | 122 |
| Denver | 12 | 4 | 7 | 1 | .375 | 34 | 37 | 28 | 18 | 8 | 2 | 144 | 74 |
| Colorado College | 16 | 2 | 14 | 0 | .125 | 51 | 96 | 25 | 7 | 17 | 1 | 96 | 132 |
| Championship: Michigan Tech † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion |||||||||||||||

## 1965 NCAA Tournament

| Semifinals March 18–19 | Semifinals March 18–19 | Semifinals March 18–19 | National championship March 20 | National championship March 20 | National championship March 20 |
| E1 | Boston College | 4 | | | |
| W2 | North Dakota | 3 | | | |
| W2 | North Dakota | 3 | E1 | Boston College | 2 |
| | | | W1 | Michigan Tech | 8 |
| W1 | Michigan Tech | 4 | W1 | Michigan Tech | 8 |
| E2 | Brown | 0 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | W2 | North Dakota | 9 |
| | | | E2 | Brown | 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 |
| John Cunniff | Junior | Boston College | 27 | 31 | 36 | 67 | – |
| Doug Roberts | Senior | Michigan State | 29 | 28 | 33 | 61 | 42 |
| Grant Heffernan | Senior | Providence | – | 28 | 30 | 58 | – |
| Keith Christiansen | Sophomore | Minnesota–Duluth | 27 | 23 | 35 | 58 | 69 |
| Doug Ferguson | Sophomore | Cornell | 26 | 27 | 28 | 55 | 86 |
| Gerry Kell | Junior | North Dakota | 33 | 24 | 31 | 55 | 42 |
| Phil Dyer | Junior | Boston College | – | 12 | 43 | 55 | – |
| Dennis Hextall | Sophomore | North Dakota | 33 | 17 | 36 | 53 | 33 |
| Murray Stephen | Junior | Cornell | 26 | 27 | 25 | 52 | 57 |
| Raymond Clegg | Sophomore | Wisconsin | 22 | 27 | 22 | 49 | – |
| Jerry Knightley | Senior | Rensselaer | 22 | 27 | 22 | 49 | 34 |
| Terrance Chapman | Senior | Brown | 30 | 24 | 25 | 49 | – |
| Bruce Darling | Junior | Brown | 30 | – | – | 49 | – |

### 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 |
| Jack Ferreira | Junior | Boston University | 31 | 1783 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 63 | 8 | .901 | 2.12 |
| Tony Esposito | Sophomore | Michigan Tech | 17 | 1021 | - | - | - | 40 | 1 | .912 | 2.35 |
| Dick Newell | Sophomore | Army | 18 | 1028 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 43 | 3 | .906 | 2.51 |
| Alex Terpay | Junior | Michigan State | 11 | 640 | - | - | - | 24 | 0 | .857 | 2.54 |
| Buddy Blom | Junior | Denver | 28 | - | 18 | 8 | 2 | - | 0 | .906 | 2.64 |
| Terry Yurkiewicz | Junior | Clarkson | 24 | 1366 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 56 | 1 | .914 | 2.66 |
| Errol McKibbon | Junior | Cornell | 15 | - | - | - | - | - | - | .891 | 2.75 |
| Rick Best | Sophomore | Michigan Tech | 14 | 840 | - | - | - | 42 | 1 | .893 | 3.00 |
| Dale Stauss | Sophomore | North Dakota | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | .821 | 3.00 |
| Joe Lech | Senior | North Dakota | 31 | 1080 | - | - | - | 56 | 2 | .893 | 3.07 |

## Awards
### WCHA

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Most Valuable Player | Most Valuable Player | Gerry Kell, North Dakota |
| Sophomore of the Year | Sophomore of the Year | Gary Milroy, Michigan Tech |
| Coach of the Year | Coach of the Year | Bob Peters, North Dakota |
| All-WCHA Teams |||
| First Team | Position | Second Team |
| Tony Esposito, Michigan Tech | G | Joe Lech, North Dakota |
| Don Ross, North Dakota | D | Dennis Huculak, Michigan Tech |
| Wayne Smith, Denver | D | Tom Polanic, Michigan |
| Gerry Kell, North Dakota | F | Gary Milroy, Michigan Tech |
| Mel Wakabayashi, Michigan | F | Doug Roberts, Michigan State |
| Doug Woog, Minnesota | F | Dennis Hextall, North Dakota |