wcha men s yearbook. wcha history. MichigaN Tech and Colorado College go Head-to-Head in 1960 s Western Collegiate Hockey Association action

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1 wcha history MichigaN Tech and Colorado College go Head-to-Head in 1960 s Western Collegiate Hockey Association action 97

2 the western collegiate hockey association story celebrating 57 years of history, tradition & success the first 50 years by John Gilbert A look back through the history of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is filled with spectacular achievements and stunning surprises. It is a league that produced so many highlights that it took 51 years for the WCHA to celebrate its first 50 years. The answer to that trivia quiz-level puzzle is that the league didn t play as a league for the season, so it took 51 years to play 50 seasons. And, the WCHA celebrated its 50th anniversary throughout the season, which was the 50th year since the original Midwest Collegiate Hockey League was first transformed into the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (WIHL) and then re-named the WCHA. Confusing? Maybe. Dominant? Definitely. There have been national collegiate hockey championship tournaments since 1948, when Michigan beat Dartmouth for the title at Colorado Springs. The first 10 national tournaments were held at the figure-skating arena adjacent to the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo., a wide but short rink that became legendary as the Broadmoor World Arena. Michigan took third and Colorado College fourth in 1949, with Colorado College winning the national title in 1950, and Michigan regaining the throne in Officially, the WCHA goes back to the fall of 1951, when Michigan coach Vic Heyliger coaxed his peers into organizing something called the Midwest Collegiate Hockey League. Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota, North Dakota, Denver and Colorado College were the original entrants. So in the annals of national championships, charter members Michigan actually had two and CC one before the league even began. In those days, the Midwest Collegiate league was filled with colorful characters. Colorado College won the first league title with a 10-2 record under coach Cheddy Thompson, while Denver and Michigan tied for second at 9-3. But Michigan, which was 22-4 overall, went on to win its second of three consecutive national titles by beating CC in the final,right there on the Tigers home ice at the Broadmoor. Colorado College forwards Tony Frasca, league scoring champion Ron Hartwell ( ) and Omer Brandt swept the leagueπs first all-star spots, and were joined by Tigers goalie Ken Kinsley, while Denver defensemen Eddie Miller and Don Burgess filled out the first team. Lurking on the second team, however, was a freshman at Minnesota named John Mayasich, a legendary scorer from Eveleth High Minnesota legend john mayasich in 1950 s wcha action against michigan state School, who was just starting to carve out a Hall-of- Fame college career with the Gophers by scoring 32 goals and assisting on 30 more for rookie points, in a season. Mayasich led the Gophers to the second conference title in , with a 10-game winning streak that earned a 16-4 record (22-5 overall). The legendary John Mariucci replaced Doc Romnes to coach his first season that year, and while Mayasich scored an improbable to top league scorers, teammate Jim Mattson also was the top goalie with a 2.36 goals-against average and a.910 saves percentage. Michigan, however, under the redoubtable Heyliger, captured the national title for the third straight time and fourth in the event s first six years by beating Minnesota 7-3 in the NCAA final. For Year Three in , the fledgling league changed its name to the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (WIHL), and Minnesota won the title again, with a record ( overall), as Mayasich won his second straight league scoring title with , matching his sophomore points. Again, however, the Gophers came up short in the national tournament, this time beating Boston College 14-1 in the semifinals, only to lose 5-4 in overtime to RPI in the 1954 title match. As a senior in , Mayasich scored for his third straight league scoring title, giving him a four-year total of 144 goals, 154 assists and 298 points, a mark that still stands in the Gopher record books. But winning league and national titles were elusive for Minnesota, and Colorado College returned to the league pinnacle in 1955, although the Tigers again lost to Michigan, 5-3, in the national championship. Michigan followed up by winning both the league and national crowns in , with Michigan Tech the runner-up in both. The Wolverines outgunned Tech 7-5 for the title, after depending all season on the stout goaltending of Lorne Howes, who had a1.90 goals-against mark in 22 games. John Andrews of CC won the league scoring title with , edging North Dakota s Bill Reichart and Tech s Jack McManus by one point. Nobody had a knockout punch like Mayasich, but Colorado College countered with a Haymaker, of its own, as Bill Hay supplanted Mayasich as the most prolific league scorer. Hay led CC to the league title in for the second time in three years, but this time they also tacked on the NCAA crown, overrunning Michigan 13-6 in the title game. Reichart ( ) beat teammate Jim Ridley and Hay for the league scoring title. Hay led the WIHL in scoring the next year, in , with , but North Dakota, behind Bob Peabody s league-leading goalie play, won the league. Coach Murray Armstrong s Denver outfit rose from third place to sting the Sioux 6-2 in the NCAA final, as the tournament left what had been its only home at the Broadmoor for Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Difficult as it is to believe, hockey types sometimes disagree, and hassles within the elite seven-team WIHL led to the league disbanding for the below: WCHA action between north dakota and minnesota in the early 1950 s. 98

3 history of the wcha wcha men s yearbook vic heyliger john matchefts bill steenson Colorado College won the wcha championship in 1952 and 1957 and the ncaa crown in season, only to reform as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association one year later. Meantime, league cohesiveness or not, the West prevailed nationally regardless, as North Dakota went to the NCAA tournament in Troy, N.Y., and beat Michigan State 4-3 in overtime in the 1959 title game. Armstrong s Denver dynasty took command when the WCHA played its first official season in , the Pioneers winning both the league and NCAA titles behind Bill Masterton s scoring, Marty Howe s defense and George Kirkwood s goaltending. Michigan Tech and North Dakota were the closest challengers, and Tech battled the Pioneers to the national finals before yielding 5-3 at Matthews Arena in Boston. Masterton, who won the league scoring title at , helped Denver post a overall record. Masterton returned for the term, on what some veteran observers claimed was the greatest Denver team ever. The league scoring title went to Denver s Jerry Walker ( ), while Howe joined teammate George Konik to the All-WCHA team. Needless to say, Denver dominated the WCHA, and bolstered its 17-1 league record with a second straight NCAA title, winning a home-ice 12-2 rout over St. Lawrence in the 1961 final, to finish a magnificent Denver also won the league crown in , and came back for more later in the decade, but competition from within the league was catching up to the Pioneers. John MacInnes lured a goaltender named Garry Bauman to Houghton, where Lou Angotti and a herd of other blue-chippers made Michigan Tech a major threat. Michigan had Gordon Red Berenson and later Gordon Wilkie and Gary Butler, while Minnesota followed the Ken Yackel era with a defenseman named Lou Nanne, who led the league in scoring. Bauman was All-WCHA goalie for three straight seasons, beginning in when the Huskies made old Dee Stadium on Houghton s riverfront rock with a 17-3 championship ledger, and a 29-3 overall mark. Michigan finished 15-3 (22-5 overall) behind Berenson s scoring title. The NCAA final four a term commonly used for hockey in those years was in Utica, N.Y., but the West inflicted its usual superiority. Tech beat St. Lawrence 6-1, although al renfrew reg morelli murray armstrong freshmen from the virtual professional breeding ground of Canadian junior hockey was dominating U.S. college teams comprised of high school graduates who come to college at age 18. Mariucci stressed that the trend precluded the development of U.S. talent. For his efforts, Mariucci is widely credited for disrupting the WCHA by refusing to play Denver s Canadian-filled club. Privately, though, John gave full attribution for that move to Minnesota athletic director Marsh Ryman, who ultimately decreed that Minnesota would not schedule Denver. So the league sputtered along on a percentage basis instead of points because of an imbalance of games, with some entrants refusing to play others. In the season, Denver (12-6-0) and North Dakota (11-5-2) shared rights to the MacNaughton Cup, and the Fighting Sioux settled the matter where it mattered most, by beating Denver in the NCAA final. Denver beat North Dakota 5-4 in overtime for the WCHA playoff crown, but North Dakota reversed it to win the national title 6-5 in Boston. Minnesota came in fourth at behind Tech as Nanne ( ) became the first defenseman to ever lead the league in scoring. Nanne was a rare Minnesota recruit from Canada, and Mariucci, who also had brought in Murray Williamson, a Canadian who gained All-American honors, said he always tried to have a Canadian on Clarkson edged Michigan 5-4 in the other semifinal. No problem. Tech demolished Clarkson 7-1 in the final, while Michigan whipped St. Lawrence 5-1 for third place. The WCHA survived some heavy-duty controversy in the 60s. Minnesota Coach and Godfather John Mariucci fought to establish new ground-rules for the advancement of U.S. hockey players by seeking to prevent college teams from recruiting their usual streams of over-age Canadian players. Routinely brought in after playing Canadian junior hockey through age 20, it was obvious that the 21-year-old above left: a game program for the colorado college vs minnesota tilt in Above right: Colorado College coach tony frasca. right: Denver s george konick, marty howe and bill masterton with the wcha s macnaughton cup. 99

4 history of the wcha to his stocky linemate with UMD played in the short bandbox rink above the Duluth Curling Club in its first WCHA year, but moved into the sparkling new Duluth Arena. Christiansen christened the new harborside facility in UMD s first WCHA game there, recording a school-record six assists in an 8-1 drublou angotti red berenson keith magnuson MICHIGAN TECH S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM OF THE HUSKIES WENT OVERALL. tony esposito john macinnes ron grahame the roster, just to prove I don t discriminate. The University of Michigan moved back on top of the conference at in , while Denver finished second at Denver beat the Wolverines 6-2 in a showdown in Ann Arbor to win the MacNaughton Cup as league playoff champ, but Michigan coach Al Renfrew gained revenge on Armstrong by beating DU 6-3 in the NCAA final on the Pioneers home ice, in Denver. At Michigan Tech, MacInnes, a former goaltender, followed up the career of Bauman with a pair of aces, recruiting the exceptional duo of Tony Esposito and Rick Best. Esposito went on to great fame in the National Hockey League, but in college, Best was equally as good, and the two alternated. Bauman had been All-American in 1963 and 1964, Esposito was All-American in 1965 and 1966, with Best claiming that award in The Best/Esposito tandem led the Huskies to second place (12-5-1) behind North Dakota (13-3) in North Dakota had Don Ross and Gerry Kell leading the way, but Tech beat the Fighting Sioux in the league playoff final and went on to prevail for the national title, whipping Boston College 8-2 in the final at Providence, R.I. to finish Michigan s Mel Wakabayashi won the scoring title at , and Minnesota had a center named Doug Woog. The season was pivotal for several reasons. For one, the WCHA let the University of Minnesota-Duluth come into the league as its eighth team. The league race was won by Michigan Tech, which went as Esposito recorded a.932 save percentage. North Dakota, which added super-centers Dennis Hextall and Terry Casey, tied Minnesota for second place. Doug Volmar of Michigan State won the scoring title, although the Spartans finished 9-11 and in sixth place. Then Michigan State established a standard for late-blooming teams by rising up at playoff time to win 3-2 at Michigan and 4-3 at Michigan Tech to reach the Final Four in Minneapolis. Incredibly, the Spartans surprised Boston University 2-1 in the semifinals, then, after Clarkson beat Denver 4-3, Michigan State shocked Clarkson 6-1 to win the NCAA tournament. The title for coach Amo Bessone also left the all-ncaa tournament team wearing green, as goaltender Gaye Cooley, defenseman Don Heaphy, and forwards Mike Coppo and Brian McAndrew earned spots. In , North Dakota beat Denver, Michigan Tech and Michigan for the conference title, but Minnesota-Duluth s pint-sized Keith Huffer Christiansen stole the spotlight, winning the league scoring title with Bruce McLeod, who would go on to one day become WCHA commissioner, was runner-up NORTH DAKOTA S 1959 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AS HEADLINED IN THE GRAND FORKS HERALD. Red Berenson was the WCHA S MOST VALUABLE PLAYER IN 1962, WAS A TWO-TIME ALL-AMERICAN, AND IS ONE OF THE LEAGUE S TOP 50 PLAYERS IN 50 YEARS. 100

5 history of the wcha wcha men s yearbook bing of archrival Minnesota. It took more than spectacular scoring to win the WCHA in , however, as North Dakota won the league crown behind goaltender Mike Lefty Curran at 16-6 in However, at the NCAA tournament in Syracuse, N.Y., that year, the unthinkable happened: The West was shut out of the championship game for the first time. Cornell beat North Dakota 1-0 and Boston University beat Michigan State 4-2, then Cornell beat BU 4-1 for the title. Denver returned things to normal in , winning the league title at 15-3 and the NCAA title by beating North Dakota in an all-western final at the Duluth Arena. The 4-0 championship victory meant Denver, after starting the season 6-5-1, finished the season with an incredible 22-game winning streak. Goalie Gerry Powers (1.78 goals-against,.930 save percentage) led Denver to its overall record, supported by defenseman Keith Magnuson, and forwards such as Cliff Koroll and Craig Patrick. Minnesota s Bill Klatt ( ) won the scoring title and made an impressive tandem with Gary Gambucci ( ), while Bob Munro, Terry Abram and goalie Curran starred in North Dakota s Barn. Denver (14-6) lost the narrowest of league races to Michigan Tech (14-5-1) for the title, and both teams advanced to the final four. Back at the aging Broadmoor, but with speedster George Morrison leading the way, Denver crushed Harvard 9-2 and won the NCAA crown by beating Cornell 4-3 in the final. The decade of the 1970s arrived, and again the look of college hockey and the WCHA changed forevermore. Minnesota, under coach Glen Sonmor, made its move to become a solid annual contender by playing virtually an entire homestate roster, while Badger Bob Johnson turned the new University of Wisconsin Division I program into a national power. Those two emerging contenders became the most ferocious rivals of the next two decades. In the season, Minnesota was led by prize goaltender Murray McLachlan and a dashing freshman centerman named Mike Antonovich, plus another freshman center named Dean Blais, and shocked the league to claim the first Golden Gophers title since 1954 with a school-record-setting league mark (20-12 overall). Thirteen times that season, Minnesota rallied from being tied or behind in the third period to win, beating out traditional powerhouse teams from Denver and Michigan Tech. But Tech and Wisconsin, which had finished for a very solid fourth place in its first league season, won regional verdicts to advance to the NCAA Final Four. Both lost, however, in the semifinals, and Cornell beat Clarkson 6-4 for the title in Lake Placid. Michigan Tech (18-4) topped Denver and Wisconsin for the title, but again the playoffs proved surprising. This time, sophomore Antonovich led Minnesota from a fifth-place WCHA ledger through a string of upsets, defeating Wisconsin and North Dakota in the Madison regional, to reach the NCAA final four. At Syracuse, the Golden Gophers came from behind with three late goals to tie, and ambushed Harvard 6-5 in an overtime semifinal, but the Gopher quest for Minnesota s first national title fell 4-2 to Boston University in the final. It was the first of two straight titles for BU. In , Notre Dame became the 10th WCHA entry. Denver won the league at19-9, Wisconsin was one game back at 20-8, and North Dakota was third. A tiny Colorado College center named Doug Palazzari scored to win the scoring race. In the NCAA tournament at Boston Garden, Wisconsin wound up beating Denver 5-2, but it was in the third-place game, while Boston University beat Cornell 4-0 in the final. For the first time, the WCHA failed to win the crown for three straight years. Minnesota s fortunes had nosedived in , with Sonmor leaving in midseason to organize the Minnesota Fighting Saints in the old World Hockey Association, and he took Antonovich with him. Ken Yackel took over as interim coach until he convinced athletic director Paul Giel to entrust the Gopher program to a bright, young coach named Herb Brooks. Brooks took over in the fall of 1972, and the rest of the decade was a dreamscape for long-suffering Gopher fans. Brooks guided the program to fulfill Mariucci s all-minnesota dream, zooming from last place into contention in his first season, then winning Minnesota s first two NCAA championships the next three years, while finishing as NCAA runner-up in the year between those two titles. In all, Brooks led NORTH DAKOTA CAPTURED THE PROGRAM S SECOND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE IN 1963 UNDER COACH BARRY THORNDYCRAFT. Minnesota to three NCAA championships in a six-year span, as the enormous rivalry between Minnesota, with Brooks, and Wisconsin, under Johnson, grew ever hotter, with both schools taking turns outdoing the other. In , Denver (20-8) beat Notre Dame (19-9) for the conference championship, with Eddie Bumbacco of the Fighting Irish winning the scoring title at for Lefty Smith. But Wisconsin, a close third at , got hot behind tourney most-valuable-player Dean Talafous and stormed to the NCAA crown with a 4-2 victory in Boston over a Denver powerhouse that included goalie Ron Grahame and forward Peter McNab. Wisconsin wound up In , Michigan Tech won the league title at , but Minnesota, which finished a distant second at , had league-leading goaltender Brad Shelstad and a feisty centerman in Mike Polich, and Brooks worked his first coaching magic to beat Michigan and Denver in total-goal series to gain a spot in the final four in Boston Garden. The Gophers seemed to be fading in the face of a closing rally by Boston University in the semifinals until Polich s dramatic shorthanded goal let the Gophers gain a 5-4 triumph. And Minnesota beat league-champ Michigan Tech 4-2 for the school s first NCAA hockey title. A year later, Minnesota won the WCHA title at 24-8, setting school records for league wins with a overall mark. But Tech, second at (32-10 overall), returned the favor and thrashed the Gophers 6-1 in the 1975 NCAA final at St. Louis. Michigan State s Tom Ross ( ) supplanted teammate Steve Colp for the league scoring title, while Brooks convinced Larry Thayer to leave his job as Zamboni driver at Edina s Braemar Arena, come out for the team, and tend goal. Thayer led the league with a 2.50 goals-against in 16 games. In , Minnesota and Michigan Tech did one more post-season pirouette. Tech won the WCHA title at , which broke the league record again, and was 34-9 overall. Michigan State was second with its explosive line of Steve Colp-Tom Ross-Daryl Rice, and Minnesota took third. The WCHA playoffs played down to two winners in those days, with both advancing to the NCAA Final Four, and after winning first-round sets, Minnesota and Michigan State collided at East Lansing for a two-game, total-goal series. They tied 2-2 in the first game, and they tied 6-6 on a Sunday afternoon in the second game, then they played on and on. Finally, Minnesota won 7-6 in the third overtime, missing its flight home but gaining a spot in the NCAA tournament in Denver. In the semifinals, the Gophers stung Boston University 4-2 in a game that featured a brawl near the Minnesota bench. Then the aroused Gophers upended the Michigan Tech Huskies 6-4 behind tournament MVP Tom Vannelli. The WCHA was filled with great players in that season. Michigan Tech had Mike Zuke ( ) and UNDER COACH MURRAY ARMSTRONG (FAR LEFT, MIDDLE ROW), THE DENVER PIONEERS WON NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968 AND PICTURED HERE IS THE 1969 NCAA TITLE TEAM. 101

6 history of the wcha minnesota won three national championships in the 1970s under coach herb brooks. pictured here is UM s 1976 NCAA Championship team. George Lyle ( ), among others. The Gophers had future NHLers Tom Younghans, Reed Larson, Russ Anderson and Warren Miller. Michigan State had the league s 1-2 scorers in Ross at and Colp at , with Rice chipping in Colp had led the league in at ; Ross upped the ante to a league-best in ; then Ross put it out of reach at in Meanwhile, in Madison, Badger Bob s Badgers 102 were mobilized for a frontal assault, and in the Badgers went to win the WCHA by 12 points over Notre Dame. The Badgers swept three two-game playoff sets to reach the NCAA tournament in Detroit, where they beat New Hampshire 4-3 in overtime in the semis and Michigan 6-5 in an overtime final. Wisconsin goalie Julian Baretta, defenseman Craig Norwich, and forwards Mike Eaves and Mark Johnson led the way, although Michigan s Dave Debol Colorado College players doug palazzari (left) and steve sertich (middle) pictured with art berglund (right), a former tiger player who led USA Hockey s international program won league scoring honors at The next season, Wisconsin coach Johnson said he learned never to plan a celebration too soon. The league gave out four points per game in WCHA-style inflation, and the Badgers led second place Denver by seven points going into the eight-point final series of Denver swept both games in Madison to wind up , one point ahead of the Badgers (21-9-2). The league scoring race wound up a tie michigan state s high-scoring tom ross is the wcha s career scoring leader with 324 points scored from between power-playmates Mark Johnson, the coach s kid, at , and Eaves at Meanwhile, Colorado College upset Denver in league playoffs, and only Wisconsin represented the WCHA at the Final Four, losing 5-2 to Boston University. BU went on to beat Boston College 5-3 in the first all-boston final. Amid all those glittering WCHA seasons, if one had to be picked where talent was absolutely the best, it was North Dakota had David Christian, Kevin Maxwell, Mark Taylor, Howard Walker, Phil Sykes, Marc Chorney, Cary Eades and goaltender Bob Iwabuchi, and went to Minnesota for the final weekend of the season against a Gopher team that included Neal Broten, Rob McClanahan, Steve Christoff, Eric Strobel, Phil Verchota, defensemen Bill Baker and Mike Ramsey, and goaltender Steve Janaszak. The Gophers won 5-2 to move to within one point of the Sioux for first place, but North Dakota won on the final night, with Christian getting his team s last two goals in a 4-2 victory, to finish to Minnesota s UMD was third at , and Gus Hendrickson s Bulldogs included Mark Pavelich, John Harrington and defenseman Curt Giles. Wisconsin was fourth at , with Mark Johnson and defenseman Bob Suter in the forefront. Colorado College was not a contender, but CC s Dave Delich ( ) won the scoring title. After both Minnesota and North Dakota made it through the league playoffs to reach the final four in Detroit s Olympia, the Gophers beat New Hampshire 4-3 while the Fighting Sioux beat Dartmouth 4-2. In the final, freshman Neal Broten hurtled through the air to stab a chip-shot up and over Sioux goaltender Iwabuchi, who had come out to challenge. That proved to be the game-winner as Minnesota gave Brooks a 4-3 conquest of Gino Gasparini s North Dakota outfit, his third NCAA crown in six years of what was only a seven-year tenure. The next year was , and Brooks took those eight Gophers, plus Mark Johnson, Suter, Harrington, Pavelich and Christian, with him. Those 13 WCHA representatives went off to Lake Placid, N.Y., to slay the Soviet Union s dragon and go on to win the Olympic gold medal in the most incredible sports story in U.S. history. Back in the WCHA, North Dakota (21-6-1) won the league and NCAA titles, although Minnesota was a surprising second in WCHA play, without five underclassmen who were with the Olympic team, and with former assistant Brad Buetow at the interim helm. The Gophers still had Tim Harrer, who set a Gopher record by winning the scoring race with 45 goals ( ), plus Don Micheletti, Steve Ulseth and freshman Aaron Broten, Neal s brother. In the playoffs, the NCAA granted newcomer Northern Michigan a slot as the third West seed essentially the fifth team in the Final Four. The Wildcats had to play a one-game showdown at Minnesota, and won a controversial 4-3 overtime decision after a regulation bullet from center ice by Aaron Broten tore through the upper right corner netting, hitting the plexiglass with such velocity that the referee decided that it couldn t have gone through the net. Television videotape later confirmed the frustration that left the Gophers at home, with the goal that would have won it in regulation being disallowed. North Dakota beat Dartmouth 4-1 in the semis and smacked Northern Michigan 5-2 in the title game at Providence. Wisconsin got the name Back-Door Badgers for the season, when they finished second to a Minnesota team that appeared dominant. Enough of Aaron Broten s goals and assists were counted that season to let him break the ancient scoring record of Johnny Mayasich, notching an incredible 106 points with 47 goals and 59 assists. League MVP Ulseth won the WCHA scoring title at , and scored overall to take second in team scoring to Aaron Broten, while Butsy Erickson added Neal Broten, who returned from the Miracle on Ice U.S. Olympic team to play another year with brother Aaron for the Gophers, finished seventh on the team scoring sheet at That was the year the Hobey Baker Award was inaugurated, and Neal was named the winner, perhaps more for his gold medalness than his season. The Gophers had gone 20-8 to take the league title, and overall. While Minnesota was beating UMD in a routine first round of WCHA playoffs, there was nothing routine about the other final series, at Madison. Wisconsin blew out Colorado College 8-2, but was shocked when the Tigers came back to whip the Badgers 11-4 in the second game and claim the total-goal set Minnesota then beat CC in the second-round playoff series for the automatic NCAA berth. That year, however, the NCAA had decided to expand the tournament to eight teams, and the committee voted to bring back Wisconsin from elimination and into the tournament, which started with four two-game, total-goal sets. Wisconsin went to Clarkson and won 3-2, then battled to a 6-6 tie to win the series and join Minnesota, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan in an all-west final four in Duluth. Minnesota played close to a perfect game to blitz Michigan Tech 7-2 in the semifinals, while the

7 history of the wcha wcha men s yearbook doug palazzari MIKE ZUKE HERB BROOKS dave delich bob johnson charles lefty smith michigan tech all-american forward bob d alvise in mid-1970 s action against wcha-rival colorado college. The huskies were national champions in Badgers surprised Northern Michigan 5-1. Then the Badgers stunned Minnesota 6-3 in the championship game, and red-clad fans took over an entire city block on Duluth s downtown Superior Street for a raucous celebration. One season later, in , the WCHA suffered a jolt when Michigan led regional league members Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Notre Dame to leave the WCHA, and they started the CCHA (Central Collegiate Hockey Association). The WCHA persevered as a six-team league, and goaltender Jon Casey (.919 saves percentage) led North Dakota (19-7) to the league title over Wisconsin (18-7-1). Wisconsin beat the Sioux for the league playoff title, but North Dakota (35-12 overall) beat the Badgers ( overall) in the 1982 NCAA final in Providence. Western fans noted that the WCHA produced both finalists, while nobody from the CCHA made it to the final four, just in case anyone thought the league might falter. After the season, Jeff Sauer replaced Bob Johnson at the University of Wisconsin, ending another historic coaching tenure. Brooks and Johnson, such intense rivals, both later established their talents at the pro level. Johnson, who later coached the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, became president of the Amateur Hockey Association of the U.S. and changed that title to USA Hockey, and also coached both Calgary and Pittsburgh in the NHL, where he got a national stage for his favorite phrase: It s a great day for hockey. After coaching the Penguins to the 1991 Stanley Cup, Johnson was stricken by a sudden and tragic bout with brain cancer and died under coach mike sertich, minnesota duluth became a dominant team in the wcha. with a lineup that featured all-americans tom kurvers, norm maciver and bill watson leading the way, the bulldogs won consecutive wcha championships in 1984 and 1985, then captured the league title and macnaughton cup again in before the next season started. Brooks, who forever changed the course of U.S. hockey with the 1980 Olympic gold medal, later coached the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Minnesota North Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, then coached the 2002 U.S. team to the Olympic silver medal at Salt Lake City. Brooks died, also tragically, in a one-vehicle rollover on August 11, 2003, while returning home from a hockey fund-raising golf tournament on the Iron Range. Brooks and Johnson both were cut short with so much more to offer the game, but their personalities, and their legacies, will live forever in WCHA annals. In , Buetow guided the Gophers to their second league title in three years at ( overall), with Scott Bjugstad ( ) winning the scoring title. North Dakota was second, four points back, behind Jon Casey s sparkling.921 saves percentage, and the Badgers were third. The Badgers, in coach Jeff Sauer s first season, hit the road for the playoffs, and took the roughest route, going first to Grand Forks to defeat the Fighting Sioux in total goals with a 1-1 tie and a three-overtime 6-5 second game, then to Minnesota to sweep the Gophers 5-1 and 3-2. Wisconsin kept winning in the preliminary NCAA pairings and, by surprise, reached the NCAA tournament in Grand Forks. More surprises were coming, as the Badgers beat Providence 2-0 in the semifinals and whipped Harvard 6-2 to win the NCAA title. A shift in the balance of power occurred when Mike Sertich was named as a one-year replacement when Gus Hendrickson was unceremoniously fired at UMD. Sertich was voted coach of the year for igniting a rise in Bulldogs fortunes, and he continued in what he later joked was the longest interim coaching term in history. He again won the award the next two seasons, directing the Bulldogs to WCHA titles in and Sertich s dazzling array of stars in the term included the league s top scorer in slick Bill Watson ( ), the league s best goaltender in freshman Rick Kosti, and the league s best defenseman in Tom Kurvers, who won the Hobey Baker Award. After advancing from a league title ( overall), Minnesota-Duluth made its strongest bid for a national title. Rarely has any team dominated the playoffs the way UMD did in routing Wisconsin 6-3 and 9-0, then, in a final league playoff series that had to be moved to Minnesota s Mariucci Arena because of a boat show at the Duluth Arena, the Bulldogs wiped out North Dakota 8-1 before cruising to a second-game 5-4 loss in the total-goal set. UMD eliminated Clarkson to reach the NCAA Final Four in Lake Placid, where the Bulldogs edged North Dakota 2-1 in overtime, the same score by which Bowling Green beat Michigan State. In the final, UMD gave up a 4-3 lead when Bowling Green scored late on an odd bounce off a seam in the boards, then UMD battled to exhaustion before falling 5-4 in the record-setting 103

8 history of the wcha the Colorado college tigers became one of the top teams in the western Collegiate Hockey Association under coach don lucia in the mid-1990 s, winning a record three consecutive conference championships and macnaughton cups in 1994, 1995 and Cup by seven points over runners-up Wisconsin and Denver. The Badgers, picked sixth in the pre-season poll, were one of the surprise teams of the year, placing second during the regular season, winning the 1995 WCHA Final Five in Saint Paul, and joining CC, vastly-improved Denver, and Minnesota in the NCAA tournament. The only one to reach the Providence tournament was Minnesota, which lost 7-3 to Boston University in the semifinals, before BU beat Maine 6-2 in the final. Minnesota junior Brian Bonin won the league scoring title with in 32 games, and added WCHA Player of the Year and first team West All-American honors, while Denver s first-year coach George Gwozdecky was Coach of the Year. In , Colorado College became the first team in the long and storied history of the WCHA to win a third straight regular season championship, with a superb record that topped Minnesota by 12 points. This time the Tigers reached the Frozen Four, but after winning a double-overtime 4-3 semifinal thriller against a Vermont team led by small but shifty Martin St. Louis, the Tigers lost 3-2 in overtime to Michigan in the final. Bonin, the repeat league scoring leader ( ) won the Hobey. The Tigers string was snapped in when the WCHA produced another of its best races. Five teams finished within five points of each other, with North Dakota and Minnesota eventually sharing the MacNaughton Cup at as regular season cochampions. Minnesota s Mike Crowley ( ) and Brian Swanson of CC ( ) shared the league scoring title, making Crowley the second defenseman ever to attain that status. North Dakota defeated Cornell, 6-2, at the West Regional, but saved its best for last in at the Frozen Four at Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The Sioux upended CC 6-2 in one semifinal while Boston University knocked off tourney favorite Michigan 3-2 in the other. The youthful North Dakota team, rejuvenated under coach Dean Blais, beat BU 6-4 to bring home the NCAA crown. Sioux winger Matt Henderson went from super-checker to super-scorer with in the two games and won the tourney s MVP award. Basically a sophomore team, UND went As juniors, that North Dakota group won the WCHA again in , at , but lost 4-3 to eventual champion Michigan in the NCAA West Regional, to finish , leaving no WCHA entry at the Frozen Four in Boston, where Michigan beat Boston College 3-2 in overtime for the title. So the big year for the Fighting Sioux would be , and it certainly was. The senior-dominated Sioux were ranked No. 1 by every poll in the land, almost from start to finish, while romping to another WCHA title at , 10 points ahead of CC, and into the NCAAs. However, the Sioux were derailed by eventual champion Boston College in the quarterfinals, ending up Those seven seniors Jason Blake, Jay Panzer, Brad Williamson, David Hoogsteen, Jeff Ulmer, Jesse Bull and Adam Calder scored a combined 107 goals in that gloriund s greg johnson was a three-time allamerican & hobey baker award finalist in the 1990 s. He is the wcha career leader in assists. fourth overtime. In , Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech left the CCHA to join the WCHA, returning it to an eight-team league. They finished seventh and eighth, respectively, while UMD again soared to the league title at , with a school best overall ledger. UMD s Watson repeated as scoring champ ( ), and again the Bulldogs reached the final four, this time in Detroit. But it didn t get less painful, as RPI inflicted a 6-5 loss on UMD in a three-overtime semifinal. RPI beat Providence 2-1 for the title. Watson gave UMD its second straight Hobey Baker winner, while Kosti and defenseman Norm Maciver joined him as all-league picks. Denver, under coach Ralph Backstrom, performed a remarkable turnaround to win the regular season title at 25-9 ( overall). Dallas Gaume led the Pioneers and the conference in scoring ( ), while Garry Emmons led Northern, and someone named Brett Hull blossomed for UMD. It seemed UMD was heading for a third straight league title when top-line center Matt Christensen was felled by a stroke at mid-season. While Christensen required a long recovery, his loss seemed to stun the Bulldogs, who faded from first to fourth behind Denver, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minnesota and Denver advanced to the NCAA final tournament, but both lost in the semifinals at Providence, and Michigan State beat Harvard 6-5 for the title. In , it was North Dakota s turn to rewrite the record books as the Hrkac Circus set up its bigtop show in Grand Forks. Center Tony Hrkac won the league scoring race ( ) and wound up with a whopping 116 points overall as the Fighting Sioux won the WCHA at 29-6 and breezed to the NCAA title with a 40-8 record under Gino Gasparini. Hrkac s winger, Bob Joyce, plus defenseman Ian Kidd and goalie Ed Belfour also starred for UND. Hrkac won MVP honors in the league and NCAA tournament, and added the Hobey Baker award to his banner year, as the Sioux beat Harvard 5-2 in the semis and topped Michigan State 5-3 in the final, at Detroit. Doug Woog brought Minnesota back to the WCHA winner s circle in and in The Gophers had been second for three years in a row with records of , and , and finally won the MacNaughton Cup with a 28-7 mark (34-10 overall) in Brilliant goaltending by Robb Stauber (2.91 GAA and.906 Sv%) carried the Gophers to finish 11 points ahead of Wisconsin, and after winning in the league s first try at best-of-three playoffs, the Gophers reached the NCAA final four in Lake Placid. Stauber became the first goalie to win the Hobey Baker, but St. Lawrence s Peter Lappin scored three times to deal the Gophers a 3-2 loss in the semifinals. Lake Superior State beat St. Lawrence 4-3 in overtime in the final. The next year, Stauber improved his statistics to win league goaltending honors with a 2.33 goalsagainst and a.917 save percentage, as the Gophers won the WCHA chase by a league-record 14 points over runner-up Northern Michigan. Remarkably, Curtis Joseph, a brilliant freshman goalkeeper at Wisconsin, won first-team WCHA goalie honors over Stauber, because the vote from the entire Minnesota contingent failed to get sent in. But the Gophers, with Dave Snuggerud and Tom Chorske back from the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, ran up a league record, and headed to the NCAA tournament in St. Paul. After beating Maine 7-4 in the semifinals, Minnesota lost to Harvard, in a brilliantly played, high-speed 4-3 overtime classic, which many observers still call the best-played national championship game ever. Minnesota s back-to-back runaway league titles were total aberrations for the WCHA, which returned to normal in by going down to the final weekend before Wisconsin (19-8-1) edged Minnesota (17-9-2) for the MacNaughton Cup, as Minnesota was upset at Tech and the Badgers outlasted third-place UND. Denver s crafty Dave Shields won the league scoring race ( ), but Wisconsin s balance was impressive, with John Byce, Chris Tancill and Gary Shuchuk among the top five scorers. That group was joined by shot-blocking defenseman Mark Osiecki and captain Steve Rohlik, and the league s best goaltender, Duane Derksen. None of the Badgers made first team all-wcha, but that corps of seniors led the team from midseason blahs to a whirlwind hot streak an tear that carried right through the league playoff and NCAA championships. The determined Badgers swept Maine in a first-round NCAA series to become the only WCHA entry among the four finalists at Detroit, where they resolutely took out Boston College 2-1, and brushed aside Colgate 7-3 for the title. That brought the league into the 1990s, where Northern Michigan kept WCHA tradition percolating in The Wildcats were bristling with firepower from scoring champion Scott Beattie ( ), Jim Hiller, Tony Szabo, and Dallas Drake, while Brad Werenka led a defense that gave goaltender Billy Pye a lot of easy nights. The Wildcats scored 185 goals while going in the league, while Minnesota finished second at Minnesota s runner-up slot meant the Gophers had two firsts and five seconds over seven seasons. But when it came to national titles, Woog s Gophers were annually shut out, while Northern Michigan took advantage of its best chance. Coach Rick Comley s Wildcats won the WCHA playoff championship in the St. Paul Civic Center, and returned to that site for an amazing NCAA tournament, in which Northern beat Maine 5-3 in the semis, and won an incredible 8-7 tripleovertime marathon against Boston University in the NCAA championship game. Checker Darryl Plandowski scored his third goal of the game for the winner, and Beattie, who also had a hat trick in the game, finished a 46-game season with as Northern Michigan wound up The season was highlighted by the reemergence of Minnesota-Duluth atop the league, and four WCHA schools earned NCAA berths. Coach Mike Sertich s Bulldogs, led by a pair of All-Americans in center Derek Plante, the league scoring champion at , and talented defenseman Brett Hauer, fashioned a league record ( overall) and won their third MacNaughton Cup in 10 years, five points ahead of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Plante, the WCHA Player of the Year, finished with overall totals of Plante, Hauer, North Dakota center Greg Johnson, Wisconsin defenseman Barry Richter, and Michigan Tech goalkeeper Jamie Ram earned All-America honors. Johnson, who set a WCHA record for career assists, made it for the third time. The biggest surprise in WCHA national tournament history may have been when UMD, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northern Michigan all skated to first-day NCAA regional victories, but none reached the final four, where Maine beat Lake Superior State 5-4 for the title. As the league headed into the season, the balance in power shifted to Colorado College and an upstart Tigers team under first-year head coach Don Lucia. Playing the final season at the historic Broadmoor World Arena, the Tigers skated to their first WCHA Championship since 1957, and the school s first MacNaughton Cup, led by All- American defenseman Shawn Reid and All-WCHA center Jay McNeill. The Tigers, at ; overall, edged runner-up Minnesota by a point and Wisconsin by two points in one of the best races in league history. Individually, UMD s Chris Marinucci won the league scoring title with , the WCHA Player of the Year Award, the Hobey Baker, and was named first-team All-American. The CC Tigers were derailed by All-American goaltender Jamie Ram in an outstanding first-round league playoff series, as last-place Michigan Tech beat first-place CC 3-2, lost the second game 3-0, then won 3-2 in overtime. In the WCHA Final Five, held for the first time at Milwaukee s Bradley Center, Minnesota defeated St. Cloud State 3-2 in overtime for the title, and Minnesota and Wisconsin advanced to the NCAA Tournament, but league champion Colorado College was inexplicably ignored by the NCAA committee for the tournament, which was held in St. Paul. Minnesota fell to Boston University 4-1, and Lake Superior State won the title by crushing BU 9-1 in the final. Lucia guided his Colorado College Tigers (22-9-1; overall) to their second straight WCHA Championship, something only six teams had ever done before, led by the likes of All-Americans Ryan Bach in goal, Kent Fearns on defense, and 33-goal scorer Jay McNeill up front. CC claimed the MacNaughton 104

9 history of the wcha otto breitenbach john gino gasparini tony hrkac bruce mcleod doug woog brian swanson ous, but ending-too-soon season. Their loss in the regional game meant the WCHA would fail to send a team to the national final four for only the third time in history, but the second year in a row. Maine beat New Hampshire 3-2 in overtime for the NCAA championship, played at Anaheim, Calif. The millenium was about to change, and so did the Sioux. Coach Dean Blais replaced his seven skilled seniors with seven unproven freshmen for the season, and although the youthful UND outfit chased, but couldn t catch, WCHA champ Wisconsin (23-5), which was led by Steve Reinprecht and freshman flash Dany Heatley, their time came suddenly in the playoffs. North Dakota hit its stride and ran through the WCHA playoffs, and continued their surge in the NCAAs. At the 2000 NCAA Frozen Four in Providence, Karl Goehring returned to the nets from an injury and was brilliant in a 2-0 shutout over defending national champion Maine, then the Sioux rallied from a 2-1 deficit to stifle Boston College 4-2 for the championship. North Dakota had seen to it that the proud WCHA would end the 20th century in style, by winning the league its 31st national championship in the league s first 50 years. Since teams later associated with the WCHA had also won three of the first four national tournaments before even the Midwest League began, teams associated with the WCHA actually won 34 of the first 54 national tournaments. Not a bad century. But it s just the beginning for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. who were in league scoring, the goaltending tandem of Goehring (10-3-4) and Andy Kollar (8-1-2), plus swift sophomore defenseman Travis Roche. St. Cloud State finished second, its highest placement ever, and won the 2001 WCHA playoff title. The Fighting Sioux reached the Frozen Four by beating Colorado College 4-1, and once at Albany, N.Y., they knocked off Michigan State 2-0 on Goehring s semifinal shutout. Boston College, however, beat UND 3-2 in the title game. North Dakota passed the baton to Minnesota, and the Golden Gophers took over under coach Don Lucia, who took three years since leaving Colorado College to put the sputtering Gophers in order. Minnesota hadn t won an NCAA title in 23 years, since Herb Brooks won his third title in six years in 1979, and finishing third behind Denver (21-6-1) and St. Cloud State (19-7-2) at was not the perfect formula for the NCAA title. Nor was losing to Denver in the league playoff final. But Lucia had the Gophers primed for the 2002 Frozen Four, held at Saint Paul s Xcel Energy Center the same site where Denver had just beaten Minnesota for the WCHA Final Five crown. Denver was overall, but the West Regional mike sertich brett hull half of the NCAA s last 12-team tournament field was at Ann Arbor, Mich., where Denver got a bye as top seed but Michigan, with the benefit of its intimidating home crowd, beat St. Cloud State, then beat Denver 5-3 to eliminate the top two WCHA entries. Playing down to two Frozen Four entries, the other bracket saw Colorado College eliminate Michigan State 2-0, then Minnesota, which had a bye, beat Colorado College 4-2. Both Minnesota and Michigan reached the Frozen Four, but Minnesota avoided having to play Michigan in Ann Arbor, and beat the Wolverines 3-2 in the NCAA semifinals in Saint Paul. That created a memorable final. Minnesota tied Maine 3-3 on Matt Koalska s goal with :53 seconds left in regulation, and the Gophers beat the Black Bears 4-3 on Grant Potulny s goal at 16:58 of overtime. Minnesota goaltender Adam Hauser and forwards John Pohl and Potulny made the NCAA All-Tournament team. Mark Hartigan of St. Cloud State was league scoring champ ( ) and player of the year, and was joined on the first-team All-WCHA by Pohl and Mark Cullen of CC up front, defensemen Jordan Leopold of Minnesota and Andy Reierson of UMD, and Denver goaltender Wade Dubielewicz (1.80 goals-against). Leopold was also Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner. With Pohl, Leopold, and Minnesota record-setting goalie Hauser graduating, the Gophers figured to drop back in the pack in , and Colorado College won the WCHA title by six points, with a record, over Minnesota and Minnesota State- Mankato. The CC Tigers also dominated the league s awards, as Peter Sejna ( ) won the scoring title, player of the year, and Hobey Baker Memorial Award, while teammate Curtis McElhinney was the top goalie with a 2.19 goals-against mark, and Tom Preissing was generally considered the WCHA s top defenseman. They made up half of the All-WCHA First Team, with Denver s Aaron MacKenzie filling the other defense slot, and Minnesota State s 1-2 tandem of Shane wcha men s yearbook Joseph and Grant Stevenson the other forwards. Strangely enough, history repeated itself at NCAA tournament time in 2003, when WCHA champion and top Western seed Colorado College had to go to Ann Arbor for the regional. The NCAA had finally expanded from 12 to 16 teams for that tournament, which meant four regionals instead of two, but Michigan, the fourth seed, eliminated Maine 2-1 while top-seed CC beat Wayne State 4-2. Michigan, again a lower seed bolstered by its vocal crowd, beat CC 5-3 to again reach the Frozen Four. In the new format, Minnesota was host of its own regional, and the Gophers, after beating Colorado College for the WCHA playoff title, romped 9-2 over outmanned Mercyhurst, and caught a break when Ferris State upset North Dakota 5-2. The Gophers whipped Ferris State 7-4 to win the West Regional and return to the Frozen Four, this time in Buffalo. The déjà vu continued as once again Minnesota faced Michigan in the NCAA semifinals, and once again the Gophers prevailed, 3-2 in overtime. Minnesota buried New Hampshire 5-1 in the championship game, meaning that after a 23-year national championship drought, Lucia had brought two titles in a row back to Mariucci Arena. Shut out of the All-WCHA First Team, Minnesota goaltender Travis Weber, defensemen Paul Martin and Matt DeMarchi, and forward Thomas Vanek all made the NCAA tournament team, with Vanek voted most outstanding player. A year later, North Dakota won the WCHA title by three points over upstart Minnesota Duluth, while Wisconsin was third, eight points off the pace. Denver and Minnesota tied for fourth, 12 points in arrears. But once again, the playoffs provided the perfect setting for a late-season surge, and this time Denver stormed to the front of the class. Denver spent much of the season trying to recover from some injuries and disheartening setbacks. Coach George Gwozdecky kept patching holes and stressing how the setbacks built character. In the WCHA playoffs, Denver beat Colorado College 3-2 in the first game, lost the second 4-3, then collapsed in a 6-1 third-game loss. Ironically, the same computerized system that cost Denver a chance to make the NCAA tournament in 2006 made the Pioneers a borderline entry among the select 16 in Losing to CC meant Denver didn t risk another loss in the Final Five, insulating that computer ranking for a week off, while several key injuries healed. Colorado College lost to upstart Alaska Anchorage at the 2004 WCHA Final Five, which cost the Tigers the Second century by John Gilbert T he new century for the WCHA started off with a rebuilding year for North Dakota in , as coach Dean Blais replaced seven highlyskilled seniors with seven unproven freshmen. The youthful UND outfit chased, but couldn t catch, WCHA champ Wisconsin (23-5), which was led by Steve Reinprecht and freshman flash Dany Heatley. But in the playoffs, North Dakota ran through the WCHA, and continued the surge in the NCAAs to reach the 2000 Frozen Four in Providence. Karl Goehring returned to the nets from an injury and was brilliant in a 2-0 shutout over defending national champion and top-seeded Maine in the semifinals, and the Sioux rallied from a 2-1 deficit to stifle BC 4-2 in the 2000 championship game. In , North Dakota responded again to the Blais touch and won the WCHA title for an impressive string of four league titles and one runner-up finish in five years. The Fighting Sioux were led by the explosive top line of Jeff Panzer ( ), Bryan Lundbohm ( ) and Ryan Bayda ( ), Under coach dean blais, north dakota launched the wcha s second century by capturing the 2000 NCAA Frozen Four championship with a 4-2 victory over boston college in providence, RI. UND s Lee Goren was named most outstanding player. 105

10 history of the wcha for the first time in history one conference the wcha had all four teams at a ncaa frozen four, 2005 in columbus. front (L-R): cc coach scott owens, um coach don lucia, und coach dave hakstol and du coach george gwozdecky. back (L-r): wcha commissioner bruce mcleod and team captains mark stuart (CC), judd stevens (UM), matt greene (UND), and matt laatsch (DU). a chance to be the host entry for the West NCAA Regional at Colorado Springs. The Seawolves lost to North Dakota in one semifinal, while Minnesota beat injury-stricken UMD 7-4 in the other, then Minnesota won the final in a 5-4 thriller over North Dakota. Denver, rested and ready, was invited to be the fifth WCHA team to the 16-team tournament field, as host entry at Colorado Springs. A longshot in the West Regional, and having yielded 10 goals in their last two games, Denver goaltender Adam Berkhoel suddenly turned red hot. Denver defeated Miami (Ohio) 3-2 in the first regional game and Berkhoel s scintillating 33-save performance gave the Pioneers a 1-0 shutout victory over North Dakota a team that had outscored Denver 21-6 in winning three and tying one during the season. At Boston s FleetCenter, Denver faced WCHA runner-up and No. 3 ranked Minnesota Duluth in the 2004 national semifinals. Confident after sweeping the Pioneers 1-0 and 6-3 in Denver, the Bulldogs took a 3-1 lead after two periods, as WCHA scoring champ and Hobey Baker winner Junior Lessard scored twice. Those would prove to be the last goals Berkhoel would give up. He shut down the Dogs, and Gabe Gauthier and Ryan Caldwell scored :34 seconds apart early in the third period to gain a 3-3 tie. Lukas Dora scored at 8:25 to boost Denver to a 4-3 lead, and Connor James set up Greg Keith for an empty-net goal to clinch a 5-3 victory. 106 In the NCAA final, the Cinderella Pioneers were underdogs to No. 2-ranked Maine, but Gauthier scored on a first-period power play, and Berkhoel was sensational, stopping all 24 Maine shots and withstanding a game-ending 6-on-3 Maine poweplay, to win another1-0 triumph and secure the tournament s outstanding player award. Gauthier s goal came off a feed from James, the speedy winger who had missed the end of the regular season with a broken leg, but came back to join teammates Caldwell and Berkhoel, and UMD s Lessard on the NCAA All-Tournament team. After Denver had given up 10 goals in its last two WCHA playoff games against CC, Berkhoel yielded just five goals in the four NCAA games as Denver won its sixth NCAA title, but the first since Murray Armstrong s Pioneers did it in Denver was only in WCHA play to tie for fourth place behind North Dakota s Overall, North Dakota finished and UMD , but a 13-0 record against non-wcha teams gave Denver a solid overall record of Hobey Baker winner and WCHA Player of the Year Junior Lessard of UMD wound up with as the league s top scorer for He was joined by North Dakota forwards Brandon Bochenski ( ) and Zach Parise ( ) on the All-WCHA First Team, along with Minnesota s Keith Ballard ( ) and UMD s Beau Geisler ( ) on defense, and Wisconsin goaltender Bernd Bruckler, DU, back-t0-back ncaa champs in , visit the white house and president george W. Bush who had a record, 2.09 goals-against, and a.924 save percentage. In league games, Lessard ( ) and Bochenski ( ) shared the scoring title. A tasty irony in Denver s 2004 title run was that Minnesota had been the unanimous preseason pick as WCHA and NCAA champ, returning almost its entire team from the 2003 championship ride, which made the Gophers the first team to win two NCAA titles in succession since Boston University in 1971 and Who could have guessed that the Pioneers would come back to make it two successive two-title runs for the WCHA? Denver tied Colorado College for the league title, then won the league playoff, and added the NCAA title but not without plenty of anxious moments. North Dakota, making another of its late rushes, had opened the 2005 WCHA Final Five by knocking off Wisconsin 3-2 in the play-in game, then lost a tense 2-1 game to Denver when Gabe Gauthier scored his second goal of the game in overtime in the semifinals, while Colorado College spanked Minnesota 3-0. North Dakota beat Minnesota 4-2 in the third-place game, and Denver outdueled CC 1-0 for the playoff title behind freshman Peter Mannino s goaltending. At the 2005 NCAA Frozen Four in Columbus, Ohio, the national championship became the WCHA Frozen Four with all four finalists from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Denver beat Colorado College and North Dakota toppled Minnesota in a semifinal round that greatly resembled the renewal of two of the WCHA s top rivalries, then Denver beat the Fighting Sioux for the title. The luck of the draw put Denver right back up against league-champion Colorado College, where the question was whether Mannino and the Pioneers could stop the league s 1-2 scoring punch of Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling twice in a row. They could, winning 6-2 with every goal on power-plays. If Denver was the best team, North Dakota was the hottest, and the Fighting Sioux outshot Denver in the final. But Mannino stopped 44 of the 45, and Denver rose from a 1-1 first-period tie to claim a 4-1 victory. WCHA Freshman of the Year Paul Stastny scored the tie-breaking goal in the second period, added the clinching goal midway through the third period, then made a great pass to Gauthier for an open-net goal in the last minute. Outshot or not, the Pioneers went home with the big prize. Maybe Denver s second straight two-year run in the NCAA in 2004 and 2005 was inspiration to the Wisconsin Badgers, who won it all again in 2006 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and make it a hat trick of another sort for the WCHA. Even the most zealous WCHA boosters couldn t imagine matching that accomplishment on the national stage in But Wisconsin did its part, emerging to beat Boston College 2-1 for the fifth consecutive NCAA championship for WCHA teams, and extending a remarkable streak of domination. That five-year streak started with Minnesota s two straight NCAA championships, in 2002 and 2003, and was followed by two more by University of Denver in 2004 and The Badgers run to homestate glory in 2006 was No. 5, and dominant as that seems, it could be a working streak of six years for the WCHA, but North Dakota dropped a 3-2 overtime game to Boston College in the 2001 NCAA final. The Fighting Sioux can be excused for that misstep, however, because they had won the NCAA titles in The five straight titles, and six of the seven since 2000, boost WCHA-affiliated teams to 39 national championships in the 59 NCAA tournaments conducted since Eastern colleges have won 13, with eight of them by teams that broke off to form the Hockey East Association, while Central Collegiate Hockey Association teams had won seven. Of those 20 non-wcha national titles, seven came in the 1990s, when North Dakota s 1997 championship was the only one claimed by a WCHA school in the eight-tournament span from 1992 through The WCHA dominated the national rankings throughout the season, with Wisconsin hogging the No. 1 spot most of the first half, and seeming to run away with the league title until star goaltender Brian Elliott was injured. As if operating by tag-team, when the Badgers struggled, Minnesota came on with a rush to claim the No. 1 national ranking, and the Golden Gophers rode the momentum through the whole second half to capture the season title. At the same time, Wisconsin recovered its touch, Denver looked poised for a run at its third straight title, and North Dakota came out of nowhere with a freshman-led outfit that proved it was the hottest team in the country by winning the WCHA league playoff title. The three biggest trophies available were won by three different WCHA teams Wisconsin winning the NCAA trophy, Minnesota the MacNaughton Cup as league champ, and North Dakota the Broadmoor Trophy for winning the WCHA playoffs. No, the WCHA didn t repeat by supplying all four Frozen Four entries the NCAA tournament committee s somewhat curious regional pairings prevented any chance of that but when the firing stopped at Milwaukee s Bradley Center, the rejuvenated Elliott had led Wisconsin to a 2-1 triumph over Boston College in a scintillating title match that gave the WCHA its fifth consecutive national championship. Wisconsin left no question that they deserved their official return to the No. 1 spot and the NCAA trophy, but the Badgers were the first to say they were pushed to their pinnacle by the strength of league rivals. Denver was prevented from any chance at becoming the only team to ever win three straight NCAA titles and may stir further discussion of selection criteria when the Pioneers tied with Wisconsin for second place in league standings at , behind Minnesota s mark, but were bumped out of the 16-team field by the mandatory inclusion of at-large entries. Four worthy WCHA teams made the 16-team field, but they were grouped into two of the four regionals. With Wisconsin and Colorado College going to Green Bay with Cornell and Bemidji State for the Midwest Regional, while North Dakota played host to Minnesota, along with Michigan and Holy Cross, in the West Regional, the most the WCHA could hope for was two Frozen Four entries. Presto! Wisconsin won the Midwest and surging North Dakota won the West, joining Boston College and Maine in Milwaukee for the Frozen Four. The turning point for Wisconsin s ultimate NCAA triumph was actually forged out of the intrigue of the WCHA Final Five playoffs at the Xcel Center in Saint Paul. Just reaching the Final Five proved the WCHA s strength. Ninth-place Minnesota Duluth sent little-used No. 3 goaltender Nate Ziegelmann, a sophomore transfer, into the nets at second-seeded Denver, and he not only backstopped a 3-2 first-game upset, but, after the Pioneers rebounded for a 3-2 victory in the second game, Ziegelmann anchored a 5-2 victory in the deciding game, and his first two collegiate victories sent the Bulldogs to the Final Five. The same weekend, sixth-place St. Cloud State went to Colorado Springs and knocked out Colorado College behind goaltender Bobby Goepfert. The Huskies kept rolling at the Final Five by whipping Minnesota Duluth 5-1 in the play-in game, then ambushing Minnesota 8-7 in a wild overtime semifinal, before a record 19,353 fans. Minnesota trailed 5-2 and 6-3 before Ryan Potulny took over, scoring four goals, including his 38th of the season with :15 seconds left for a 7-7 tie only to see Matt Hartman s goal at 9:14 of overtime wrest the victory for St. Cloud State. In the other semifinal, North Dakota, which had ridden a late-season hot streak to a tie for fourth place in the WCHA, rallied from a 2-0 deficit to stun Wisconsin 4-3 in the first semifinal. North Dakota s 5-3 playoff final victory over St. Cloud State secured the Sioux a spot in the 2006 NCAA tournament, while the league s two highest-ranked teams met in a third-place game that had more significance than either team might have realized. Minnesota and Wisconsin both knew they were cinch selections for the NCAA tournament, so the outcome of their third-place game seemed meaningless. Or was it? Coach Mike Eaves, who lived through the most heated days of the Gopher-Badger rivalry as a player, affirmed there is no way he could ever see any game against Minnesota as ordinary, and he also stressed the need for the Badgers to come off their loss to North Dakota and regain their playing rhythm. Playing with much more enthusiasm, Wisconsin ripped Minnesota 4-0, which sent the Badgers soaring into the NCAA Regional, while Minnesota seemed to lose its enormous edge in momentum with the two losses in the Final Five. At Grand Forks, the Gophers were unceremoniously upset by at-large entry Holy Cross, leaving the Gophers with an outstanding final record, ended by three straight losses. North Dakota beat Michigan and Holy Cross to gain the Frozen Four.

11 history of the wcha wcha men s yearbook Wisconsin captured A RECORD 36th NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE WCHA in Milwaukee IN 2006 North Dakota Celebrates It s 2009 WCHA and MacNaughton Cup Championship in Grand Forks Once at Milwaukee, a Wisconsin-North Dakota rematch in the final seemed likely, but the youthful Fighting Sioux were caught off-guard by Boston College s quick-strike ability, which was ignited by a 3-0 BC lead in the first period, as the mercurial Chris Collins got two goals of an eventual hat trick. The Fighting Sioux, led by freshmen T.J. Oshie, Jonathan Toews and Brian Lee, staged a memorable comeback, from deficits of 3-0 and 6-3, but couldn t quite pull it off, and fell 6-5. Oshie was held off the scoresheet but finished with 24 goals, including a nation-leading seven game-winners, Toews scored his 22nd goal of the season during the rally, and Lee, a defenseman, assisted on the fourth Sioux goal and scored himself with :13 seconds remaining to give the Sioux one last gasp of hope, before they simply ran out of minutes and their season ended Wisconsin, meanwhile, got two goals from Robbie Earl, and star goaltender Brian Elliott proved he was in top form in a 32-save performance for a 5-2 semifinal victory over Maine, and Eaves stress of team defense continued to prevail in the final. The Badgers outshot Boston College 39-22, but they had to rally from a 1-0 deficit for Earl s 24th goal early in the second period to gain a 1-1 tie, and senior defenseman Tom Gilbert strode in from the point to score the power-play game-winner midway through the third. An explanation of how hot Elliott was through the stretch is that he won eight of his nine starts since regaining his touch, with a.967 save percentage and an 0.81 goals-against average in those nine games. The WCHA challenge in was to try to duplicate the seemingly impossible scene from the 2005 NCAA tournament. Minnesota captured the WCHA regular season championship and MacNaughton Cup by four points over runner-up St. Cloud State and the Golden Gophers also won the Broadmoor Trophy at the 2007 Red Baron WCHA Final Five. North Dakota made it s third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Men s Frozen Four, this time in St. Louis, Mo., but the Fighting Sioux s bid for a sixth straight national title on behalf of the WCHA fell short. The league also had seven of it s 10 member teams ranked among the nation s top clubs in the final national polls, drew a record 1,606,686 fans to home games including a record 88,900 to the annual Final Five at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, UND s Ryan Duncan became the WCHA s 13th Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner, league-member teams posted a (.675) non-conference records, five conference players earned All-American honors, and St. Cloud State s Ryan Lasch was named the first National Rookie of the Year. In , Colorado College claimed the program s sixth WCHA championship since 1993 by four points over runner-up North Dakota. The Tigers were led by WCHA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year Richard Bachman in goal, WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Jack Hillen on the blueline, and all-league performer Chad Rau up front. At the 2008 Red Baron WCHA Final Five in Saint Paul, the Denver Pioneers took home the Broadmoor Trophy before 86,855 at Xcel Energy Center for the program s third playoff crown in seven years. For the fourth consecutive season, North Dakota earned a berth in the NCAA Men s Frozen Four, which was played April at Pepsi Center in Denver the minnesota golden gophers celebrate their second straight wcha regular season championship and macnaughton cup on ice at mariucci arena in march, 2007 and hosted by the University of Denver. The Sioux fell 6-1 to eventual champion Boston College in the first national semifinal as Dave Hakstol became only the third coach ever to lead his first four teams to berths in the Frozen Four. The WCHA also placed a Div. 1 conference record six teams into the NCAA tournament in 2008, with UND the No. 2 seed for the Midwest Regional in Madison, MacNaughton Cup-winner CC the No. 2 seed for the West Regional in Colorado Springs, playoff champ Denver the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional, St. Cloud State the No. 2 seed for the East Regional in Albany, N.Y., Minnesota the No. 3 seed for the Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass., and Wisconsin the No. 3 seed for the Midwest Regional. At the conclusion of the season, the WCHA s non-conference record stood at (.667). And in the final Div. 1 college hockey polls, the WCHA had seven teams ranked among the nation s top 17 with two others earning votes. UND was No. 3, DU was No. 4, CC was No. 6, SCSU was No. 8, UM was No. 10, MSU was No. 14, and UW was No. 17. Both UMD and MTU also received votes. In home attendance, the WCHA again led the nation with 1,508,499 fans, topping 1.5 millon for a record sixth straight season and 1,000,000 for a record 15th straight season. Six conference players earned All-American honors in West First Teamer s Richard Bachman (G, CC), Jack Hillen (D, CC) and T.J. Oshie (F, UND). Named to the West All-American Second Team from the WCHA were DU defenseman Chris Butler, SCSU forward Ryan Lasch, and CC forward Chad Rau. CC goaltender Richard Bachman became the second straight WCHA player to earn the Hockey Commissioners Association National Rookie of the Year, joining inaugural ( ) winner Andreas Nodl from SCSU. Three WCHA players were among the Top 10 Finalists for the 2008 Hobey Baker Memorial Award in UND goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, SCSU forward Ryan Lasch and UND forward T.J. Oshie, and two WCHA coaches MSU s Troy Jutting and UND s Dave Hakstol were finalists for the AHCA Men s Div. 1 Coach of the Year. In , and for only the fourth time in it s storied 57-year history, the WCHA was without a team in an NCAA Men s Frozen Four. The league s three national tourney qualifiers Denver, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota all fell short in NCAA regional play over the March weekend. The three previous seasons that the WCHA was not represented in a Frozen Four were in Milwaukee, in Boston and in in Anaheim. Denver ( ), accorded the No.1 seed in the West Regional at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, fell 4-2 to No. 4 seed Miami in a semifinal matchup. Minnesota Duluth ( ), the 2009 WCHA Final Five and Broadmoor Trophy champions and the No. 2 seed in the West Regional, won 5-4 in overtime over No. 3 seed Princeton before dropping a 2-1 decision to Miami in the regional championship tilt. North Dakota, the WCHA regular season and MacNaughton Cup champions and the No. 2 seed for the Northeast Regional at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H., dropped a 6-5 (ot) decision to No. 3 seed New Hampshire in their semifinal matchup. All three WCHA teams that competed in the national tournament also appeared in the 2009 Red Baron WCHA Final Five, held March at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn. Minnesota Duluth won the Broadmoor Trophy and earned the WCHA s automatic bid into the NCAA tourney while becoming the first team in the 17-year history of the Final Five to win three games. The No. 5-seeded Bulldogs won 2-1 over Minnesota, 3-0 over No. 1 seed North Dakota, and 3-0 over No. 2 seed Denver in the championship game. The Pioneers reached the title contest by downing No. 3 seeded Wisconsin, 3-0. The Fighting Sioux fell by a 4-1 count to the Badgers in the third place game. The 2009 Final Five drew a total attendance of 82,065, the fifth best total in the 17-year history of the event, and even outdrew the 2009 Big Ten Men s Basketball tournament (68,098) for it s fourday run at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. In the final regular season WCHA standings, North Dakota finished first with a mark and 38 points over their 28-game log, followed by Denver in second at with 36 points, Wisconsin and Colorado College tied for third with 31 points each, and Minnesota placing fifth at with 29 points. St. Cloud State wound up sixth with 28 points, Minnesota Duluth was seventh with 27, Minnesota State was eighth with 26, Alaska Anchorage was ninth with 23 points and Michigan Tech placed 10th with 11 points. In addition to UAA s league best six-win, 11-point gain in conference play from , both UW and UM improved by four points and three victories, and UMD was four points and one win better. At the conclusion of the season, seven WCHA teams owned winning records overall in Denver ( ,.638), North Dakota ( ,.605) and Minnesota Duluth ( ,.605), Minnesota ( ,.554), Colorado College ( ,.553), Wisconsin ( ,.550) and St. Cloud State ( ,.513). Four WCHA-member teams won at least 20 games overall in UND (24), Denver (23), UMD (22) and UW (20). In the final (March 23) USCHO.com/CBS College Sports XXL Div. 1 Men s Poll for , there are five WCHA-member teams again ranked among the 20 in the nation. Denver is No. 4, North Dakota is No. 7, Minnesota Duluth is No. 8, Wisconsin is No. 17 and Minnesota is No. 19. Also receiving votes from the WCHA were Colorado College and St. Cloud State. And in the final (April 13) USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men s Div. 1 College Poll, Denver was No. 7, Minnesota Duluth was No. 8, and North Dakota was No. 13. Editor s Note: John Gilbert has covered the WCHA for 40 years, 30 of them with the Minneapolis Tribune (later the Star Tribune) and continues to cover men s and women s college hockey for wcha.com. 107

12 history of the wcha ALL TIME TEAM RECORDS All Games Team 1st Year Yrs GP W L T Pct. Minnesota Wisconsin Denver North Dakota Minnesota State St. Cloud State Colorado College Minnesota Duluth Michigan Tech Alaska Anchorage Michigan* Northern Michigan* Notre Dame* Michigan State* * All Games records are while teams were members of the MCHL/WIHL/WCHA only ALL TIME TEAM RECORDs wcha games Team 1st Year Yrs GP W L T Pct. Minnesota Wisconsin North Dakota Denver St. Cloud State Minnesota State Michigan Tech Colorado College Minnesota Duluth Alaska Anchorage Michigan* Northern Michigan^ Notre Dame* Michigan State* * left WCHA following season; + left WCHA following season but returned to WCHA for season; ^ left WCHA following season conference rankings by team season-by-season Team Colorado College Denver Michigan Tech Minnesota Minnesota-Duluth North Dakota Wisconsin Michigan Michigan State Notre Dame Team Alaska Anchorage a Colorado College Denver Michigan Tech^ Minnesota Minnesota Duluth Minnesota State North Dakota St. Cloud State Wisconsin Michigan* Michigan State* Northern Michigan Notre Dame* Team Alaska Anchorage Colorado College T3 Denver Michigan Tech T Minnesota Minnesota Duluth Minnesota State T4 8 North Dakota St. Cloud State T4 6 Wisconsin T6 6 T3 a - affiliate member; * left WCHA after season; ^ left WCHA after 1981 season but returned with season; + left WCHA after season 108

13 history of the wcha season summaries wcha men s yearbook tony frasca cc john mayasich um jim mattson um phil hilton cc bill reichart und doug silverberg cc T he history of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association dates to 1951, when the forerunner of the WCHA was first formed as the Midwest Collegiate Hockey League, or MCHL, with seven original members in Colorado College, Denver, Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota and North Dakota. The MCHL was then re-christened the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League, or WIHL, beginning with the season. In , the WIHL disbanded for one season and then was reformed as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, or WCHA, beginning with the campaign. The first expansion of the WCHA came with the season with the inclusion of Minnesota Duluth as the eighth member. In , Wisconsin was added to the WCHA membership to bring the total number of teams to nine, followed by Notre Dame as the 10th member school for the campaign. Following the season, Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Notre Dame left the WCHA for membership in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), leaving the WCHA with just six teams for the next three years. Michigan Tech then rejoined the WCHA as of the season and Northern Michigan was added as a new member to bring the total number of teams back to eight. For the season, the WCHA added a ninth member in St. Cloud State, followed by the admittance of Alaska Anchorage for After the season, Northern Michigan left the WCHA to join the CCHA, and Mankato State University (now Minnesota State University, Mankato) was granted membership as the 10th team for the season mchl standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pts 1 Colorado College (19-5-1/.780) Denver (18-6-1/.740) Michigan (22-4-0/.846) North Dakota ( /.540) Minnesota ( /.500) Michigan State (7-13-0/.350) Michigan Tech (2-18-0/.100) MCHL/WCHA Champion: Colorado College. NCAA Champion: Michigan. NCAA 2nd Place: Colorado College. MCHL/WCHA Scoring Champion (all games): Ron Hartwell, F, CC (23 gp, ). MCHL/WCHA Goaltending Champion (all games): Willard Ikola, Michigan (26 gp, 2.66 gaa). Denver Post All-MCHL/WCHA First Team: G - Ken Kinsley, CC; D - Eddie Miller, DU; D - Don Burgess, DU; F - Tony Frasca, CC; F - Ron Hartwell, CC; F - Omer Brandt, CC. Denver Post All-MCHL/WCHA Second Team: G - Willard Ikola, Michigan; D - Joe debastiani, MTU; D - Elwood Shell, UND; F - John Mayasich, UM; F - John McKennell, Michigan; F - Bill Abbott, DU. First Team All-Americans: D - Eddie Miller, DU; F - Tony Frasca, CC; F - Ron Hartwell, CC. Second Team All-Americans: G - Ken Kinsley, CC; D - Joe debastiani, MTU; D - Jim Haas, Michigan; F - John Mayasich, UM; F - Ben Cherski, UND; F - Omer Brandt, CC mchl standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pts 1 Minnesota (23-6-0/.793) Michigan (17-7-0/.708) North Dakota (15-5-0/.750) Denver (17-6-1/.729) Colorado College (9-11-0/.450) Michigan Tech (6-13-0/.316) Michigan State (5-16-1/.250) wihl standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pts GF GA 1 Minnesota (23-6-1/.783) / Michigan (15-6-2/.696) / North Dakota ( /.537) / Denver (16-9-0/.640) Colorado College (14-9-1/.604) Michigan State (8-14-1/.370) / Michigan Tech (7-17-1/.300) Note: All games played by 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. WIHL/WCHA Champion: Minnesota. NCAA 2nd Place: Minnesota. WIHL/WCHA Scoring Champion (all games): John Mayasich, F, UM (28 gp, ). WIHL/WCHA Goaltending Champion (all games): Jim Mattson, UM (26 gp, 2.76 gaa). Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA First Team: G - Jim Mattson, UM; D - Jim Haas, Michigan; D - Ken Yackel, UM; F - Ben Cherski, UND; F - Dick Dougherty, UM; F - John Mayasich, UM. Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA Second Team: G - Gerald Spike Schultz, UND; D - Bill Abbott, DU; D - Phil Hilton, CC; F - Jack Smith, DU; F - Bill MacFarland, Michigan; F - George Chin, Michigan; F - Doug Mullen, Michigan. First Team All-Americans: G - Gerald Spike Schultz, UND; D - Ken Yackel, UM; F - John Mayasich, UM; F - Dick Dougherty, UM; F - Ben Cherski, UND. Second Team All-Americans: D - Jim Haas, Michigan wihl standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pct Pts GF GA 1 Colorado College (22-6-0/.786) Michigan (18-5-1/.771) Minnesota ( /.567) Michigan Tech ( /.481) / Denver ( /.617) / North Dakota ( /.518) / Michigan State (9-17-1/.352) / 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. WIHL/WCHA Champion: Colorado College. NCAA Champion: Michigan. NCAA 2nd Place: Colorado College. WIHL/WCHA Scoring Champion (all games): John Mayasich, F, UM (30 gp, ). WIHL/WCHA Goaltending Champion (all games): Jeff Simus, CC (24 gp, 2.92 gaa). Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA First Team: G - Bob McManus, MTU; D - Phil Hilton, CC; D - Ken Yackel, UM; F - Clare Smith, CC; F - Bill Reichart, UND; F - John Mayasich, UM. Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA Second Team: G - Jeff Simus, CC; D - Bill Abbott, DU; D - Bob Schiller, Michigan; D - Doug Silverberg, CC; F - Jack Smith, DU; F - Bill MacFarland, Michigan; F - Bunt Hubchik, CC; F - Jack McManus, MTU. First Team All-Americans: D - Phil Hilton, CC; D - Ken Yackel, UM; F - John Mayasich, UM; F - Clare Smith, CC. Second Team All-Americans: D - Doug Silverberg, CC; F - Bill Reichart, UND wihl standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pct Pts GF GA 1 Michigan (20-2-1/.891) Michigan Tech (21-7-0/.750) Colorado College ( /.607) Minnesota ( /.569) North Dakota ( /.411) Denver ( /.519) Michigan State (5-18-0/.217) MCHL/WCHA Champion(s): Minnesota, Michigan. NCAA Champion: Michigan. NCAA 2nd Place: Minnesota. MCHL/WCHA Scoring Champion (all games): John Mayasich, F, UM (27gp, ). MCHL/WCHA Goaltending Champion (all games): Jim Mattson, UM (27 gp, 2.36 gaa). Denver Post All-MCHL/WCHA First Team: G - Jim Mattson, UM; D - Eddie Miller, DU; D - Tom Wegleitner, UM; F - Ben Cherski, UND; F - Dick Dougherty, UM; F - John Mayasich, UM. Denver Post All-MCHL/WCHA Second Team: G - Willard Ikola, Michigan; D - Elwood Shell, UND; D - Alex MacLellan, Michigan; F - Gene Campbell, UM; F - John Matchefts, Michigan; F - Bill Abbott, DU; F - Joe debastiani, MTU. First Team All-Americans: G - Jim Mattson, UM; D - Alex MacLellan, Michigan; D - Bob Monahan, MTU; F - John Mayasich, UM; Ben Cherski, UND. 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. WIHL/WCHA Champion: Michigan. NCAA Champion: Michigan. NCAA 2nd Place: Michigan Tech. WIHL/WCHA Scoring Champion (all games): John Andrews, F, CC (27 gp, ). WIHL/WCHA Goaltending Champion (all games): Lorne Howes, Michigan (22 gp, 1.95 gaa). Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA First Team: G - Lorne Howes, Michigan; D - Doug Silverberg, CC; D - Ken Yackel, UM; F - Jack McManus, MTU; F - Bill Reichart, UND; F - Bill MacFarland, Michigan. Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA Second Team: G - Bob McManus, MTU; D - Bob 109

14 season summaries con t history of the wcha bill red hay cc lorne howes michigan bill masterton du marty howe du george konik du reg morelli und Pitts, Michigan; D - Ed Zemrau, DU; F - Clare Smith, CC; F - Tom Rendall, Michigan; F - John Andrews, CC. First Team All-Americans: G - Lorne Howes, Michigan; D - Bob Schiller, Michigan; D - Doug Silverberg, CC; F - Bill MacFarland, Michigan. Second Team All-Americans: F - Jack McManus, MTU; F - Ken Yackel, UM wihl standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pct Pts GF GA 1 Colorado College (25-5-0/.833) Michigan (18-5-2/.760) / North Dakota ( /.621) Michigan Tech (14-9-5/.589) / Denver ( /.464) Minnesota ( /.448) Michigan State (7-15-0/.318) 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. WIHL/WCHA Champion: Colorado College. NCAA Champion: Colorado College. NCAA 2nd Place: Michigan. WIHL/WCHA Scoring Champion: Bill Reichart, F, UND (22 gp, ). WIHL/WCHA Goaltending Champion: Ross Childs, Michigan (11 gp, 2.73 gaa). Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA First Team: G - Jack McCartan, UM; D - Don Wishart, CC; D - Bill Steenson, UND; F - Bob McCusker, CC; F - Bill Reichart, UND; F - Bill Red Hay, CC. Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA Second Team: G - Tom Yurkovich, UND; D - Bob Schiller, Michigan; D - Bob Pitts, Michigan; F - Tom Kennedy, MTU; F - Tom Rendall, Michigan; F - Jack McManus, MTU. First Team All-Americans: G - Jack McCartan, UM; D - Don Wishart, CC; F - Bill Red Hay, CC; F - Bill Reichart, UND. Second Team All-Americans: D - Jack Petroske, UM; D - Bill Steenson, UND; F - Bob McCusker, CC wihl standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pct. Pts GF GA 1 North Dakota (24-7-1/.766) Denver ( /.694) Colorado College ( /.583) Minnesota ( /.593) Michigan State ( /.522) Michigan (8-13-0/.381) Michigan Tech ( /.411) 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 for a tie. When teams met each other four times, one point was awarded for a win, one-half for a tie. When teams met eight times (Denver and CC), one-half point was awarded for a win, and one-fourth point for a tie. WIHL/WCHA co-champions: North Dakota, Denver. NCAA Champion: Denver. NCAA 2nd Place: North Dakota. WIHL/WCHA Scoring Champion: Bill Red Hay, F, CC (16 gp, ). WIHL/WCHA Goaltending Champion: Bob Peabody, UND (15 gp, 3.13 gaa). Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA First Team: G - Jack McCartan, UM; D - Ed Zemrau, DU; D - Bill Steenson, UND; F - Bob McCusker, CC; F - Ike Scott, CC; F - Bill Red Hay, CC. Denver Post All-WIHL/WCHA Second Team: G - Joe Selinger, Michigan State; D - Mike Pearson, UM; D - Bob Watt, Michigan; F - Murray Massier, DU; F - Jim Ridley, UND; F - Dick Burg, UM. All-Americans: G - Jack McCartan, UM; D - Bill Steenson, UND; D - Ed Zemrau, DU; F - Dick Burg, UM; F - Bill Red Hay, CC; F - Bob Mc- Cusker, CC; F - Bob White, Michigan no league play Note: The Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (forerunner of the WCHA) disbanded in March, 1958 for one year, and thus there was no formal league play. However, most of the WIHL/WCHA teams still played homeand-home schedules. North Dakota and Michigan State earned trips to the NCAA Championship. The seven original WIHL teams then resumed formal league competition in under the new name of Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Listed here are the overall records for the teams that were in the WIHL in and went on to form the WCHA in : Denver (22-5-1/.804); Michigan State (17-6-1/.729); North Dakota ( /.661); Michigan Tech ( /.611); Minnesota ( /.542); Michigan (8-13-1/.386); Colorado College (6-14-3/.326) wcha standings 1 Denver (27-4-3/.838) Michigan Tech ( /.672) North Dakota ( /.625) Colorado College (8-17-1/.327) Michigan ( /.500) Minnesota (9-16-2/.370) Michigan State (4-18-2/.208) WCHA Champion: Denver. WCHA Playoff Champions: Denver, Michigan Tech. NCAA Champion: Denver. NCAA 2nd Place: Michigan Tech. WCHA Scoring Champion: Bill Masterton, F, DU (17 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: George Kirkwood, DU (22 gp, 2.32 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: None Selected. WCHA Sophomore(s) of the Year: Lou Angotti, F, MTU; George Kirkwood, G, DU. WCHA Coach of the Year: John MacInnes, MTU. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - George Kirkwood, DU; D - Henry Akervall, MTU; D - Marty Howe, DU; F - John Kosiancic, MTU; F - Bill Masterton, DU; F - Reg Morelli, UND. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - George Cuculick, MTU; D - George Konik, DU; D - Guy LaFrance, UND; F - Paul Coppo, MTU; F - John MacMillan, DU; F - Gerald Fabbro, MTU. All-Americans: G - George Cuculick, MTU; D - Marty Howe, DU; D - George Konik, DU; F - Paul Coppo, MTU; F - Reg Morelli, UND; F - Bill Masterton, DU wcha standings 1 Denver (30-1-1/.953) Minnesota ( /.603) Michigan ( /.607) Michigan Tech ( /.552) North Dakota (9-19-1/.328) Michigan State ( /.407) Colorado College (4-20-0/.167) WCHA Champion: Denver. WCHA Playoff Champions: Denver, Minnesota. NCAA Champion: Denver. WCHA Scoring Champion: Jerry Walker, F, DU (18 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: George Kirkwood, DU (18 gp, 1.72 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Jerry Walker, F, DU. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: Jack Wilson, D, DU. WCHA Coach of the Year: Murray Armstrong, DU. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - George Kirkwood, DU; D - George Konik, DU; D - Marty Howe, DU; F - Jerry Walker, DU; F - Bill Masterton, DU; F - Gordon Red Berenson, Michigan. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Bill Rowe, MTU; D - Henry Akervall, MTU; D - John Palenstein, Michigan; F - Jerry Sullivan, MTU; F - Bill Colpitts, UND; F - Lou Angotti, MTU. All-Americans: G - George Kirkwood, DU; D - Marty Howe, DU; D - Grant Munro, DU; F - Gordon Red Berenson, Michigan; F - Bill Masterton, DU; F - Jerry Walker, DU wcha standings 1 Michigan Tech (29-3-0/.906) Michigan (22-5-0/.815) Denver ( /.600) Michigan State ( /.540) North Dakota (9-17-0/.346) Minnesota (9-10-2/.476) Colorado College (0-23-0/.000) WCHA Champion: Michigan Tech. WCHA Playoff Champion: Michigan Tech. NCAA Champion: Michigan Tech. WCHA Scoring Champion: Gordon Red Berenson, F, Michigan (18 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion(s): Dave Butts, Michigan (9 gp, 2.67 gaa); Bob Gray, Michigan (9 gp, 2.67 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Gordon Red Berenson, F, Michigan. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: Gordon Wilkie, F, Michigan. WCHA Coach of the Year: John MacInnes, MTU. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Garry Bauman, MTU; D - Jack Wilson, DU; D - Henry Akervall, MTU; F - Lou Angotti, MTU; F - Jerry Sullivan, MTU; F - Gordon Red Berenson, Michigan. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Bob Gray, Michigan; D - Don Rodgers, Michigan; D - Elov Seger, MTU; F - Gordon Wilkie, Michigan; F - Trent Beatty, DU; F - Gene Rebellato, MTU. All-Americans: G - John Chandik, Michigan State; D - Henry Akervall, MTU; D - Elov Seger, MTU; F - Lou Angotti, MTU; F - Gordon Red Berenson, Michigan; F - Jerry Sullivan, MTU. NCAA Champion: North Dakota. NCAA 2nd Place: Michigan State. All-Americans: G - Joe Selinger, Michigan State; D - Bill Steenson, UND; D - Bob Watt, Michigan; F - John Kosiancic, MTU; F - Bob White, Michigan; F - Murray Williamson, UM. 110

15 history of the wcha red berenson michigan don ross und doug volmar michigan state keith magnuson du bob collyard cc george lyle mtu wcha standings 1 Denver (23-9-1/.712) North Dakota (22-7-3/.734) Michigan Tech ( /.621) Minnesota (16-7-4/.667) Colorado College ( /.522) Michigan St ate ( /.478) Michigan (7-14-3/.354) WCHA co-champions: Denver, North Dakota. WCHA Playoff Champion: Denver. NCAA Champion: North Dakota. NCAA 2nd Place: Denver. WCHA Scoring Champion: Lou Nanne, D, UM (20 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Garry Bauman, MTU (20 gp, 2.65 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Lou Nanne, D, UM. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: George Hill, F, MTU. WCHA Coach of the Year: Barry Thorndycraft, UND. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Garry Bauman, MTU; D - Don Ross, UND; D - Lou Nanne, UM; F - George Hill, MTU; F - Gary Butler, Michigan; F - Dave Merrifield, UND; F - Bill Staub, DU. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Joe Lech, UND; D - Jack Wilson, DU; D - Gary Begg, MTU; F - Al McLean, UND; F - John Ivanitz, MTU; F - Dominic Fragomeni, DU. All-Americans: G - Garry Bauman, MTU; D - Lou Nanne, UM; D - Don Ross, UND; F - George Hill, MTU; F - Al McLean, UND; F - Dave Merrifield, UND; F - Bill Staub, DU wcha standings 1 Michigan (24-4-1/.845) Denver (20-7-4/.710) Minnesota ( /.560) Michigan Tech ( /.537) North Dakota ( /.520) Colorado College ( /.442) Michigan State (8-17-1/.327) WCHA Champion: Michigan. WCHA Playoff Champion: Denver. NCAA Champion: Michigan. NCAA 2nd Place: Denver. WCHA Scoring Champion: Gordon Wilkie, F, Michigan (14 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Buddy Blom, DU (10 gp, 1.70 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: None Selected. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: Tom Polonic, D, Michigan. WCHA Coach of the Year: Al Renfrew, Michigan. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Garry Bauman, MTU; D - Tom Polonic, Michigan; D - Norm Wimmer, MTU; F - John Simus, CC; F - Gary Butler, Michigan; F - Gordon Wilkie, Michigan; F - Bill Staub, DU. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Buddy Blom, DU; D - Carl Lackey, Michigan State; D - Jim Kenning, DU; D - Wayne Smith, DU; F - George Hill, MTU; F - Scott Watson, MTU; F - Craig Falkman, UM. All-Americans: G - Garry Bauman, MTU; D - Carl Lackey, Michigan State; D - Tom Polonic, Michigan; F - Craig Falkman, UM; F - John Simus, CC; F - Gordon Wilkie, Michigan wcha standings 1 North Dakota (25-8-0/.758) Michigan Tech (24-5-2/.806) Minnesota ( /.536) Michigan State ( /.586) Michigan ( /.519) Denver (18-8-2/.679) Colorado College (7-17-1/.300) WCHA Champion: North Dakota. WCHA Playoff Champion: Michigan Tech. NCAA Champion: Michigan Tech. WCHA Scoring Champion: Mel Wakabayashi, F, Michigan (18 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Tony Esposito, MTU (10 gp, 2.00 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Gerry Kell, F, UND. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: Gary Milroy, F, MTU. WCHA Coach of the Year: R.H. Bob Peters, UND. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Tony Esposito, MTU; D - Wayne Smith, DU; D - Don Ross, UND; F - Doug Woog, UM; F - Mel Wakabayashi, Michigan; F - Gerry Kell, UND. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Joe Lech, UND; D - Tom Polonic, Michigan; D - Dennis Huculak, MTU; F - Doug Roberts, Michigan State; F - Gary Milroy, MTU; F - Dennis Hextall, UND. All-Americans: G - Tony Esposito, MTU; D - Don Ross, UND; D - Wayne Smith, DU; F - Doug Roberts, Michigan State; F - Mel Wakabayashi, Michigan; F - Doug Woog, UM wcha standings 1 Michigan Tech (23-6-1/.783) North Dakota ( /.583) Minnesota ( /.593) Denver ( /.609) Michigan ( /.500) Michigan State ( /.552) Colorado College (9-18-2/.345) Minnesota Duluth (7-19-2/.286) WCHA Champion: Michigan Tech. WCHA Playoff Champions: Michigan State, Denver. NCAA Champion: Michigan State. WCHA Scoring Champion: Doug Volmar, F, Michigan State (20 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Tony Esposito, MTU (12 gp, 2.0 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Mel Wakabayashi, F, Michigan. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: Gary Gambucci, F, UM. WCHA Coach of the Year: John MacInnes, MTU. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Tony Esposito, MTU; D - Bruce Riutta, MTU; D - Wayne Smith, DU; F - Dennis Hextall, UND; F - Terry Casey, UND; F - Doug Volmar, Michigan State. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - John Lothrop, UM; D - Bob Hill, UMD; D - Dennis Huculak, MTU; F - Gary Gambucci, UM; F - Mel Wakabayashi, Michigan; F - Wayne Weller, MTU. All-Americans: G - Tony Esposito, MTU; D - Bob Hill, UMD; D - Bruce Riutta, MTU; D - Wayne Smith, DU; F - Terry Casey, UND; F - Bob Lindberg, CC; F - Doug Volmar, Michigan State wcha standings 1 North Dakota ( /.655) Denver (22-8-0/.733) Michigan Tech ( /.617) Michigan (19-7-2/.714) Michigan State ( /.516) Minnesota Duluth ( /.429) Colorado College ( /.534) Minnesota (9-19-1/.328) WCHA Champion: North Dakota. WCHA Playoff Champions: Michigan State, North Dakota. WCHA Scoring Champion: Keith Huffer Christiansen, F, UMD (23 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Tony Esposito, MTU (11 gp, 2.45 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Keith Huffer Christiansen, F, UMD. WCHA Sophomore(s) of the Year: Keith Magnuson, D, DU; Bob Munro, F, UND. WCHA Coach of the Year: Bill Selman, UND. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Tony Esposito, MTU; D - Jerry Lafond, UND; D - Keith Magnuson, DU; F - Tom Mikkola, Michigan State; F - Jim Wiste, DU; F - Keith Huffer Christiansen, UMD. Denver Post All- WCHA Second Team: G - Rick Best, MTU; D - Bruce Riutta, MTU; D - Paul Domm, Michigan; F - Bob Lindberg, CC; F - Gary Milroy, MTU; F - Bob Toothill, MTU. All-Americans: G - Rick Best, MTU; G - Tony Esposito, MTU; D - Jerry Lafond, UND; D - Bruce Riutta, MTU; F - Keith Huffer Christiansen, UMD; F - Bob Lindberg, CC; F - Gary Milroy, MTU; F - Jim Wiste, DU wcha standings 1 Denver (28-5-1/.838) Michigan Tech (22-9-1/.703) North Dakota ( /.652) Michigan (18-9-0/.667) Minnesota ( /.613) Michigan State ( /.414) Colorado College (9-20-0/.310) Minnesota Duluth (5-23-0/.179) WCHA Champion: Denver. WCHA Playoff Champions: Denver, North Dakota. NCAA Champion: Denver. NCAA 2nd Place: North Dakota. WCHA Scoring Champion: Bill Klatt, F, UM (22 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Gerry Powers, DU (18 gp, 1.78 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Keith Magnuson, D, DU. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: Murray McLachlan, G, UM. WCHA Coach of the Year: Murray Armstrong, DU. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Mike Curran, UND; D - Terry Abram, UND; D - Keith Magnuson, DU; F - Gary Gambucci, UM; F - Jim Wiste, DU; F - Bob Munro, UND. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Gerry Powers, DU; D - Dick Sieradzki, MTU; D - Dick Paradise, UM; F - Al Karlander, MTU; F - Cliff Koroll, DU; F - Bill Klatt, UM. All-Americans: G - Jim Keough, Michigan; D - Terry Abram, UND; D - Keith Magnuson, DU; F - Gary Gambucci, UM; F - Bob Munro, UND; F - Jim Wiste, DU. 111

16 season summaries con t history of the wcha ron grahame du tom ross michigan state brian walsh notre dame mike eaves uw mark johnson uw bob iwabuchi und wcha standings 1 Michigan Tech (21-9-2/.688) Denver (26-6-0/.813) North Dakota ( /.638) Michigan ( /.571) Minnesota ( /.517) Michigan State ( /.411) Colorado College ( /.429) Minnesota Duluth (6-23-0/.207) WCHA Champion: Michigan Tech. WCHA Playoff Champions: Michigan Tech, Denver. NCAA Champion: Denver. WCHA Scoring Champion: George Morrison, F, DU (20 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Rick Duffett, Michigan State (10 gp, 2.40 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Murray McLachlan, G, UM. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: George Morrison, F, DU. WCHA Coach of the Year: John Matchefts, CC. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Murray McLachlan, UM; D - Terry Abram, UND; D - Keith Magnuson, DU; F - Al Karlander, MTU; F - Bob Munro, UND; F - George Morrison, DU. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Gerry Powers, DU; D - John Marks, UND; D - Paul Domm, Michigan; F - Bob Collyard, CC; F - Tom Miller, DU; F - Dave Kartio, UND. All-Americans: G - Rick Duffett, Michigan State; D - Keith Magnuson, DU; D - John Marks, UND; F - Bob Collyard, CC; F - Al Karlander, MTU; F - George Morrison, DU; F - Bob Munro, UND wcha standings 1 Minnesota ( /.636) Denver ( /.672) Michigan Tech ( /.603) Wisconsin ( /.676) North Dakota ( /.483) Michigan ( /.467) Michigan State ( /.448) Minnesota Duluth ( /.466) Colorado College (7-22-1/.250) WCHA Champion: Minnesota. WCHA Playoff Champions: Michigan Tech, Wisconsin. WCHA Scoring Champion: George Morrison, F, DU (22 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Wayne Thomas, UW (13 gp, 3.00 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Murray McLachlan, G, UM. WCHA Sophomore of the Year: Don Thompson, F, Michigan State. WCHA Freshman of the Year: Murray Keogan, F, UMD. WCHA Coach of the Year: Glen Sonmor, UM. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Murray McLachlan, UM; D - Ron Busniuk, UMD; D - John Marks, UND; F - Bob Collyard, CC; F - Murray Keogan, UMD; F - George Morrison, DU. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Wayne Thomas, UW; D - Wally Olds, UM; D - John Jagger, UW; F - Tom Gilmore, DU; F - Murray Heatley, UW; F - Bernie Gagnon, Michigan. All-Americans: G - Murray McLachlan, UM; D - Ron Busniuk, UMD; D - John Jagger, UW; D - John Marks, UND; D - Wally Olds, UM; F - Bob Collyard, CC; F - Murray Keogan, UMD; F - George Morrison, DU wcha standings 1 Michigan Tech (25-6-2/.788) Denver ( /.708) Wisconsin ( /.603) Michigan State ( /.613) Minnesota ( /.455) Minnesota Duluth ( /.485) North Dakota ( /.455) Colorado College ( /.397) Michigan (9-21-0/.300) wcha standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pts GF GA 1 Denver ( /.711) Wisconsin ( /.724) North Dakota ( /.597) Michigan State ( /.556) Minnesota Duluth ( /.471) Michigan ( /.471) Michigan Tech ( /.485) Notre Dame ( /.412) Colorado College ( /.406) Minnesota (8-24-0/.250) WCHA Champion: Denver. WCHA Playoff Champions: Denver, Wisconsin. WCHA Scoring Champion: Doug Palazzari, F, CC (28 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Jim Makey, UW (21.3 gp, 3.29 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Doug Palazzari, F, CC. WCHA Freshman of the Year: Alan Hangsleben, D, UND. WCHA Coach of the Year: Jeff Sauer, CC. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Jim Watt, Michigan State; D - Bob Winograd, CC; D - Alan Hangsleben, UND; F - Tom Peluso, DU; F - Doug Palazzari, CC; F - Jim Cahoon, UND. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Jim Makey, UW; D - Rick Wilson, UND; D - Bob Boyd, Michigan State; F - Don Thompson, Michigan State; F - Bernie Gagnon, Michigan; F - Walt Ledingham, UMD. All-Americans: G - Jim Watt, Michigan State; D - Jeff Rotsch, UW; D - Alan Hangsleben, UND; D - Bob Winograd, CC; F - Walt Ledingham, UMD; F - Doug Palazzari, CC; F - Tom Peluso, DU wcha standings Rk Team (Overall/Pct.) GP W L T Pts GF GA 1 Denver (29-9-1/.756) Notre Dame ( /.618) Wisconsin (29-9-2/.750) Michigan State ( /.653) Michigan Tech ( /.645) Minnesota ( /.485) North Dakota ( /.500) Minnesota Duluth ( /.528) Colorado College ( /.294) Michigan (6-27-1/.191) WCHA Champion: Denver. WCHA Playoff Champions: Denver, Wisconsin. NCAA Champion: Wisconsin. NCAA 2nd Place: Denver. WCHA Scoring Champion: Eddie Bumbacco, F, Notre Dame (28 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Ron Grahame, DU (27 gp, 2.93 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Ron Grahame, G, DU. WCHA Freshman of the Year: Mike Zuke, F, MTU. WCHA Coach of the Year: Charles Lefty Smith, Notre Dame. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Ron Grahame, DU; D - Bruce Affleck, DU; D - Bob Boyd, Michigan State; F - Peter McNab, DU; F - Eddie Bumbacco, Notre Dame; F - Rob Palmer, DU. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Jim Makey, UW; D - Jim Nahrgang, MTU; D - Bill Nyrop, Notre Dame; F - Pat Boutette, UMD; F - Norm Cherrey, UW; F - Ian Williams, Notre Dame. All-Americans: G - Ron Grahame, DU; D - Bob Boyd, Michigan State; D - Bill Nyrop, Notre Dame; F - Pat Boutette, UMD; F - Eddie Bumbacco, Notre Dame; F - Rob Palmer, DU. WCHA Champion: Michigan Tech. WCHA Playoff Champions: Minnesota, Denver. NCAA 2nd Place: Minnesota. WCHA Scoring Champion: Vic Venasky, F, DU (22 gp, ). WCHA Goaltending Champion: Morris Trewin, MTU (11 gp, 2.55 gaa). WCHA Most Valuable Player: Rob Murray, D, MTU. WCHA Freshman of the Year: Mike Usitalo, F, MTU. WCHA Coach of the Year: John MacInnes, MTU. Denver Post All-WCHA First Team: G - Morris Trewin, MTU; D - Rob Murray, MTU; D - Mike Christie, DU; F - Bob Collyard, CC; F - Don Thompson, Michigan State; F - Walt Ledingham, UMD. Denver Post All-WCHA Second Team: G - Glenn Chico Resch, UMD; D - Wally Olds, UM; D - John Jagger, UW; F - Mike Usitalo, MTU; F - Vic Venasky, DU; F - Murray Heatley, UW. All-Americans: G - Morris Trewin, MTU; D - Mike Christie, DU; D - Rob Murray, MTU; F - Walt Ledingham, UMD; F - Don Thompson, Michigan State; F - Vic Venasky, DU. 112