The NCAA News - News Features

Golden moments

I hockey championship celebrates 50th anniversary

In 1948, three of the country's four best college ice hockey teams boarded a plane for Colorado Springs, Colorado.

There, they would join a fourth team -- hometown favorite Colorado College -- at the Broadmoor Ice Palace. Finally, the best teams from the East and West would gather to decide the first NCAA champion on the ice.

The 1997 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship will mark the 50th anniversary of that historic event.

A plane chartered by the Broadmoor Hotel brought the three visiting teams -- the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College and Boston College -- to Colorado Springs March 17.

Limousines waited at the airport to take the players to the Broadmoor. "The atmosphere was tremendous," said Al Renfrew, a left winger who played for Michigan. "With all the limousines, it looked like one long parade as we traveled through the city.

"The Broadmoor was a first-class facility, and for a kid from Toronto, it was a beautiful site -- like dreamland."

All four teams were guests of the Broadmoor, which subsidized all of the championship expenses for the teams.

The championship was part of the Pikes Peak Winter Festival, billed as "the top amateur winter sports program in the United States." The Broadmoor Ice Palace not only would host the NCAA ice hockey championship, but the National Figure Skating Championships two weeks later. The annual Pikes Peak Ski Championships would cap the festival in mid-April.

The first championship

The first NCAA championship resulted from a meeting of the nation's top coaches in New York City the year before. Their goal was to create a coaches association and an event that would crown a true national champion.

Two of the coaches who were instrumental in organizing the first championship -- Michigan's Vic Heyliger and John "Snooks" Kelly of Boston College -- coached in the first tournament.

Michigan and Dartmouth clearly were the two best teams in the country, although Boston College forced Michigan into overtime in the second semifinal before losing, 6-4. Dartmouth dismissed Colorado College, 8-4, in the first semifinal, setting up a classic title game.

"The whole arena was sold out; a lot of notable people were there, including (singer) Ethel Merman and (figure skater) Gretchen Merrill," Renfrew said, recalling the championship atmosphere. "It was quite an exciting experience."

The altitude, however, was not such an exciting experience. It was extremely difficult for the players from Michigan, Dartmouth and Boston College to adjust to the thinner air at 6,635 feet. Even in practice, the players found that 45-second shifts were the rule, not the exception.

"We kept oxygen bottles on the bench and when we came off the ice we sucked down as much oxygen as we could," said Howard Richmond, a left winger on the Dartmouth squad. "The altitude was definitely a factor."

The Michigan players also knew that one of the referees, Bill Cleary, would call a tight game.

Connie Hill, Michigan's three-time captain and defensive standout, recalled his first discussion about Cleary.

"When we boarded the plane in Detroit, there was an empty seat next to Bill Riley (Dartmouth's all-American center), and after we talked a while he pointed to Bill Cleary, who was to be our referee, and said, 'You guys are in for a long night.' And he was right. Cleary called the game by the book."

In the title game, Michigan was whistled for nine penalties, while Dartmouth took only four.

Richmond recalled being whistled twice for interference, and then wondering what interference meant.

"(Cleary) was calling the game awfully tight," Richmond said. "One time, I just happened to skate in front of a player and he thought I was interfering with him."

Michigan's Wally Gacek scored two first-period goals but Bill Riley and Crawford Campbell added goals for Dartmouth to knot the game at 2-2 after the first period.

Dartmouth added goals by Walt Crowley and Arnold Oss to take a 4-2 lead in the second period, but that was all the scoring the Indians would muster.

Because of penalties, the Wolverines played most of the last 12 minutes of the second period with only three men. But Wallace Grant scored a shorthanded goal at 15:20 on a feed from Gacek to cut the Dartmouth lead to one.

The turning point

What followed at the 16:40 mark of the second period was the turning point in the game.

"I was just coming out of the penalty box when the puck landed on top of the Dartmouth net," Renfrew said. "I think the Dartmouth players let up a bit but Gordon McMillan flipped the puck off the net and scored."

The goal was disallowed. The timekeeper had blown his whistle before the goal was scored. After a face-off, the two teams played out the remainder of the period, with Dartmouth clinging to a precarious 4-3 lead.

But after the period ended, members of the NCAA Rules Committee, coaches, and the on- and off-ice officials discussed the referee's decision to disallow the McMillan goal.

The timekeeper felt that Renfrew should have reported to the players' bench before re-entering the game. By rule, however, he did not have to do so. Twenty minutes later, Louis F. Keller, acting athletics director at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and chair of the NCAA Rules Committee, reversed the decision and announced to the 2,700 fans in attendance that the goal was allowed.

Dartmouth's Richmond remembers a slightly different scenario.

"A Michigan player (Renfrew) came out of the penalty box less than 10 seconds early," he said. "The timer blew the whistle and we stopped. I looked at Dick Desmond, our goaltender, and he had relaxed. (McMillan) shot the puck into the net just like he had at Dick a number of times after the whistle. Tempers started to heat up a little bit."

Richmond and his Dartmouth teammates were in the dressing room when they heard a loud cheer erupt from the rink. They sent their manager, Irving Smith, to see what the commotion was all about.

"Irving came back and said they allowed the Michigan goal," Richmond said. "We were totally disillusioned at that point. We couldn't believe they allowed the goal. It really took the starch out of us."

The Michigan players were ecstatic after coach Heyliger returned to the dressing room with the good news. The game now was tied, 4-4, with 20 minutes to decide a champion. "I think that controversial goal was a turning point in the game," Renfrew said.

Wolverines take control

Michigan's Grant scored his second goal of the game just 1:30 into the final period, and McMillan followed with his second goal at the 6:15 mark. Gacek, who also assisted on three goals, completed a hat trick with his third goal just five seconds later. (The goals scored by McMillan and Gacek remain an NCAA championship record for the fastest consecutive goals by a team in the championship round.) Gacek led all scorers in the tournament with eight points.

Michigan's ability to limit the effectiveness of Dartmouth's Riley Brothers -- Joe and Bill -- was a key element of its victory.

Joe, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player, failed to score in the title game, while his brother Bill scored only one goal. But the Riley Brothers were Dartmouth hockey. Their work ethic and determination set them apart from other players. Even in defeat, they were looked upon as two of the best players in the country.

"Billy was older, having come back to Dartmouth after the war," Richmond recalled. "He was married and had one child at that time. He led by example and without a doubt was a great inspiration to our team. The leadership as well as determination he gave every time he went out on the ice made the rest of us want to turn it up a notch every time we got on the ice.

"He was one of the fastest skaters and best stick handlers ever to skate in Dartmouth history."

Hill noted the ruggedness of the Dartmouth team and the respect he had for Eddie Jeremiah, the Dartmouth coach. "Jeremiah opened my eyes to the idea of running set plays," he said. "I'm not sure how they signaled the plays, but that was the first time I had seen a team run set plays.

"Man for man, except for the Rileys, we had more talent than Dartmouth. But the Rileys were really something."

Just the beginning

Michigan's 1948 title was just the beginning of an amazing run for the Wolverines. In the following nine years, Michigan advanced to the championship tournament annually and won five titles. His players say coach Heyliger deserved a lot of the credit.

"Vic was a one-of-a-kind coach, really a unique guy," Renfrew said. "I couldn't have played for a better coach. He demanded loyalty to the school and the team, and he could flat-out motivate guys to play. And the one thing he never did -- he never took life too seriously."

Hill recalled a typical Heyliger practice -- an all-out scrimmage. "We would go at each other with hammer and tongs. But in games we played as a cohesive team. Another factor in our success was that we really wanted to win."

Members of the 1948 Michigan and Dartmouth teams will take part in a 50th anniversary celebration March 27-29 at the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship in Milwaukee. The competition will be conducted at the Bradley Center.

Both teams will attend a special reception in their honor, as well as attend the pretournament banquet.

The NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Committee will honor the players during the first intermission of the second semifinal game, when both teams will be introduced on the ice.

The committee also will name an All-Time Tournament Team. All current and former Division I hockey coaches have been asked to cast votes for the greatest players in the history of the championship.

The all-time team will consist of 21 players -- 12 forwards, six defensemen and three goaltenders -- and will be announced in mid-February. The members of the all-time team will be invited to Milwaukee and introduced on the ice between the first and second periods of the championship game.

"I'm just excited to be a part of the celebration," Renfrew said. "It's going to be a ball for our guys."

"I think it's a rare privilege to take part in the 50th anniversary celebration," Richmond said. "It will be the most wonderful thing for me to reminisce about our times together and join old friends. I'm just happy that I've been able to maintain my good health and join in a celebration like this."