1957–58 Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey season

Collegiate team season August 2023 December 2025 color:white; background:#862633; a #866d4b 2px white white Denver Pioneers white 1957–58 Denver Pioneers (old) logo.svg 200 Denver Pioneers men WIHL T–1st 24–10–2 12–10–0 18–2–2 4–8–0 2–0–0 Murray Armstrong Ed ZemrauDenver Hockey 2018-19 Media Guide https://s3.amazonaws.com/denverpioneers.com/documents/2018/10/10/Media_Guide_2.pdf Denver Pioneers January 14, 2019 DU Arena National championWIHL co-champion 1958 NCAA Tournament champion 1956–57 1958–59 color:white; background:#862633; a #866d4b 2px background:#eeeeee; The 1957–58 Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey team represented University of Denver in college ice hockey. In its 2nd year under head coach Murray Armstrong the team compiled a 24–10–2 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time. The Pioneers defeated North Dakota 6–2 in the championship game at the Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the first national title not held at the Broadmoor Ice Palace. Denver became the first team to win its inaugural championship appearance since Michigan in 1948, the first time the tournament was held. Season When Murray Armstrong Arrived in 1956, the fairly new program at Denver had been declining for several years. This trend continued in Armstrong's first season when the Pioneers posted a losing record for the first time since their inaugural campaign. During that year, however, Armstrong brought in 9 recruits from Canada who played on the Freshman team before hitting the ice with the varsity squad in 1957–58. Among those players were Murray Massier, Jim Brown and future NHL-er John MacMillan. With those three forwards leading the way on offense Denver jumped out to an impressive start with 2-win weekends over Toronto, Michigan, Michigan State and Michigan Tech. Only arch-rival Colorado College was able to dent their record early-on, winning once in the first of four home-and-home series for the season. Denver suffered its first home loss on New Year's Day against Minnesota but won the rematch two days later to remain high in the conference standings with an 8–2 record. After taking three points in a series against the US National Team Denver split its second series with CC before welcoming a pair on non-conference teams. The Pioneers defeated the Flin Flon Bombers, a junior team from Manitoba, twice by a combined score of 14–2 then utterly dominated Rensselaer 20–3 in the first game of a 2-game sweep. At the end of January Denver hit the road for a compressed road trip where they would play Minnesota and North Dakota twice each in the span of a week. That scheduling quirk turned out very badly for the Pioneers who lost all four games and dropped back to the rest of the pack with a 9–7 record, though they still held on to first place. The Pioneers returned home to host two Canadian junior teams over a 10-day period, winning three times and tying once. During that two-week period Colorado College swept a series against North Dakota to jump up in the WIHL standings and claim a tie for the top spot with 14 points.Colorado College 2017-18 Hockey Media Guide https://issuu.com/coloradocollegeapr-ag/docs/2017-18_media_guide_2 Colorado College Tigers December 19, 2018 March 5, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180305155122/https://issuu.com/coloradocollegeapr-ag/docs/2017-18_media_guide_2 dead That came just in time for the start to a four-game series between the two teams that could decide the second western qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. Each team would play two home games with CC winning the opening game at home 5–1. Because the teams were scheduled to play 8 times over the course of the season each game was worth only 1/2 point in the conference standings, meaning that Denver only had a possible 1-1/2 points possible remaining between the two teams and with little room for error the Pioneers rallied to take the next two games at home, winning 7–0 and 6–3. With the pioneers up by half a point the teams returned to Colorado Springs where, for the 8th time that season, the home team won. While Denver and CC were busy battling to no decisive effect, North Dakota had swept back-to-back weekends against Michigan State and Michigan Tech to put all three team in a tie for first in the WIHL.North Dakota Hockey 2018-19 Hockey Media Guide https://s3.amazonaws.com/undsports.com/documents/2018/11/15/2018_19_HKY_Media_Guide_for_web.pdf North Dakota Fighting Hawks January 14, 2019 Entering the final week of the season two of the three would be selected to play in the NCAA Tournament with 4th-place Minnesota too far behind to move up in the standings. While Denver was hosting North Dakota, Colorado College went on the road to face Minnesota. Denver took the first game against the Fighting Sioux while CC fell to the Golden Gophers 5–7. Even with a 1-point advantage it was still possible for both other teams to pass Denver in the standings so when the Pioneers were defeated by North Dakota for only their second home loss of the season they slipped to the #2 spot because UND had won 3 of the four matches between the two on the season. CC, meanwhile, had dueled Minnesota to a 1–1 tie in regulation but the tigers had to have a victory if they wanted a chance to defend their national title. However it was the Gophers who were able to earn the overtime marker and end the Tigers' season. Denver went to Minnesota to play in their first national tournament, the first championship held outside of the state of Colorado. They were met in the first game by Tri-State League champion Clarkson who had limited opponents to 40 goals in their 18 games while averaging 4.5 goals per game. While Denver was making their national debut the 16-2 Golden Knights had finished 3rd in the previous tournament and were looking to build on an already stellar season. In the semifinal game, however, Clarkson was unable to hold back the Denver attack and surrendered 6 goals, the most they had allowed all season.Clarkson Men's Hockey 2018-19 Hockey Media Guide https://issuu.com/mikelg/docs/clarksonmenhockeyguide18-19 Clarkson Golden Knights January 14, 2019 Denver advanced to the title game to face North Dakota for the fifth time that season after the Fighting Sioux easily dispatched Harvard 9–1. Despite the two teams' familiarity with one another the game started a bit slowly with UND's Ed Thomlinson scoring the only goal of the first period. It took more than seven minutes into the second before Denver was able to even the score at 1–1 but once they got onto the scoresheet the floodgates opened and the Pioneers scored twice more in less than four minutes. North Dakota regained their footing and held Denver back for the remainder of the period. With a 3–1 Denver advantage entering the third period the Pioneers pulled back and tried to protect their lead but just over five minutes in the lead was halved by Joe Poole who found himself open in front of the net. Murray Massier quickly responded with his 21st goal of the season to regain the 2-goal edge and while there was still plenty of time left the Massier marker appeared to sap the life out of the Fighting Sioux. While Denver only managed 5 shots in the final frame UND was limited to the same amount. To make matters worse North Dakota netminder Robert Peabody allowed three goals on those five shots to end the UND season on a whimper. Massier was named tournament MOP and was joined by Jim Brown, Ed Zemrau and Rodney Schneck on the All-Tournament first team while Blair Livingstone, Barry Sharp and John MacMillan earned All-Tournament second team honors. Senior Captain Ed Zemrau was the only Pioneer named to the AHCA All-American West Team and was named to the All-WIHL First Team while Massier made the WIHL second team. Because the WIHL would be dissolved that summer due to a dispute over recruiting practices, Denver's first WIHL title was the last that would ever be awarded. This also made the '58 Denver team the last WIHL squad to win a national championship. Standings DEN Schedule Conference games against Minnesota and North Dakota were only worth 1 point in the standings. Conference games against Colorado College were only worth 1/2 point in the standings. no |- !colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#862633; a #866d4b 2px" | Exhibition November 30 w yes no DU Hilltoppers DU Arena Denver, Colorado 6–2 no |- !colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#862633; a #866d4b 2px" | Regular Season December 6 w yes no 1957–58 men Toronto Varsity Blues Toronto DU Arena Denver, Colorado 4–3 1–0–0 no December 10 w yes no 1957–58 men Toronto Varsity Blues Toronto DU Arena Denver, Colorado 6–1 2–0–0 no December 13 w no 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College DU Arena Denver, Colorado 6–4 3–0–0 1–0–0 no December 14 l yes 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 2–6 3–1–0 1–1–0 no December 17 w yes 1957–58 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 7–6 4–1–0 2–1–0 no December 18 w yes 1957–58 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 3–2 OT 5–1–0 3–1–0 no December 20 w yes 1957–58 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 5–1 6–1–0 4–1–0 no December 21 w yes 1957–58 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 4–2 7–1–0 5–1–0 no December 27 w no 1957–58 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech DU Arena Denver, Colorado 3–0 8–1–0 6–1–0 no December 30 w no 1957–58 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech DU Arena Denver, Colorado 6–2 9–1–0 7–1–0 no January 1 l no 1957–58 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota DU Arena Denver, Colorado 1–2 9–2–0 7–2–0 no January 3 w no 1957–58 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota DU Arena Denver, Colorado 4–2 10–2–0 8–2–0 no January 7 t yes no US National Team DU Arena Denver, Colorado 4–1 10–2–1 8–2–0 no January 10 w yes no US National Team DU Arena Denver, Colorado 5–3 11–2–1 8–2–0 no January 13 l yes 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 4–10 11–3–1 8–3–0 no January 14 w no 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College DU Arena Denver, Colorado 3–2 OT 12–3–1 9–3–0 no January 17 w yes no Flin Flon Bombers DU Arena Denver, Colorado 7–0 13–3–1 9–3–0 no January 20 w yes no Flin Flon Bombers DU Arena Denver, Colorado 7–2 14–3–1 9–3–0 no January 24 w yes no 1957–58 men RPI Engineers Rensselaer DU Arena Denver, Colorado 20–3 15–3–1 9–3–0 no January 25 w yes no 1957–58 men RPI Engineers Rensselaer DU Arena Denver, Colorado 4–2 16–3–1 9–3–0 no January 31 l yes 1957–58 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 4–6 16–4–1 9–4–0 no February 1 l yes 1957–58 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 0–4 16–5–1 9–5–0 no February 3 l yes 1957–58 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 0–9 16–6–1 9–6–0 no February 4 l yes 1957–58 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 1–2 16–7–1 9–7–0 no February 7 w yes no Prince Albert Mintos DU Arena Denver, Colorado 9–3 17–7–1 9–7–0 no February 8 t yes no Prince Albert Mintos DU Arena Denver, Colorado 2–2 17–7–2 9–7–0 no February 14 w yes no Edmonton Oil Kings DU Arena Denver, Colorado 6–4 18–7–2 9–7–0 no February 18 w yes no Edmonton Oil Kings DU Arena Denver, Colorado 4–3 19–7–2 9–7–0 no February 21 l yes 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 1–5 19–8–2 9–8–0 no February 22 w no 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College DU Arena Denver, Colorado 7–0 20–8–2 10–8–0 no February 28 w no 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College DU Arena Denver, Colorado 6–3 21–8–2 11–8–0 no March 1 l yes 1957–58 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 2–5 21–9–2 11–9–0 no March 5 w no 1957–58 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota DU Arena Denver, Colorado 4–3 22–9–2 12–9–0 no March 7 l no 1957–58 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota DU Arena Denver, Colorado 1–4 22–10–2 12–10–0 no |- !colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#862633; a #866d4b 2px" | #FFFFFF NCAA Tournament March 13 w yes yes 1957–58 men Clarkson Golden Knights Clarkson Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota National Semifinal 6–2 23–10–2 12–10–0 no March 15 w yes yes 1957–58 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota National championship 6–2 24–10–2 12–10–0 no no Source: Roster and scoring statistics No. Name Year Position Hometown S/P/C Games Goals Assists Points #FFFFFF PIM 1 Rodney Schneck Junior G Wetaskiwin, AB Alberta 37 – – – – 2 Wayne Klinck Sophomore D Regina, SK Saskatchewan 37 – – – 66 3 Ed Zemrau Senior D Edmonton, AB Alberta – – – – – 4 Barry Sharp Senior C Portage la Prairie, MB Manitoba 37 – – 43 – 5 Blair Livingstone Senior D/F Toronto, ON Ontario 36 – – – 14 7 Walt Dingwall Junior LW Saskatoon, SK Saskatchewan – 12 – – – 8 John Godfrey John Godfrey (ice hockey) Junior F Vancouver, BC British Columbia 37 – – – – 9 Alan Cook Alan Cook (ice hockey) Sophomore G Brooklyn, NY New York – – – – – 10 Con Collie Sophomore RW Regina, SK Saskatchewan – 10 11 21 – 11 Murray Massier Sophomore C Regina, SK Saskatchewan 37 21 30 51 – 13 Dennis Slinn Sophomore RW Regina, SK Saskatchewan – – – – – 14 Murray MacDonald Sophomore LW Regina, SK Saskatchewan – – – – – 15 Gordon Cresswell Gordon Cresswell (ice hockey) Junior LW Toronto, ON Ontario 24 – – – – 16 Bruce Walker Bruce Walker (ice hockey) Sophomore RW Meadow Lake, SK Saskatchewan – 18 – – – 17 John MacMillan ice hockey Sophomore RW Lethbridge, AB Alberta 37 19 12 31 50 18 Al Barnhill Sophomore D Wetaskiwin, AB Alberta – – – – – 19 Jim Brown Jim Brown (ice hockey, born 1936) Sophomore C Calgary, AB Alberta 35 29 25 54 – Total Alan Cook was a member of the team but did not play in any game. Denver Pioneers 1957-58 roster and statistics https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/2034/univ.-of-denver/1957-1958?tab=stats EliteProspects January 14, 2019 Goaltending Statistics No. Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals against Saves Shut outs #FFFFFF SV % #FFFFFF GAA 1 Rodnek Schneck 36 – 24 10 2 – – 3 .890 3.10 9 Alan Cook Alan Cook (ice hockey) – – – – – – – – – – Total 36 – – – – – – – – – 1958 championship game W1 North Dakota vs. W2 Denver North Dakota Denver Williams Arena March 15Denver Pioneers 2007-08 Hockey Yearbook http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/denv/sports/m-hockey/auto_pdf/2007-8/misc_non_event/07-08-media-guide.pdf Denver Pioneers 2017-01-03 2017-01-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20170104162729/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/denv/sports/m-hockey/auto_pdf/2007-8/misc_non_event/07-08-media-guide.pdf dead 2 – 6 https://s3.amazonaws.com/denverpioneers.com/documents/2018/10/10/Media_Guide_2.pdf 2 Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st UNDEd ThomlinsonSteenson 7:22 1–0 UND 2nd DENJim BrownSharp 27:18 1–1 DENBruce WalkerMassier and Dingwall 30:39 2–1 DEN DENWalt Dingwall – GWMassier and Zemrau 30:58 3–1 DEN 3rd UNDJoe PooleKing 45:21 3–2 DEN DENMurray MassierKlinck and Walker 47:18 4–2 DEN DENBarry SharpCollie 53:49 5–2 DEN DENDennis SlinnMassier and Godfrey 56:17 6–2 DEN Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Denver 10 13 5 28 North Dakota 8 10 5 23 Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice DEN Rodney Schneck 21 2 UND Robert Peabody 22 6 See also 1958 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament List of NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament champions References 50em Category:Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey seasons Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver