1958–59 North Dakota Fighting Sioux men's ice hockey season

March 2026 August 2023 color:black; background:#009A44; a #000000 2px black black North Dakota Fighting Sioux black 1958–59 University of North Dakota logo - interlocking ND.svg 200 North Dakota Fighting Sioux men Independent 20–10–1 10–3–1 8–7–0 2–0–0 Bob May Barry Thorndycraft Bill Steenson Julian BrunettaJoe Poole Winter Sports Building National champion 1959 NCAA Tournament champion 1957–58 1959–60 North Dakota Fighting Sioux #000000 background:#eeeeee; The 1958–59 North Dakota Fighting Sioux men's ice hockey team represented the University of North Dakota in college ice hockey. In its 2nd year under head coach Bob May, the team compiled a 20–10–1 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the second time. The Fighting Sioux defeated Michigan State 4–3 in overtime to win the championship game at the RPI Field House in Troy, New York, the first national title hosted by an eastern school. Season Coming off of their first trip to the NCAA tournament, North Dakota was hoping to improve on their Runner-Up finish. First, however, the Fighting Sioux had to deal with the collapse of their conference. While programs like North Dakota and Denver had fully embraced the blueprint that Michigan had lain down by recruiting mostly overaged Canadian players, Minnesota head coach John Mariucci had made it a policy for his team to stick with American players and soon found his team left behind. Rather than join the rest of the teams Minnesota withdrew from the WIHL, taking Michigan and Michigan State with them to form the ice hockey division of the Big Ten. Rather than form a small conference of their own the remaining four teams played as independents for the 1958–59 season. Despite being without a conference, North Dakota played a very similar schedule to the one they had the year before. They still played each of the 6 other former WIHL teams and divided their time fairly evenly at home and on the road. After opening the season with two wins against the senior Winnipeg Maroons, North Dakota hit the road and split a pair of game at Michigan State. They returned home to take on Denver in a rematch of last season's national championship and took both close contests 4–3 with one win coming in extra time. After jumping out to a 5-1 start the Fighting Sioux slumped over the holiday break, tying then losing to the US National Team before dropping a match on the road with the Warroad Lakers. They lost their next game at home to Michigan Tech before finally stemming the tide with an overtime win the next night. Sporting a pedestrian 5-4-1 record UND went on an extended road trip through the Great Lakes. The team's first stop was in Duluth where they took both games against an inferior Bulldogs squad. Afterwards they headed Ann Arbor and in the first game against the Wolverines the Fighting Sioux were beating up the home team so badly that the crowd couldn't contain themselves and ended up getting into a fight with the visitors. The game was stopped with 5:20 left in the third period and the remainder of the time was cancelled. The next night was a bit more subdued but North Dakota dropped the contest 2–4. After taking a week off, the team returned to the area to take on Minnesota and Michigan Tech, splitting both series and beginning a six-game homestand with a respectable 11-7-1 record. North Dakota welcomed Colorado College and won both games against the once-fearsome Tigers. After splitting yet another series against Michigan State the Fighting Sioux finished their home schedule with a pair of wins against Minnesota. For their final weekend North Dakota headed to Colorado to face the Pioneers and Tigers twice each in a 5-day span. Despite fatigue and elevation North Dakota acquitted themselves well by splitting both series and ending with an 18-10-1 record. With the dissolution of the WIHL the NCAA selection committee had to use a new metric to determine which two western team would make the tournament. In the end they settled on using a similar method to how they choose eastern teams; they gave the top seed to the Big Ten Champion, Michigan State, then picked the best remaining team as the second semifinalist. While Michigan Tech had split its series with North Dakota during the season they finished with a worse record. Denver, on the other hand, ended with a stellar 22-5-1 mark and possessed the best offense in the country. There was, however, a problem. While most teams had a relatively balanced schedule, Denver had played only five of its 26 games on the road. Additionally, three of those game came against Colorado College. This meant that during the entire season Denver left their state only once and when they did they lost both game against North Dakota.Denver Hockey 2018-19 Media Guide https://s3.amazonaws.com/denverpioneers.com/documents/2018/10/10/Media_Guide_2.pdf Denver Pioneers January 14, 2019 Because of Denver's rather sizable home ice advantage their schedule was seen as far less strenuous than the Fighting Sioux's. In the end it may have been UND's 3–1 record against the Pioneers that tipped the scales in their favor but in any event North Dakota was awarded the second western seed, much to the displeasure of the Denver faithful. North Dakota headed to the eastern time zone for the first time all season to take on Tri-State League champion St. Lawrence. The Saints battled the Fighting Sioux to a 3-3 tie after regulation and were hoping to head to their first National Title in their fourth appearance but a goal by UND's Guy LaFrance sent the Fighting Sioux back to the championship game. In the other semifinal Michigan State dropped Boston College by an identical 4–3 score, though they didn't require extra time. In the fifth meeting that season, the Spartans opened the scoring in a close-checking first period, ending with a one-goal advantage due to an Ed Pollesel marker. In the second period North Dakota found their legs and completely took the game over, outshooting MSU 17–4 and outscoring their opponent 3–0. Once the third period began the pendulum swung completely in the other direction and it was Sparty's turn to take over, scoring twice in the final twelve minutes of play to tie the game and send the national championship into overtime. North Dakota hadn't lost an overtime game in over two years and head coach Bob May confessed to being nervous about that statistic.UND HOCKEY: A look back at UND's first NCAA championship https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/hockey/3718441-und-hockey-look-back-unds-first-ncaa-championship Grand Forks Herald April 9, 2015 January 15, 2019 His team may have picked up on that because they didn't record a shot for more than four minutes but when they did they made it count and Reg Morelli scored to give the Fighting Sioux their first national title. Morelli was awarded the tournament MOP and was joined by Ed Thomlinson on the All-Tournament first team while Ralph Lyndon and Joe Poole appeared on the second team. Bill Steenson was the only player on the team to find his way onto the AHCA All-American West Team and while Bob May received a great deal of support for the Spencer Penrose Award the trophy went to Harry Cleverly. After the season, May left the team to coach minor professional hockey for a year before entering dental school.DR. BOB MAY http://www.mghca.com/page/show/2219669-dr-bob-may MGHCA 2017-06-12 The team was not left in the lurch, however, as assistant coach Barry Thorndycraft took over the reins. Standings UND Schedule no |- !colspan=12 style="North Dakota Fighting Sioux #000000;" | Regular Season November 28 w yes no Winnipeg Maroons Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 5–3 1–0–0 no November 29 w yes no Winnipeg Maroons Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 5–3 2–0–0 no December 5 l yes yes 1958–59 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 0–6 2–1–0 no December 6 w yes yes 1958–59 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 5–4 3–1–0 no December 15 w yes no 1958–59 men Denver Pioneers Denver Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 4–3 OT 4–1–0 no December 16 w yes no 1958–59 men Denver Pioneers Denver Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 4–3 5–1–0 no December 19 t yes no US National Team Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 4–4 OT 5–1–1 no December 20 l yes no US National Team Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 4–6 5–2–1 no December 27 l yes no Warroad Lakers Warroad Memorial Arena Warroad, Minnesota 3–4 5–3–1 no January 2 l yes no 1958–59 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 2–3 5–4–1 no January 3 w yes no 1958–59 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 2–1 OT 6–4–1 no January 9 w yes yes 1958–59 men Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs Minnesota–Duluth Duluth Curling and Skating Club Duluth, Minnesota 4–2 7–4–1 no January 10 w yes yes 1958–59 men Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs Minnesota–Duluth Duluth Curling and Skating Club Duluth, Minnesota 4–1 8–4–1 no January 16 w yes yes 1958–59 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 6–1† 9–4–1 no January 17 l yes yes 1958–59 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 2–4 9–5–1 no January 30 l yes yes 1958–59 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 3–4 9–6–1 no January 31 w yes yes 1958–59 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 6–2 10–6–1 no February 6 l yes yes 1958–59 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Dee Stadium Houghton, Michigan 3–4 10–7–1 no February 7 w yes yes 1958–59 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Dee Stadium Houghton, Michigan 4–0 11–7–1 no February 9 w yes no 1958–59 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 6–4 12–7–1 no February 10 w yes no 1958–59 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 4–2 13–7–1 no February 13 l yes no 1958–59 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 2–3 13–8–1 no February 14 w yes no 1958–59 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 4–2 14–8–1 no February 20 w yes no 1958–59 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 6–5 15–8–1 no February 21 w yes no 1958–59 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Winter Sports Building Grand Forks, North Dakota 5–2 16–8–1 no February 27 w yes yes 1958–59 men Denver Pioneers Denver DU Arena Denver, Colorado 6–4 17–8–1 no February 28 l yes yes 1958–59 men Denver Pioneers Denver DU Arena Denver, Colorado 2–6 17–9–1 no March 2 w yes no 1958–59 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 7–2 18–9–1 no March 3 l yes no 1958–59 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 5–9 18–10–1 no |- Troy, New York !colspan=12 style="North Dakota Fighting Sioux #000000;" | #000000 NCAA Tournament March 13 w yes yes 1958–59 men St. Lawrence Saints St. Lawrence RPI Field House Troy, New York National Semifinal 4–3 OT 19–10–1 no March 14 w yes yes 1958–59 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State RPI Field House Troy, New York National championship 4–3 OT 20–10–1 no no Source: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 † The game against Michigan on January 16 was ended with 5:20 remaining in the 3rd period due to a fight involving players and fans.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 Roster and scoring statistics No.Name Year Position Hometown S/P/C Games Goals Assists Pts #000000 PIM 9 Art Miller Art Miller (ice hockey) Junior F Moose Jaw, SK Saskatchewan 30 24 21 45 34 16 Reg Morelli Junior C Hamilton, ON Ontario 24 17 15 32 14 10 Ed Thomlinson Junior F Sault Ste. Marie, ON Ontario 31 14 15 29 16 11 Joe Poole Joe Poole (ice hockey) Senior C Thief River Falls, MN Minnesota 31 13 12 25 39 8 Guy LaFrance Junior D/C Fort Frances, ON Ontario 31 9 16 25 144 12 Les Merrifield Junior F Thunder Bay, ON Ontario 31 10 11 21 49 4 Ralph Lyndon Junior F Winnipeg, MB Manitoba 31 6 14 20 28 14 Ron King Ron King (ice hockey) Junior F Fort Frances, ON Ontario 31 7 7 14 22 2 Bill Steenson Senior D Moose Jaw, SK Saskatchewan 23 3 11 14 59 7 Stan Paschke Senior F Grand Forks, ND North Dakota 31 4 9 13 4 18 Bart Larson Sophomore F Minneapolis, MN Minnesota 31 5 4 9 20 19 Bernie Haley Sophomore F Edmonton, AB Alberta 29 4 5 9 18 6 Gerry Walford Sophomore C Sudbury, ON Ontario 13 3 3 6 11 5, 6 Julian Brunetta Senior D Fort Frances, ON Ontario 24 1 4 5 16 17 Bob Began Senior D/C Eveleth, MN Minnesota 31 3 1 4 2 3 Steve Thullner Sophomore D Winnipeg, MB Manitoba 13 1 3 4 10 15 Ken Wellen Senior F Hibbing, MN Minnesota 10 1 1 2 2 5 Pete Gazley Sophomore D Red Deer, AB Alberta 10 0 1 1 15 6, 16 Garth Perry Sophomore F Red Deer, AB Alberta 16 0 0 0 7 1 Bob Peabody Senior G Grand Forks, ND North Dakota 20 0 0 0 2 1 George Gratton Sophomore G Toronto, ON Ontario 15 0 0 0 6 Total 125 153 278 518 North Dakota Fighting Sioux 1958-59 roster and statistics https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/1137/univ.-of-north-dakota/1958-1959 EliteProspects January 14, 2019 Goaltending Statistics No.Name GamesMinutesWinsLosses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs #000000 SV % #000000 GAA 1 Bob Peabody 20 – – – – – – 1 .868 3.10 1 George Gratton 15 – – – – – – 0 .876 2.73 Total 31 – – – – – – – – – 1959 championship game W1 Michigan State vs. W2 North Dakota Michigan State North Dakota RPI Field House March 14North Dakota 2015-16 Hockey Yearbook http://www.undsports.com/pdf9/4138306.pdf North Dakota 2017-01-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20160918142052/http://www.undsports.com/pdf9/4138306.pdf 2016-09-18 dead 3 – 4 2 1 Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st MSUEd PolleselMustonen and LaCoste 14:38 1–0 MSU 2nd UNDRalph LyndonMorelli and Miller 27:21 1–1 UNDGerry WalfordKing and Haley 28:57 2–1 UND UNDStan PaschkeLyndon 29:37 3–1 UND 3rd MSUAndre LaCosteRoberts and Norman 48:05 3–2 UND MSUJack RobertsLaCoste 56:20 3–3 1st Overtime UNDReg Morelli – GWMiller and LaFrance 64:18 4–3 UND Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT T North Dakota 5 17 7 1 30 Michigan State 6 4 13 1 24 Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice UND George Gratton 21 3 MSU Joe Selinger 26 4 See also 1959 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament List of NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament champions References 50em Category:North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey seasons North Dakota North Dakota North Dakota North Dakota North Dakota