1954–55 Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey season

Sports season March 2026 August 2023 color:white; background:#00274C; a #FFCB05 2px white white Michigan Wolverines white 1954–55 Michigan Wolverines logo.svg Michigan Wolverines men WIHL 2nd 18–5–1 10–1–1 6–4 2–0 Vic Heyliger Bill MacFarland Michigan Coliseum National champion 1955 NCAA tournament champion 1953–54 1955–56 Michigan Wolverines #FFFFFF background:#eeeeee; The 1954–55 Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team represented the University of Michigan in college ice hockey. In its 11th year under head coach Vic Heyliger, the team compiled an 18–5–1 record, outscored opponents 107 to 70, and won the 1955 NCAA men's ice hockey tournament. The 1955 championship was Michigan's fifth NCAA hockey championship in eight years. During the regular season, the Wolverines finished in second place in the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (WIHL) with a 13-5-0 record against conference opponents. Team captain Bill MacFarland was the leading scorer with 56 points on 33 goals and 23 assists. For the second time in program history, six Michigan players were selected as first-team All-Americans. The All-American selections were defensemen Mike Buchanan and Bob Schiller, goalie Lorne Howes, and forwards MacFarland, Dick Dunnigan, and Tom Rendall. Howes, MacFarland, and Rendall were also named to the NCAA Frozen Four All Tournament First Team. Season Michigan was coming off of their seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament but after losing what the team deemed to be inferior opponent the Wolverines saw their championship run end in the semifinal.RPI Glory Days pg. 3 http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Magazine/winter03/feature2-3.html Rensselaer Alumni Magazine December 4, 2018 March 7, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160307233026/http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Magazine/winter03/feature2-3.html dead Head Coach Had the Maize and Blue raring to go against McGill for their home opener, winning 7–2 but the team appeared to slip a bit after that. They finished their non-conference schedule 3–0–1 but when they headed to Colorado to face the Tigers and the Pioneers they came home with only 1 win in four games. After taking both games against hated rival Michigan State in a home-and-home series they split two consecutive weeks against Minnesota and Michigan Tech. With more than half of their season over the Wolverines were at risk of missing the tournament for the first time with only a middling 5–5 record in the WIHL. Beginning with their second series against the Spartans in mid-February Michigan began showing the mettle that earned them four national titles in six years. The defense buckled down while the Wolverine attack seemed to score at will, winning eight straight games while averaging almost six goals per game. The winning streak allowed Michigan to separate themselves away from the rest of their competition and join Colorado College comfortably at the top of the conference. With a second-place finish in the WIHL Michigan received the #2 western seed and they headed back to Colorado Springs. The Wolverines began the 1955 championship against Harvard who were led by the nation's leading scorer in Bill Cleary (who averaged more than 4 points per game by himself). The Crimson offense was stymied by the Wolverines who continued to rack up the goals and take the semifinal 7–3. Two days later the Wolverines were again facing Colorado College in what amounted to a road game though this time the winner would skate away with the national championship. Tom Rendall opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game and after exchanging the lead the Wolverines ended the first up 2–1. The CC offense started to ratchet itself up in the second, outshooting Michigan 15–6 but the second frame ended with the same score as the first. The Tigers increased their pace even more in the third but it was Michigan's Jay Gould who found the net first, increasing the Wolverine lead to 3–1. Colorado College did close the gap back to a single goal but less than a minute later Michigan restored their two-goal advantage. Clare Smith got the Tigers back within one less than three minutes left but Lorne Howes refused to allow any more recording his 47th save of the night before captain Bill MacFarland salted the game away with an empty-net marker at 19:57.Team history and Awards https://s3.amazonaws.com/mgoblue.com/documents/2016/9/20/ihm-team-history.pdf Michigan Wolverines December 6, 2018 Despite the herculean effort by the Wolverines it was Phil Hilton of the opposition who received the Tournament Most Outstanding Player though Howes, MacFarland and Rendall were all named to the All-Tournament First Team. Standings UM Schedule |- !colspan=12 style="Michigan Wolverines #FFFFFF;" | Regular season December 4 w yes no McGill Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 7–2 1–0–0 December 5 w yes no McGill Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 4–2 2–0–0 December 10 w yes no Montreal Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 3–2 3–0–0 December 11 t yes no Montreal Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 3–3 3–0–1 December 17 l yes 1954–55 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 0–4 3–1–1 0–1–0 December 18 l yes 1954–55 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 4–5 OT 3–2–1 0–2–0 December 21 w yes 1954–55 men Denver Pioneers Denver DU Arena Denver, Colorado 2–1 4–2–1 1–2–0 December 22 l yes 1954–55 men Denver Pioneers Denver DU Arena Denver, Colorado 2–8 4–3–1 1–3–0 January 7 w yes 1954–55 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 7–0 5–3–1 2–3–0 January 8 w no 1954–55 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 3–1 6–3–1 3–3–0 January 14 l no 1954–55 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 4–10 6–4–1 3–4–0 January 15 w no 1954–55 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 5–3 7–4–1 4–4–0 February 4 w yes 1954–55 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Dee Stadium Houghton, Michigan 4–2 8–4–1 5–4–0 February 5 l yes 1954–55 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Dee Stadium Houghton, Michigan 4–2 8–5–1 5–5–0 February 11 w yes 1954–55 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 7–4 9–5–1 6–5–0 February 12 w no 1954–55 men Michigan State Spartans Michigan State Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 4–3 10–5–1 7–5–0 February 18 w yes 1954–55 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis 5–2 11–5–1 8–5–0 February 19 w yes 1954–55 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis 3–1 12–5–1 9–5–0 February 25 w no 1954–55 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 7–0 13–5–1 10–5–0 February 26 w no 1954–55 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 7–2 14–5–1 11–5–0 March 4 w no 1954–55 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 5–1 15–5–1 12–5–0 March 5 w no 1954–55 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 8–4 16–5–1 13–5–0 |- !colspan=12 style="Michigan Wolverines #FFFFFF;" | #FFFFFF NCAA Tournament March 10 w yes yes 1954–55 men Harvard Crimson Harvard Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado National Semifinal 7–3 17–5–1 13–5–0 March 12 w yes yes 1954–55 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado National championship 5–3 18–5–1 13–5–0 no Source:Through the Years: Season-By-Season Results https://s3.amazonaws.com/mgoblue.com/documents/2016/9/20/ihm-throughtheyears.pdf Michigan Wolverines December 6, 2018 Roster and scoring statistics 2 Michigan Wolverines No. Name Year Position Hometown unsortable S/P/C Games Goals Assists Pts #FFFFFF PIM 7 Bill MacFarland Junior LW Toronto Ontario 24 33 23 56 67 12 Tom Rendall Sophomore C Winnipeg, Manitoba Manitoba 18 20 19 39 22 6 Dick Dunnigan 1 Sophomore RW Edmonton, Alberta Alberta 24 15 24 39 8 8 Jerry Karpinka 1 Sophomore LW Edmonton, Alberta Alberta 24 9 16 25 34 9 Jay Gould 1 Junior RW Kirkland Lake, Ontario Ontario 24 14 10 24 28 3 Bob Shiller 1 Sophomore D Riverside, Ontario Ontario 24 4 8 12 54 11 Neil Buchanan 1 Sophomore D Ottawa, ON Ontario 24 4 5 9 48 2 Mike Buchanan ice hockey Sophomore D Ottawa, ON Ontario 10 3 4 7 17 10 Yves Hebert 1 Senior F Montreal, PQ Quebec 20 3 4 7 4 5 Bob Pitts 1 Sophomore D Castlegar, British Columbia British Columbia 24 2 5 7 24 4 Bernie Hanna 1 Sophomore D Calgary, Alberta Alberta 24 0 2 2 48 15 Baden Cosby 1 Junior F Gravenhurst, Ontario Ontario 14 0 1 1 0 16 Bill Lucier 1 Senior G Windsor, Ontario Ontario 1 0 0 0 0 1 Lorne Howes Junior G Kirkland Lake, Ontario Ontario 24 0 0 0 2 14 Don McIntosh 1 Freshman C Toronto Ontario – – – – – Total Univ. of Michigan 1954-55 roster and statistics https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/803/univ.-of-michigan/1954-1955?tab=stats EliteProspects 2018-10-24 1955 national championship Colorado College vs. Michigan Colorado College Michigan Broadmoor Ice Palace March 12Team History https://mgoblue.com/documents/2016/9/20/ihm-team-history.pdf Michigan Wolverines December 9, 2018 3 – 5 2 Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st UMTom Rendallunassisted 02:38 1–0 UM 2nd CCPhil Hiltonunassisted 22:28 1–1 UMNeil BuchananM. Buchanan 39:23 2–1 UM 3rd UMJay Gouldunassisted 46:18 3–1 UM CCDon WishartHubchik 47:34 3–2 UM UMJerry Karpinka – GWDunnigan 48:31 4–2 UM CCClare SmithSilverberg 57:23 4–3 UM UMBill MacFarland – ENunassisted 59:57 5–3 UM Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Michigan 9 6 11 26 Colorado College 12 15 23 50 Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice UM Lorne Howes 47 3 CC Jeff Simus 22 4 See also 1955 NCAA men's ice hockey tournament List of NCAA Division I men's ice hockey champions References 50em Category:Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey seasons Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan