1956 NCAA men's ice hockey tournament

The 1956 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1955–56 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 9th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 15 and 17, 1956, and concluded with Michigan defeating Michigan Tech 7–5. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Vic Heyliger captured his 6th and final National title with the Wolverines, all done in the first 9 years of the tournament. As of 2016 he stands as the coach with the most championships overall and the most with one team (6).

Qualifying teams

Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The two best WIHL teams and a Tri-State League representative received bids into the tournament as did one independent school.

Clarkson, who had completed a 23–0 record in the regular season, were offered a bid by the selection committee. The Golden Knights, however, had 8 four-year seniors on the team (who would not have been allowed to play in the tournament) and declined the invitation, leaving the second place team from the Tri-State League to go in their stead.^[1]

East							West
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Boston College	Independent	14–5–0	At-Large	5th	1954	1	Michigan	WIHL	18–2–1	At-Large	9th	1955
2	St. Lawrence	Tri-State League	17–4–0	At-Large	3rd	1955	2	Michigan Tech	WIHL	20–6–0	At-Large	1st	Never

^[2]

Format

The eastern team judged as better was seeded as the top eastern team while the WIHL champion was given the top western seed. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game.

Bracket

	Semifinals March 15–16					National championship March 17
	E1	Boston College	4
	W2	Michigan Tech	10
						W2	Michigan Tech	5
						W1	Michigan	7
	W1	Michigan	2*
	E2	St. Lawrence	1			Third-place game
						E1	Boston College	2
						E2	St. Lawrence	6

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Semifinals

Boston College vs. Michigan Tech

March 15

Boston College

4 – 10

Michigan Tech

Broadmoor Ice Palace

Michigan vs. St. Lawrence

March 16	Michigan		2 – 1	OT	St. Lawrence	Broadmoor Ice Palace	Recap
No Scoring		First period
		Second period			19:52 - Bernie McKinnon (unassisted)
(McDonald, Pitts) Ed Switzer - 03:59		Third period
(McIntosh) Tom Rendall - GW - 01:21		First overtime period			No scoring
Lorne Howes		Goalie stats			Sarge Whittier

Consolation Game

Boston College vs. St. Lawrence

March 17	Boston College		2 – 6		St. Lawrence	Broadmoor Ice Palace	Recap
(Cassidy) Francis Quinn - 06:33 (unassisted) Bill Leary - 11:16		First period			07:03 - Bernie McKinnon (Coluccio, Henry)
No scoring		Second period			06:22 - Joe McLean (unassisted) 07:14 - William Brown (Bigelow) 07:17 - Bill Renner (Stitt, Riopelle)
No scoring		Third period			01:21 - Ron O'Brien (unassisted) 03:47 - Bernie McKinnon (Coluccio, Morrison)

Championship Game

Michigan vs. Michigan Tech

March 17[3]

Michigan

7 – 5

Michigan Tech

Broadmoor Ice Palace

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	UM	Ed Switzer	McDonald	00:23	1–0 UM
	MTU	Dick Wilson	J. McManus	02:42	1–1
	UM	Neil McDonald	Schiller	09:22	2–1 UM
	UM	Don McIntosh	Rendall	10:14	3–1 UM
	MTU	Pete Aubry	unassisted	11:04	3–2 UM
	UM	Bob Schiller	McDonald	13:11	4–2 UM
	MTU	Dick Wilson	unassisted	19:45	4–3 UM
2nd	MTU	Tom Kennedy	Wilson	24:47	4–4
	MTU	Pete Aubry – PP	Wilson	27:25	5–4 MTU
	UM	Ed Switzer	Hanna	27:58	5–5
	UM	Ed Switzer – GW PP	Dunnigan	34:28	6–5 UM
	UM	Neil McDonald	unassisted	34:49	7–5 UM
3rd	None

All-Tournament team

^[4]

References