| 1960–61Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey season | |
|---|---|
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| National champion WCHA, champion WCHA Tournament, co-champion NCAA Tournament, champion | |
| Conference | 1stWCHA |
| Home ice | DU Arena |
| Record | |
| Overall | 30–1–1 |
| Conference | 17–1–0 |
| Home | 21–0–1 |
| Road | 7–1–0 |
| Neutral | 2–0–0 |
| Coaches and captains | |
| Head coach | Murray Armstrong |
| Captain | Bill Masterton[1] |
| Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey seasons «1959–60 1961–62 » | |
The1960–61Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey team representedUniversity of Denver incollege ice hockey. In its 5th year under head coachMurray Armstrong the team compiled a 30–1–1 record and reached theNCAA tournament for the third time in four years. The Pioneers defeatedSt. Lawrence 12–2 in the championship game at theDU Arena inDenver,Colorado. Denver set a record for the most wins by a team in one season, breaking the previous high of 27 they had earned the previous year.
Denver's program was riding high after winning the NCAA tournament theyear before as well as having the first player in program history earn anNHL contract following the championship.[1] Head coachMurray Armstrong was not willing to rest on his laurels, however. After the team's first national title in1958 the program was shut out of the tournament the following year and, not wanting to see a repeat performance, Armstrong watched his team get off to a fast start with three wins at home before embarking on a brief but arduous road trip.
Their first stop was inNorth Dakota where they easily took two games from a weakFighting Sioux squad before heading toHoughton to face a toughMichigan Tech team that given them fits the year before. The Huskies took the first game, holding Denver to a season-low 2 goals, but the Pioneers evened the score the next night with a 5–2 win.
Two days later Denver was back home where they would remain for essentially the next two months. Denver playing too many of their games at home was the main cause of their missing the1959 tournament despite having the best record in the country. Even with that recent history the Pioneers had skewed an already home-favored schedule for 1961 with 20 games at home and only 8 on the road. They were able to do this in part because they now belonged to theWCHA rather than being anIndependent program and as a result they would only have to be one of the two best squads in the 7-team conference to have home-ice in the playoffs.
With all of these advantages built into their schedule Denver took full advantage and ran roughshod over their opponents. After sweeping four games in 5 days againstMichigan State andMichigan (though they got a scare with an overtime win in the final match), Denver welcomed the Huskies for a rematch at the end of December and took both games to place themselves firmly atop the conference standings. After a series against a Canadian senior team that provided Denver with its only tie of the season, the Pioneers dominated North Dakota in two games before welcoming theUS National Team. Though Team USA had just won thegold medal most of the players from that squad were no longer on the team and the perceptibly weaker group was easily defeated in both games.
After their first of two home-and-home meetings with in-state rivalColorado College, Denver hosted theWarroad Lakers for a three-game series and totally dominated the visitors by scoring 9 goals in each game. In mid-February Denver finally leftColorado for two games against a strong Michigan squad and took both contests before ending their regular season with a second series against the CC Tigers.
The one team from the WCHA that they did not face during the season wasMinnesota. This was due to the on-going feud between the two programs over recruiting practices. Both teams were able to benefit from this since the two teams were the strongest in the WCHA and finished in the top two of the conference. Denver won their second consecutive WCHA title with their 17–1 conference record and played Michigan Tech at home in the WCHA tournament. For the first game of the total-goal series Denver dominated the Huskies, winning 9–1 and followed that up with an equally impressive 8–2 victory the following night. Denver's 17–3 victory was the widest margin for any 2-game series in the history of the WCHA tournament as well as being tied for the most goals scored by one team in a two-game series.[2]
Denver received the top western seed while WCHA co-champion Minnesota was afforded the #2 seed. Partially due to Denver and Minnesota having not played against one another all season the NCAA took the unprecedented step of placing both WCHA teams in the same semifinal game. This was the first time two teams from the same conference or region would play in an opening round of the NCAA tournament, an occurrence that would not happen again until2008. Despite their being the top two teams from the WCHA from the drop of the puck it was obvious that Denver was far superior to the Golden Gophers. Minnesota did well to hold the Pioneers to six goals in their 6–1 victory that sent Denver back to the title game. In the championship match Denver facedTri-State League championSt. Lawrence and were heavily favored to repeat as national champions. Despite that it was the Saints who scored first, less than 90 seconds into the contest. Denver was able to tie the score less than two minutes later and then built a two-goal lead before the Larries cut the lead to one with just under seven to play in the first period. After the second goal against Denver clamped down on the Saints' attack and controlled the rest of the game. In the final 45 minutes of play Denver scored the final 9 goals of the game (an NCAA tournament record) to win by an astounding 10-goal margin (also a record). Team captainBill Masterton scored ahat trick with two assists and was named thetournament MOP. Denver's thoroughly dominating performance in the two games got five members of the team onto theAll-Tournament first team (tied for the most in NCAA history):Marty Howe,Grant Munro,Trent Beatty,Bill Masterton andJerry Walker with only Minnesota'sMike Larson stopping their bid for a sweep. AdditionallyGeorge Kirkwood andGeorge Konik made the second team.
The 1961 Denver team set several new NCAA records, including most wins by a program with 30. Their 30–1–1 record was the second best winning percentage (.953) for an NCAA champion at the time and currently sits at 4th-best in history (behind only1949 Boston College,1970 Cornell and1993 Maine as of 2018) Denver also scored at one of the highest goals per game pace in NCAA history with a whopping 7.56. Additionally they were the best defensive team to that point, allowing only 59 goals against in 32 contests for a teamgoals against average of 1.84. Denver's average margin of victory of 5.72 goals was the second-largest average in NCAA history at the time and still stands as the largest ever for a championship team.Jerry Walker's 85 points that season were a record for any WCHA player and were not beaten until the conference expanded to many more games in themid-1970s while his WCHA-record 56 goals still stands as of 2018. George Kirkwood set an NCAA record for wins in a season with 30 and finished with a then-record career winning percentage of .894 which was broken by futureHall-of-FamerKen Dryden.
Denver's unparalleled performance throughout the season caused the WCHA voters to name 5 players to theAll-WCHA First Team:George Kirkwood,George Konik,Marty Howe,Bill Masterton andJerry Walker while a record 5 Pioneers appeared onAHCA All-American West Team withGrant Munro being selected rather than Konik.
The 1960-61 Denver team is commonly regarded as the best in the history of the program and one of the greatest teams in NCAA history.[3]
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PCT | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| Denver†* | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | .944 | 127 | 31 | 32 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 242 | 59 | |
| Minnesota* | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0 | .700 | 100 | 68 | 29 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 126 | 111 | |
| Michigan | 24 | 15 | 8 | 1 | .646 | 97 | 79 | 28 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 108 | 89 | |
| Michigan Tech | 24 | 13 | 11 | 0 | .542 | 92 | 58 | 29 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 132 | 78 | |
| North Dakota | 24 | 7 | 16 | 0 | .313 | 81 | 133 | 29 | 9 | 19 | 1 | 100 | 151 | |
| Michigan State | 20 | 5 | 15 | 0 | .250 | 55 | 90 | 27 | 11 | 16 | 0 | 121 | 115 | |
| Colorado College | 22 | 4 | 18 | 0 | .182 | 68 | 161 | 24 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 76 | 175 | |
| Championship: Minnesota, Denver †indicates conference regular season champion *indicates conference tournament champion | ||||||||||||||
| No. | Name | Year | Position | Hometown | S/P/C | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Kirkwood | Junior | G | Edmonton,AB |  | 32 | – | – | – | – |
| 2 | George Konik | Senior | D | Flin Flon,MB |  | 27 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 40 |
| 3 | Jack Wilson | Sophomore | D | Big River,SK |  | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4 | Norb Kemp | Senior | G | Regina,SK | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5 | Marty Howe | Senior | D | Regina,SK | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6 | Grant Munro | Senior | D | Regina,SK | | 32 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 38 |
| 7 | Terry Lomnes | Senior | LW | Camrose,AB | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8 | Ken Williamson | Junior | C | Winnipeg,MB | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9 | Bill Masterton | Senior | C | Winnipeg,MB | | 32 | 24 | 56 | 80 | 4 |
| 10 | Marshall Johnston | Sophomore | D | Birch Hills,SK | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 11 | Jerry Walker | Senior | F | Regina,SK | | 32 | 56 | 29 | 85 | – |
| 12 | Paul Josephson | Senior | C | Saskatoon,SK | | – | – | – | 33 | – |
| 13 | John Art | Sophomore | D/RW | Regina,SK | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 14 | Gerald Duffus | Sophomore | LW | Saskatoon,SK | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 15 | Max Geisthardt | Senior | LW | Regina,SK | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 16 | Trent Beatty | Junior | RW | Kerrobert,SK | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | Gregory Lacomy | Sophomore | F | Winnipeg,MB | | – | – | – | – | – |
| 18 | Dick Jacob | Junior | F | Crescent City,CA |  | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Paul DiNapoli | Junior | G | Belmont,MA |  | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total |
| No. | Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Kirkwood | 32 | – | 30 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 | .910 | 1.84 |
| 4 | Norb Kemp | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | Paul DiNapoli | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 32 | – | 30 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 | – | – |
| March 18[5] | Denver | 12 – 2 | St. Lawrence | University of Denver Arena | ||||
| Scoring summary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | SLU | John Mason | R. Mason and Corby | 1:22 | 1–0 SLU |
| DEN | Bill Masterton | Beatty andWalker | 3:19 | 1–1 | |
| DEN | Trent Beatty | Masterton andMunro | 7:21 | 2–1 DEN | |
| DEN | Jerry Walker –GW | Beatty | 12:09 | 3–1 DEN | |
| SLU | Buster Dower | Slater | 13:14 | 3–2 DEN | |
| DEN | Jerry Duffus | Williamson and Art | 14:51 | 4–2 DEN | |
| DEN | Bill Masterton | Walker andMunro | 15:49 | 5–2 DEN | |
| 2nd | DEN | Trent Beatty | Masterton andWalker | 25:33 | 6–2 DEN |
| DEN | Grant Munro | Lomnes | 26:57 | 7–2 DEN | |
| DEN | George Konik –PP | Josephson and Wilson | 31:31 | 8–2 DEN | |
| DEN | Ken Williamson –PP | Art and Wilson | 37:47 | 9–2 DEN | |
| 3rd | DEN | Bill Masterton –PP | Konik | 50:46 | 10–2 DEN |
| DEN | Grant Munro –PP | Josephson | 52:15 | 11–2 DEN | |
| DEN | Terry Lomnes | unassisted | 56:57 | 12–2 DEN | |
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