1974–75 Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey season

The 1974–75 Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey team represented Michigan Tech University in college ice hockey. In its 19th year under head coach John MacInnes the team compiled a 32–10–0 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in its history. The Huskies defeated Minnesota 6–1 in the championship game at the St. Louis Arena in St. Louis, Missouri, a rematch of the previous season's championship game.

1974–75 Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey season
National Champion
Great Lakes Invitational, Champion
WCHA Tournament, Co-Champion
1975 NCAA Tournament, Champion
Conference2nd WCHA
Home iceStudent Ice Arena
Record
Overall32–10–0
Conference22–10–0
Home17–5–0
Road11–5–0
Neutral4–0–0
Coaches and Captains
Head CoachJohn MacInnes
Assistant CoachesGlen Weller
Rick Yeo
Captain(s)Bob Lorimer[1]
Alternate captain(s)Bill Steele
Bob D'Alvise
Bruce Abbey
Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey seasons
« 1973–74 1975–76 »

Season

Streaking

After coming up just shy in 1973–74 Michigan Tech entered the season with one goal; winning the national Championship. Jim Warden, as the only goaltender on the team who wasn't a freshman, was given the opportunity to assume control of the Huskies' crease and played well at the start. With MTU's high-powered offense clicking the Huskies easily won their first four games, outscoring the opposition by a 27–13 margin, winning each contest by at least 3 goals. However, when Tech met their first tough competition they hit a rough patch. Over a three week span, despite playing four of six contests at home, the Huskies lost five of six games, all against WCHA opponents. Michigan Tech was able to score in most games but their defense surrendered no less than four goals in each match. The losing streak left Tech with a .500 record overall and a 3–5 mark in conference; disastrous numbers for a team hoping to challenge for a national title.

Warden and the defensive corps led by team captain Bob Lorimer needed to raise their game and the weekend series against three week conference opponents couldn't have come at a better time. A six game winning streak countered their losing skid and the Huskies were back in contention for home ice in the WCHA Tournament. Just before the winter break Tech headed to Minneapolis to take on the defending national champions and saw their rise up the standings halted with two losses to Minnesota.

Holiday Season

At the end of December Michigan Tech made their way to Detroit and served as host for the 10th Great Lakes Invitational. The Huskies dominated Yale in the first game then squeezed past Michigan with a 3–2 win to capture their first GLI championship in three years.[2] After two weeks off the Huskies resumed their schedule against the Wolverines and split the home series. The win came in the second match and provided Jim Warden with his first shutout of the season.[1] After spending two weeks walking over bottom-feeders Denver and North Dakota Tech made their first appearance in the new Munn Ice Arena. The Huskies housewarming present was to defeat Michigan State twice and raise their record to 20–8.

Down the Stretch

Michigan Tech held its Winter Carnival at the beginning of February and played host to Minnesota–Duluth. After raising their winning streak to 8 games Tech lost the second contest which left them just two points ahead of Colorado College in the standings.[3] After taking both games at Notre Dame Tech was shutout by Wisconsin before rebounding in the second match.

With only one weekend series remaining, Tech found itself tied with CC as both had identical 20–10 conference records. The Tigers were going to take on 9th-place Denver with the Huskies were faced with Minnesota, who had already won the WCHA championship and guaranteed themselves the top seed. The Gophers were flat in their first game, allowing Tech to easily take the contest 7–0 with Warden tying the school record with his third shutout of the season. CC lost their first game against the Pioneers so all Tech needed was a tie to get the second seed. In their second match Minnesota gave the Huskies all they had but Tech was able to pull out a 5–4 victory and give themselves home ice for the duration of the conference tournament.

Playoffs

Notre Dame arrived in Houghton for the first round of the conference playoffs just two days after the regular season wrapped up. While both teams were presumably tired the Huskies shut the Irish down, winning both games with Jim Warden setting anew program record with his fourth shutout of the season (still a Michigan Tech record as of 2019). The Huskies were able to rest for a day while both the 3rd- and 4th-seeded teams lost, leaving Michigan State as the Huskies opponent. While the Spartans only had a short way to travel from Madison, they were forced to play games on four consecutive nights while the Huskies were able to get a day off in between the two rounds. The tired Spartan defense was no match for Tech who put up 15 goals in the two games and won both to earn their second consecutive WCHA Tournament Championship and 7th overall.[4] Even more impressive was the fact that Michigan Tech produced a 30-win season, only the second such occurrence in the history of college hockey (and the first of only two times they've accomplished that feat as of 2019).

Michigan Tech made their 8th NCAA Tournament appearance as the 2nd western due to Minnesota being the other WCHA winner. As a result MTU was pitted against ECAC Champion Boston University who had the offensive firepower to rival their own. The Terriers opened the scoring in the semifinal and the two teams traded leads in the opening frame before heading to the locker room tied 2-all. When the second period began the Huskies charged out of the gate and scored three times in under six minutes. BU was able to get one goal to close the gap but Bob D'Alvise' second goal of the game restored the 3-goal lead. with just under two minutes to play in the period Mike Fidler was called for a major high-sticking penalty, giving MTU a 5-minutes man-advantage. Bill Steele scored just 21 seconds into the power play while George Lyle and Mike Zuke added their own markers early in the third period. With the score 9–3 as a result the game was essentially over and though the Terriers netted two more before time expired the Huskies had proved themselves the better breed.

National Championship

The championship game became a rematch of the previous year's finale with Tech looking for revenge against Minnesota. Interestingly enough, both Minnesota and Michigan Tech had entered the NCAA tournament as the first teams in 14 years to record 30 wins and with each having won their semifinal meetings both shared the record for the most wins in a season. That record, however, was secondary to the game itself. The two teams played before a crowd of nearly 7,000 people, far below the maximum capacity of the St. Louis Arena but much more than they were used to seeing. Michigan Tech scored first, just past the halfway mark of the opening frame and added a second from Zuke with 64 seconds remaining. Tech's defense held the Gophers to only 7 shots in the period and continued their stifling play throughout the game. The Huskies themselves were held to only 5 shots on goal in the second but they made them count, doubling their lead to 4–0 after forty minutes. The final period saw more of the same with the Huskies tying their own championship record with six consecutive goals from the start of the game. Minnesota's Tom Younghans finally got the puck past Jim Warden mid way through the final period but by then it was too late and Michigan Tech won their third national championship[5] as well as set a new NCAA record with 32 wins on the year.

With his almost shutout of the Gophers, Jim Warden was named as the tournament MOP and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Bob Lorimer, Bob D'Alvise and Steve Jensen. D'Alvise finished third in the nation in scoring and was named to the AHCA All-American West Team. He also made an appearance on the All-WCHA First Team with Warden while Lorimer and Mike Zuke made the WCHA Second Team.

The following year Warden would be the starting goaltender for the US national team at the Winter Olympics, joined by fellow Michigan Tech alums Steve Jensen and Paul Jensen.

Standings

1974–75 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
Conference Overall
GP W L T PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Minnesota†*322480481461024231101187133
Michigan Tech*3222100441811084232100243136
Colorado College3221110421651363923160196170
Wisconsin3219112401381213824122174143
Michigan State3219121391571364022171191175
Michigan3217150341581404022171192167
Notre Dame3210193231151583813223141187
Minnesota-Duluth329203211411663810244158192
Denver329221191161753612231138190
North Dakota3242621098173366282115192
Championship: Michigan Tech, Minnesota
indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion

Schedule

Date Opponent# Rank# Site Result Record
Regular Season
October 25 vs. Lake Superior State* Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 8–4  1–0
October 26 vs. Lake Superior State* Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 6–2  2–0
November 1 at Minnesota–Duluth Duluth Arena AuditoriumDuluth, Minnesota W 7–4  3–0 (1–0)
November 2 at Minnesota–Duluth Duluth Arena AuditoriumDuluth, Minnesota W 6–3  4–0 (2–0)
November 8 vs. Michigan State Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan L 2–4  4–1 (2–1)
November 9 vs. Michigan State Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan L 4–5  4–2 (2–2)
November 15 vs. Colorado College Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 8–7  5–2 (3–2)
November 16 vs. Colorado College Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan L 2–4  5–3 (3–3)
November 22 at Michigan Yost Ice ArenaAnn Arbor, Michigan L 5–7  5–4 (3–4)
November 23 at Michigan Yost Ice ArenaAnn Arbor, Michigan L 3–4  5–5 (3–5)
November 29 vs. North Dakota Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 8–2  6–5 (4–5)
November 30 vs. North Dakota Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 8–3  7–5 (5–5)
December 6 at Denver DU ArenaDenver, Colorado W 9–2  8–5 (6–5)
December 7 at Denver DU ArenaDenver, Colorado W 4–3  9–5 (7–5)
December 13 at Notre Dame Athletic & Convocation CenterNotre Dame, Indiana W 5–3  10–5 (8–5)
December 14 at Notre Dame Athletic & Convocation CenterNotre Dame, Indiana W 8–2  11–5 (9–5)
December 20 at Minnesota Williams ArenaMinneapolis, Minnesota L 2–4  11–6 (9–6)
December 21 at Minnesota Williams ArenaMinneapolis, Minnesota L 3–6  11–7 (9–7)
Great Lakes Invitational
December 27 vs. Yale* Detroit OlympiaDetroit, Michigan (Great Lakes Invitational) W 7–3  12–7 (9–7)
December 28 vs. Michigan* Detroit OlympiaDetroit, Michigan (Great Lakes Invitational) W 3–2  13–7 (9–7)
January 10 vs. Michigan Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan L 4–5  13–8 (9–8)
January 11 vs. Michigan Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 6–0  14–8 (10–8)
January 17 at vs. North Dakota Ralph Engelstad ArenaGrand Forks, North Dakota W 6–4  15–8 (11–8)
January 18 at vs. North Dakota Ralph Engelstad ArenaGrand Forks, North Dakota W 6–1  16–8 (12–8)
January 24 vs. Denver Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 11–5  17–8 (13–8)
January 25 vs. Denver Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 7–0  18–8 (14–8)
January 31 at Michigan State Munn Ice ArenaEast Lansing, Michigan W 5–2  19–8 (15–8)
February 1 at Michigan State Munn Ice ArenaEast Lansing, Michigan W 5–4  20–8 (16–8)
February 7 vs. Minnesota–Duluth Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (Winter Carnival) W 10–3  21–8 (17–8)
February 8 vs. Minnesota–Duluth Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (Winter Carnival) L 4–7  21–9 (17–9)
February 14 vs. Notre Dame Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 7–3  22–9 (18–9)
February 15 vs. Notre Dame Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 10–1  23–9 (19–9)
February 21 at Wisconsin Dane County ColiseumMadison, Wisconsin L 0–4  23–10 (19–10)
February 22 at Wisconsin Dane County ColiseumMadison, Wisconsin W 4–2  24–10 (20–10)
February 28 vs. Minnesota Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 7–0  25–10 (21–10)
March 1 vs. Minnesota Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan W 5–4  26–10 (22–10)
WCHA Tournament
March 3 vs. Notre Dame* Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (WCHA First Round Game 1) W 2–0  27–10 (22–10)
March 4 vs. Notre Dame* Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (WCHA First Round Game 2) W 6–3  28–10 (22–10)
March 6 vs. Michigan State* Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (WCHA Second Round Game 1) W 6–4  29–10 (22–10)
March 7 vs. Michigan State* Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (WCHA Second Round Game 2) W 9–4  30–10 (22–10)
NCAA Tournament
March 13 vs. Boston University* St. Louis ArenaSt. Louis, Missouri (National Semifinal) W 9–5  31–10 (22–10)
March 15 vs. Minnesota* St. Louis ArenaSt. Louis, Missouri (National Championship) W 6–1  32–10 (22–10)
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll.
Source:

[1]

Roster and scoring statistics

No. Name Year Position Hometown S/P/C Games Goals Assists Pts PIM
8Bob D'AlviseSeniorCEtobicoke, ON423747844
7Mike ZukeJuniorCSault Ste. Marie, ON4235437820
17Bill SteeleSeniorRWEdinburgh, SCO4229305924
10George LyleJuniorLWEdmonton, AB3837195676
19Steve JensenSophomoreLWMinneapolis, MN4116324818
15Stuart OstlundFreshmanCVancouver, BC421230428
20Stu YoungerSophomoreLWCalgary, AB4017203732
5Bob LorimerSeniorDToronto, ON3810213168
11Dana DeckerFreshmanLWMinneapolis, MN418132112
12Peter RobertsFreshmanCWarroad, MN41891732
24Scott JesseeJuniorRWDetroit, MI407101722
22Bruce AbbeySeniorDBelmont, ON363141783
27Jim MayerJuniorRWCapreol, ON26971612
6Ed DempseySophomoreDKamloops, BC293121534
3Paul JensenSophomoreDMinneapolis, MN402121426
4Jim MurrayJuniorDBurlington, ON411111218
9Steve BourchardFreshmanFBrooklyn Center, MN33471144
14Chris FergusonSophomoreFThunder Bay, ON2038118
25Jeff WilcoxSophomoreDPortland, OR1918924
2Nels GoddardFreshmanDVancouver, BC211896
18Doug YoungFreshmanDChatham, ON2205518
16Kurt HelminenFreshmanFLaurium, MI0
30Tom O'ConnellFreshmanGHarrisburg, PA2
31Bruce HorschFreshmanGHastings, MN9
1Jim WardenSeniorGDetroit, MI31
Total243366609589

[6]

Goaltending statistics

No.NameGamesMinutesWinsLossesTiesGoals AgainstSavesShut OutsSV %GAA
1Jim Warden311865929474.9112.96
31Bruce Horsch97200.8943.20
30Tom O'Connell1420105210.8087.14
Total42321001364

1975 Championship Game

(W1) Minnesota vs. (W2) Michigan Tech

Scoring summary
Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score
1st MTU Bill Steele Young and D'Alvise 11:36 1–0 MTU
MTU Mike ZukeGW S. Jensen and Decker 18:56 2–0 MTU
2nd MTU George Lyle S. Jensen and Ostlund 25:21 3–0 MTU
MTU Scott Jessee Mayer and Roberts 38:40 4–0 MTU
3rd MTU Bob D'AlvisePP Wilcox and Steele 41:26 5–0 MTU
MTU George LylePP Ostlund and Abbey 46:56 6–0 MTU
MIN Tom Younghans Phippen and Gauge 49:49 6–1 MTU
Penalty summary
Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM
1st MIN Buzz Schneider Interference 1:00 2:00
MTU George Lyle High–Sticking 3:37 2:00
MIN Joe Micheletti High–Sticking 5:16 2:00
MTU Jim Mayer Roughing 12:27 2:00
MIN Warren Miller Roughing 12:27 2:00
MTU Dana Decker Tripping 15:27 2:00
2nd MTU Bruce Abbey Interference 20:46 2:00
MTU George Lyle Tripping 28:18 2:00
MIN Robby Harris Elbowing 30:53 2:00
3rd MIN Joe Micheletti Interference 40:18 2:00
MTU Bob Lorimer Tripping 43:40 2:00
MIN Paul Holmgren Elbowing 45:55 2:00
MIN Warren Miller High–Sticking 47:10 2:00
MIN Russ Anderson Holding 47:21 2:00
MTU Jim Mayer Hooking 53:32 2:00
MIN Mike Polich Roughng 53:32 2:00
MTU Jim Murray Roughng 53:32 2:00

Players drafted into the NHL/WHA

1975 NHL Amateur Draft

= Did not play in the NHL
RoundPickPlayerNHL Team
458Steve JensenMinnesota North Stars
467Stu YoungerPittsburgh Penguins
575Doug YoungCalifornia Golden Seals
7126Dana DeckerPhiladelphia Flyers
8133Paul JensenChicago Blackhawks

[8]

1975 WHA Amateur Draft

= Did not play in the WHA
RoundPickPlayerWHA Team
451Stu YoungerEdmonton Oilers
682Dana DeckerPhoenix Roadrunners
790Doug YoungIndianapolis Racers
14175Paul JensenHouston Aeros

[9]

References

  1. "Michigan Tech Hockey 2009-10 Media Guide". Michigan Tech Huskies. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  2. "Great Lakes Invitational". College Hockey historical Archive. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  3. "Colorado College Hockey 2018-19 Media Guide" (PDF). Colorado College Tigers. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  4. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  5. "1975 NCAA Ice Hockey Championship Full Game". YouTube. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  6. "Michigan Tech Huskies 1974-75 roster and statistics". EliteProspects. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  7. "Michigan Tech 2009-10 Hockey Yearbook". Michigan Tech Huskies. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  8. "1975 NHL Amateur Draft". Hockey DB. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  9. "1975 WHA Amateur Draft". Hockey DB. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
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