1948–49 Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey season

The 1948–49 Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey team represented the Boston College in intercollegiate college ice hockey during the 1948–49 NCAA men's ice hockey season. The head coach was John "Snooks" Kelley and the team captain was Bernie Burke. The team won the 1949 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. The team's leading scorer was Jack Mulhern, who finished second in the NCAA in both goals (34) and points (65)

Season Boston College, looking to return to the tournament and improve upon their overtime loss in the semifinal the year before, opened the 1948–49 season with a 13–5 win over MIT. In January they welcomed fellow tournament hopeful Colorado College for one game and took the close match 6–5, improving their record to 7–0. Less than a month later they met the other eastern tournament team, Dartmouth, and lost their first game 2–4 in Hanover. They would make up for that win a month later by defeating the Indians at home. BC finished the regular season 17–1, never having to leave New England and only playing three games outside of the state and one other outside the greater Boston area.

In March the Eagles played two tournaments. The first was the NEIHL Tournament (a precursor to the Beanpot) where they won two narrow victories over Northeastern and Boston University to win the championship. With a 19–1 record Boston College received the top eastern seed and played Colorado College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament The Eagles won the game handily, scoring seven against the Tigers to earn their right to the play for the title. The championship game was a rubber match for BC and Dartmouth and for their third meeting the two teams did not disappoint. The game had three lead changes before Jim Fitzgerald put the Eagles ahead for good in the third period and Boston College won the title 4–3.

This was the last BC team to win an ice hockey championship for 52 years. This was the first team to win a national title where all players were born in the same state or province. The 1949 national title game was the first one held between two eastern teams, the next time two eastern teams would meet in the final game was in 1967.

Note: While BC was a member of the NEIHL, the conference was not officially recognized by the NCAA and the Eagles were technically an independent program.

Standings

Schedule During the season Boston College compiled a 21–1 record. By winning the national title the team set a record for the fewest losses by a national champion that would stand until 1970. Their schedule was as follows. Date Opponent Score Result Venue Location RecordDec. 1, 1948MIT 13–5WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 1–0Dec. 6, 1948Brown 5–1WinSkating Club of BostonBrighton, MA 2–0Dec. 11, 1948Yale 3–1WinNew Haven ArenaNew Haven, CT 3–0Dec. 13, 1948Fort Devens State 22–1WinSkating Club of BostonBrighton, MA 4–0Dec. 15, 1948Harvard 9–4WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 5–0Dec. 21, 1948Boston University5–1WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 6–0Jan. 2, 1949Colorado College 6–5WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 7–0Jan. 10, 1949MIT 11–5WinSkating Club of BostonBrighton, MA 8–0Jan. 12, 1949Harvard 8–5WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 9–0Jan. 27, 1949Dartmouth 2–4LossDavis RinkHanover, NH 9–1Feb. 1, 1949Northeastern 7–4WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 10–1Feb. 2, 1949American International 10–2WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 11–1Feb. 7, 1949Princeton 5–2WinSkating Club of BostonBrighton, MA 12–1Feb. 9, 1949Northeastern 9–1WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 13–1Feb. 18, 1949St. Nick's 8–2WinCrystal Ice PalaceNorwalk, CT 14–1Feb. 22, 1949Dartmouth 7–4WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 15–1Feb. 25, 1949American International 6–3Win Big E Coliseum West Springfield, MA 16–1Mar. 1, 1949Boston University 6–2WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 17–1 New England TournamentMar. 8, 1949Northeastern 5–4WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 18–1Mar. 9, 1949Boston University 6–5WinBoston ArenaBoston, MA 19–1 March 15, 1949Colorado College7–3WinBroadmoor World ArenaColorado Springs, CO 20–1March 17, 1949Dartmouth4–3WinBroadmoor World ArenaColorado Springs, CO 21–1 164–67 21–1 * Denotes overtime periods

Roster and scoring statistics

No. Name Year Position Hometown S/P/C Games G A Pts Sophomore F Boston, MA 22 34 31 65 18 Junior C Arlington, MA 21 23 24 47 6 Senior LW Cambridge, MA 22 18 23 41 2 Sophomore F Norwood, MA 22 18 21 39 6 Junior RW Medford, MA 19 22 13 35 18 Sophomore F East Walpole, MA 13 13 21 34 8 Junior D Walpole, MA 22 9 20 29 18 Senior D Brighton, MA 21 10 2 12 6 Junior F Auburndale, MA 15 7 4 11 4 Junior F Watertown, MA 22 5 5 10 18 Junior D Waltham, MA 7 2 5 7 4 F Belmont, MA 12 0 3 3 2 F Cambridge, MA 7 1 1 2 0 F 6 1 1 2 2 Junior F Arlington, MA 12 0 2 2 0 F 3 1 0 1 2 Junior F Newton, MA 13 1 0 1 2 F 2 0 0 0 0 Senior F Belmont, MA 14 0 0 0 0 Senior G Melrose, MA 21 0 0 0 0 Junior G Dorchester, MA 4 0 0 0 0 Senior G Lexington, MA 6 0 0 0 0 G 0 0 0 0 0 Total 165 176 341 116

Note: Boston College players wore sweaters without numbers. Note: The Boston College record book lists the 1948-49 team as scoring 164 goals over the season but, in the player breakdown, has a total of 165 goals for the season.

Goaltending statistics No. Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shutouts 21 – 20 1 0 – – 0 – 3.09 1 60 1 0 0 3 – 0 – 3.00 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Total 22 – 21 1 0 – 0 – –

1949 national championship (E1) Boston College vs. (E2) Dartmouth

Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st BCWarren LewisFitzgerald 6:04 1–0 BC DCWalter CrowleyOss 10:34 1–1 DCBill Rileyunassisted 19:32 2–1 DC 2nd BCJohn McIntireLewis and Fitzgerald 23:43 2–2 BCLen CeglarskiHarrington and Mulhern 33:04 3–2 BC 3rd DCAlan KerivanCrowley 42:01 3–3 BCJim FitzgeraldLewis 46:47 4–3 BC

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice BC Bernie Burke 3 DC Dick Desmond 4

Butch Songin and Jack Mulhern were named to the All-Tournament First Team while Bernie Burke made the Second Team

See also List of NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament champions

References

External links