| Year: | 1954 |
| Gender: | men's |
| Teams: | 4 |
| Frozenfourarena: | Broadmoor Ice Palace |
| Frozenfourcity: | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
| Champions: | Rensselaer Bachelors |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Champgamecount: | 1st |
| Champffcount: | 2nd |
| Runnerup: | Minnesota Golden Gophers |
| Gamecount: | 2nd |
| Runnerffcount: | 2nd |
| Semifinal1: | Michigan Wolverines |
| Frozenfourcount: | 7th |
| Semifinal2: | Boston College Eagles |
| Frozenfourcount2: | 4th |
| Coach: | Ned Harkness |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mop: | Abbie Moore |
| Mopteam: | Rensselaer |
| Attendance: | 7,800 |
The 1954 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1953–54 NCAA men's ice hockey season, the 7th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 11 and 13, 1954, and concluded with Rensselaer defeating Minnesota 5-4 in overtime. All games were played at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
This was the first championship game to go into overtime.
Rensselaer's title was the only championship won by a team from the Tri-State League. Despite its low membership the Tri-State League would send at least one representative to the tournament every year from 1952 through 1964 before being dissolved in 1972.[1]
Minnesota's victory in the semifinal over Boston College holds two separate records: the most goals scored by one team in an NCAA tournament game (14, tied with Michigan in 1953) and the largest single-game margin of victory in an NCAA tournament (+13).
Boston College, by being outscored 3-21 in their two games, also holds the worst single-tournament goal differential (-18). (as of 2016)
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.[2]
| East | West | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Boston College | Independent | 17–2–0 | At-Large | 4th | 1950 | 1 | Michigan | WIHL | 14–5–2 | At-Large | 7th | 1953 |
| 2 | Rensselaer | Tri-State League | 16–5–0 | At-Large | 2nd | 1953 | 2 | Minnesota | WIHL | 22–5–1 | At-Large | 2nd | 1953 |
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.
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
| Scoring summary | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score | |||
| 1st | align=center style=";" | RPI | Abbie Moore | Mosco | align=center | 17:07 | align=center | 1–0 RPI |
| align=center style=";" | RPI | Frank Chiarelli – PP | Paradise | align=center | 19:42 | align=center | 2–0 RPI | |
| 2nd | align=center style=";" | RPI | Ambrose Mosco | Moore | align=center | 22:45 | align=center | 3–0 RPI |
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Ken Yackel | unassisted | align=center | 23:09 | align=center | 3–1 RPI | |
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Dick Dougherty | Campbell | align=center | 25:32 | align=center | 3–2 RPI | |
| 3rd | align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | John Mayasich | Dougherty | align=center | 44:29 | align=center | 3–3 |
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | Dick Dougherty | Mayasich | align=center | 48:30 | align=center | 4–3 Minn | |
| align=center style=";" | RPI | Abbie Moore | Chiarelli | align=center | 56:10 | align=center | 4–4 | |
| 1st Overtime | align=center style=";" | RPI | Gordie Peterkin – GW | Magadini | align=center | 61:54 | align=center | 5–4 RPI |
| Shots by period | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T | |||||||
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | Minnesota | align=center | 8 | align=center | 14 | align=center | 22 | align=center | 0 | align=center | 44 | |
| align=center style=";" | Rensselaer | align=center | 11 | align=center | 8 | align=center | 4 | align=center | 2 | align=center | 25 | |
| Goaltenders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice | |||||
| align=center style="color:white; background:#862334; " | MIN | align=center | 20 | align=center | 5 | align=center | |||
| align=center style=";" | RPI | align=center | 40 | align=center | 4 | align=center | |||
* Most Outstanding Player(s)[3] [4]