| Gender: | men |
| Year: | 1961 |
| Duration: | November 1961– March 17, 1962 |
| Champ Stad: | Utica Memorial Auditorium |
| Champ City: | Utica, New York |
| Champ: | Michigan Tech |
The 1961–62 NCAA men's ice hockey season began in November 1961 and concluded with the 1962 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 17, 1962 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica, New York. This was the 15th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 68th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.
This was the premier season for ECAC Hockey which began as a conglomerate of 28 eastern schools among which 8 teams were selected by a committee to participate in a postseason tournament that would determine which university(s) would receive bids to the NCAA tournament. Due to the sheer number of schools and the lack of any scheduling criteria the teams played a vastly unbalanced schedule. As a result, the regular season standings were effectively immaterial in determining the conference tournament participants and the committee based their selections on which teams they felt were the best representatives.[1]
Despite already being in the Tri-State League Clarkson, Rensselaer and St. Lawrence were also founding members of ECAC Hockey and played concurrently in both conferences until the Tri-State League folded in 1972.[2]
This was the first season for Minnesota–Duluth as a university sponsored program.[3]
| Tournament | Dates | Teams | Champion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Holiday Tournament | December 18–20 | 8 | |
| ECAC Holiday Hockey Festival | December 21–22 | 4 | Clarkson |
| Boston Arena Christmas Tournament | December 26–28 | 4 | Michigan State |
| Rensselaer Holiday Tournament | December 28–30 | 4 | Michigan |
| Beanpot | February 5, 12 | 4 | Harvard |
See main article: article and 1962 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the season.
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Class | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | – | 48 | 56 | 104 | - | |||
| Junior | 20 | 49 | 33 | 82 | - | |||
| Sophomore | 22 | 41 | 30 | 71 | 10 | |||
| Senior | 28 | 43 | 27 | 70 | 40 | |||
| Senior | 23 | 25 | 39 | 64 | 66 | |||
| Senior | 32 | 30 | 29 | 59 | 6 | |||
| Junior | 27 | 26 | 31 | 57 | – | |||
| Sophomore | – | 19 | 36 | 55 | 15 | |||
| Junior | – | 37 | 15 | 52 | – | |||
| Junior | – | 26 | 26 | 52 | – |
The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average at the end of the regular season while playing at least 33% of their team's total minutes.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
| Player | Class | Team | GP | Min | W | L | OT | GA | SO | SV% | GAA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior | 17 | - | - | - | - | - | - | .926 | 1.75 | |||
| Sophomore | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | .889 | 2.00 | |||
| Senior | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.06 | |||
| Junior | 21 | - | 18 | - | - | - | - | .914 | 2.10 | |||
| Senior | 24 | 1459 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 53 | 5 | .919 | 2.18 | |||
| Sophomore | 25 | 1500 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 61 | 0 | .907 | 2.44 | |||
| Junior | 18 | - | - | - | - | - | - | .918 | 2.50 | |||
| Junior | 22 | 1351 | - | - | - | 64 | 2 | .909 | 2.84 | |||
| Junior | 22 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.23 | |||
| Sophomore | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.50 |
| Award[8] | Recipient | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Kelley, Colby | ||||
| Lou Angotti, Michigan Tech | ||||
| AHCA All-American Teams[9] | ||||
| East Team | Position | West Team | ||
| Frank Stephenson, Colby | align=center | G | John Chandik, Michigan State | |
| David Johnston, Harvard | align=center | D | Henry Åkervall, Michigan Tech | |
| Arlie Parker, St. Lawrence | align=center | D | Elov Seger, Michigan Tech | |
| Bill Hogan, Boston College | align=center | F | Lou Angotti, Michigan Tech | |
| Ron Ryan, Colby | align=center | F | Red Berenson, Michigan | |
| Dates Fryberger, Middlebury | align=center | F | Jerry Sullivan, Michigan Tech | |
| Award[10] | Recipient | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Berenson, Michigan | |||
| Gordon Wilkie, Michigan | |||
| John MacInnes, Michigan Tech | |||
| All-WCHA Teams[11] | |||
| Position | Second Team | ||
| Garry Bauman, Michigan Tech | align=center | G | Bob Gray, Michigan |
| Henry Åkervall, Michigan Tech | align=center | D | Elov Seger, Michigan Tech |
| Jack Wilson, Denver | align=center | D | Don Rodgers, Michigan |
| Red Berenson, Michigan | align=center | F | Gene Rebellato, Michigan Tech |
| Jerry Sullivan, Michigan Tech | align=center | F | Trent Beatty, Denver |
| Lou Angotti, Michigan Tech | align=center | F | Gordon Wilkie, Michigan |