TAMPA, Fla. — We all know that hockey is a much different game today than it was in 1950, but there’s still something striking about flipping through the Frozen Four record book and coming to some of the entries from that season.
For one: How did Boston University goaltender Ralph Bevins, who allowed 10 goals in the third period of the national championship game, 13 for the game and 16 for the two-game tournament, end up as the most outstanding player?
It has stumped a number of us here in the media room, and so we’re reaching out for help to explain this one.
And we’ll reach out to you. Does anyone out there have any insight into this most interesting stat line on the list of most outstanding players? Leave a comment below or email me.
Colorado College beat Boston University 13-4 in the 1950 championship game at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Tigers led only 3-1 after two periods before the floodgates opened in the third.
CC’s Chris Ray still holds a share of the championship game record of four goals set in that 1950 game. Three of them came in the third period.
We’ll update here if we find out more.
UPDATE, 2:21 p.m.: Thanks to a few helpful readers and a post on our Facebook page, we’ve found some answers. One account from the book “Blue Ice” about the history of the Michigan hockey program says that Michigan fired 36 shots on Bevins in the third period of the Terriers’ semifinal victory over Michigan.
The curious thing to me is that the Frozen Four records book credits Bevins with 64 saves for the tournament and 30 in the championship game. That leaves only 34 saves total for the semifinal game, so the math doesn’t really add up here. Maybe the 36 shots fired were only shot attempts, not shots on goal.
But Steve Chiaramonte also found this from the Michigan Daily through a Google Newspapers search:
One other possible cause was the goal-tending of Ike Bevins. It was nothing short of phenominal, and for it he received the most valuable player award for the tournament. The balloting for this honor was held before the third period of Saturday’s game when ten goals were scored against Boston University. Bevins was not in the nets the entire period, however, as coach Harry Cleverly pulled him out when he realized the game was lost.
So there you have it. No other goaltender is listed for Boston University in the box score that appears in the Frozen Four record book, and there’s still that question about the math. But thanks to everyone who helped in this search.
UPDATE, 4:16 p.m.: The NCAA dug through its archives for the box scores from the 1950 tournament (which are actually newspapers clippings), and Bevins is credited with 34 saves in the semifinal victory over Michigan (12 in the first period and 11 each in the second and third periods).
And there’s a note, barely visible, on the clipping of the box score from the championship game that says “LAST 5 CC GOALS SCORED AGAINST BU SUB GOALIE.”
That means that Bevins allowed only five of the 10 goals in the third period of that game, and allowed 11 goals in the tournament. The Boston University “spares” are listed in the box score, and the backup goalie may be Paul Kelley.
