5 Greatest College Hockey Programs of All Time

[Teeder11]

My apologies up front if this is already posted somewhere. Ran across this on my Facebook, even though it says it was published back in July.

UND is rated #2 by this independent ranking.

http://bleacherrepor...all-time/page/5

[siouxczech29]

Thanks Teeder! Best part of the piece:

Gophers are "Sioux rejects."

[Big A HG]

Michigan is an elite program, no question about it. Their 21 consecutive tournament appearances speaks for itself. However, when your 6th title came in 1956, and your 7th in 1964, and you only have 9 titles, I find that to be a little too inconsistent for me to say that they are without a doubt the best program. The Sioux, on the other hand, have won a title every decade except the '70s since their first full decade of existence in the '50s (program started in '46-47). Even when they are not winning, they are still an elite team more often than not.

The top 2 picks are correct, but I think it should be more like 1A: Michigan, 1B: North Dakota.

[Hayduke]

I'd put North Dakota up with Michigan as the two top programs. Denver is a close third. It drops off from there.

However, if you look at Michigan's titles, 7 of them came with the WCHA. All the other schools: WCHA! A little conference pride, eh?

[GFG]

I don't know if i've ever heard UND called "Gopher Rejects" on the road. Minnesota fans really only chant that to Duluth. I've heard UND fans chant it to Duluth as well...but the Sioux? Has anyone heard them face the "Gopher Reject" chant on the road before?

[Let'sGoHawks!]

I don't know if i've ever heard UND called "Gopher Rejects" on the road. Minnesota fans really only chant that to Duluth. I've heard UND fans chant it to Duluth as well...but the Sioux? Has anyone heard them face the "Gopher Reject" chant on the road before?

I have never heard that either. Not once.

I think they have a pretty good handle on the best programs. I agree that Michigan and UND are 1a and 1b. I always tell people that Michigan won most of their titles when they still used chicken-wire instead of plexiglass!

[buckysieve]

Putting Wisconsin ahead of Minnesota is laughable. The Gophers have dominated the head to head 155-86-20. In fact Minnesota has a winning record versus all four programs on that list.

[GFG]

Putting Wisconsin ahead of Minnesota is laughable. The Gophers have dominated the head to head 155-86-20. In fact Minnesota has a winning record versus all four programs on that list.

The guy that did this put a lot of bearing on what happened the past 5 years to place them. Notice he even said Minnesota was 5th just because they've struggled recently. I would place it as Michigan, UND, Minnesota for the top 3. What he failed to realize is that Minnesota has the most wins of any program. Minnesota has almost 700 more wins than North Dakota, as well as less all time losses. I've always considered those three the most elite programs in college hockey because not only do they have championships, but because they have the history and boat loads of well known hockey alumni that Wisconsin, and Denver just can't fully match.

I'm just glad that BC and BU weren't mentioned

[siouxfaninseattle]

The guy that did this put a lot of bearing on what happened the past 5 years to place them. Notice he even said Minnesota was 5th just because they've struggled recently. I would place it as Michigan, UND, Minnesota for the top 3. What he failed to realize is that Minnesota has the most wins of any program. Minnesota has almost 700 more wins than North Dakota, as well as less all time losses. I've always considered those three the most elite programs in college hockey because not only do they have championships, but because they have the history and boat loads of well known hockey alumni that Wisconsin, and Denver just can't fully match.

I'm just glad that BC and BU weren't mentioned

Where do these 700 wins come from? The UM website shows 1627 wins all time; the UND website shows 1297 wins. UM has about 25 years more history.

[brianvf]

Where do these 700 wins come from? The UM website shows 1627 wins all time; the UND website shows 1297 wins. UM has about 25 years more history.

Minnesota education, perhaps?

330 more is right around 700. Give or take a few.

[GFG]

Where do these 700 wins come from? The UM website shows 1627 wins all time; the UND website shows 1297 wins. UM has about 25 years more history.

Good call, I used Wikipedia and added up the wins at one point last year. The wikipedia page for them now is completely different and updated and now includes all those extra wins haha. They must have been older years that I wouldn't have been aware of.

[Big A HG]

I would rank them as follows:

1. North Dakota

2. Minnesota

3. Wisconsin

4. Boston College

5. Michigan

I think BU should be in there instead of BC. BU has had a lot more consistent program for a lot longer, and they have more titles. BC fell asleep for awhile until the turn of the century.

[sagard]

I think it really comes down to whether you want the "greatest of all time" or the "greatest since the NCAA took charge."

1 1153 764 136 .595

2 1340 893 121 .595

3 1633 932 171 .628

4 1544 977 138 .607

5 1215 896 131 .571

6 1289 858 126 .595

7 1417 815 144 .627

8 1422 781 119 .638

9 1307 844 119 .602

10 1011 646 107 .603

If you want the greatest of all time, your looking at teams 3, 4, 7, and 8. If your looking at a more even playing field between the teams you look have to look at the 7+ club.

[Johnny Five]

Hard to argue Michigan with # of titles and the consecutive years of making the NCAA streak.

[FSSD]

Hard to argue Michigan with # of titles and the consecutive years of making the NCAA streak.

Michigan was very dominate in the late 40's and 50's - 6 of the 9 titles - since 1957 - Michigan 3 / UND 7

[MNState0fHockey]

My apologies up front if this is already posted somewhere. Ran across this on my Facebook, even though it says it was published back in July.

UND is rated #2 by this independent ranking.

http://bleacherrepor...all-time/page/5

Independent?

It was compiled by a Badger fan. Hardly "independent".

[MNState0fHockey]

Only 2 of Michigan's 9 titles have been won in my lifetime, while only 2 of UND's 7 titles were won before my lifetime. So I guess how you rank them depends on whether or not you give weight to recent success as opposed to success from a long time ago.

Big difference for me is that North Dakota and Minnesota have been a lot more consistent than Michigan. They won a lot of their NCAA championships in the 40's and 50's, then kinda fell off the map for the most part for decades. North Dakota and Minnesota both have had only a few short down periods in that time.

Also, I know this topic has been beaten to death for years, and I don't want to stir this debate up, but Ithink if you are going to look at the best programs of all-time, you have to at least give some weight to the hockey played prior to the NCAA era. And I'm not neccesarily saying this will mean as much to fans of other programs as it means to Gopher fans, but being the first program to win a championship with only US players and the only program to do it with in-state players (they did that twice) is kinda special.

If it were up to me, North Dakota would be my #1 (slight edge) and Minnesota my #2.

[MNState0fHockey]

I think that you and I are 100% on the same page. I agree with everything that you just said.