March 18, 1948: Dartmouth defeats Colorado College, 8-4, in first-ever Frozen Four game
Dartmouth made its way west to participate in the first-ever NCAA Tournament that took place at Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs. A four-team field that first year, the format of the tournament featured two Eastern teams and two Western teams with the top team from each playing the second seed of the other. At 20-2-0, Dartmouth was the No. 1 seed in the East and took on No. 2 Colorado College in their own venue.
Led by the legendary coach Eddie Jeremiah '30, the Dartmouth skaters rolled to an 8-4 win in the first-ever national semifinal game — now referred to as the Frozen Four.
The Green and White would earn the right to play for the national championship two days later against Michigan, who defeated Boston College, 6-4, in overtime (sudden-victory rule did not apply until 1954) of the day's second semifinal.
Despite the fact that the Wolverines would prevail in the title game, brothers Bill '46 and Joe Riley '49 would earn spots on the first-ever NCAA All-Tournament Team with Joe being named the first-ever recipient of the Most Outstanding Player.