Coming off a Tri-State League championship and the program's first appearance in the NCAA tournament, Rensselaer was primed to build on the previous years' success with the top five scorers all returning for another season.

Playing at high altitude for the first time since the previous year's tournament Rensselaer came out flat against a decent Denver squad, dropping their first contest 3–8 and followed that up with an identical loss to Colorado College the next night.

After a day off the Bachelors returned to Denver for a rematch with the Pioneers and though they lost once more the fared much better in the game, losing 2–3 as they seemed to finally find their skating legs.

With RPI in danger of losing a chance at the NCAA tournament to the Saints they had no margin for error and swept the rest of their schedule until the rematch with the Larries on March 5.

[3] The "RIP" Bachelors entered as the fourth seed and drew Michigan who, despite having a lesser record than Minnesota, was the three-time defending champion and was riding a 7-game tournament winning streak.

Rensselaer would have to wait, however, as Boston College opened against the Golden Gophers and were mercilessly eviscerated by Minnesota, losing by the largest margin in tournament history (1–14).

The Bachelors returned home to a hero's welcome and, though few continued to play once their time at Rensselaer was over, the thirteen men who had earned one of the most improbable championships in history would be remembered by the RPI faithful.