In its 2nd year under head coach Murray Armstrong the team compiled a 24–10–2 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time.

The Pioneers defeated North Dakota 6–2 in the championship game at the Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the first national title not held at the Broadmoor Ice Palace.

[1] During that year, however, Armstrong brought in 9 recruits from Canada who played on the Freshman team before hitting the ice with the varsity squad in 1957–58.

The Pioneers defeated the Flin Flon Bombers, a junior team from Manitoba, twice by a combined score of 14–2 then utterly dominated Rensselaer 20–3 in the first game of a 2-game sweep.

That scheduling quirk turned out very badly for the Pioneers who lost all four games and dropped back to the rest of the pack with a 9–7 record, though they still held on to first place.

During that two-week period Colorado College swept a series against North Dakota to jump up in the WIHL standings and claim a tie for the top spot with 14 points.

While Denver was making their national debut the 16-2 Golden Knights had finished 3rd in the previous tournament and were looking to build on an already stellar season.

[4] Denver advanced to the title game to face North Dakota for the fifth time that season after the Fighting Sioux easily dispatched Harvard 9–1.

To make matters worse North Dakota netminder Robert Peabody allowed three goals on those five shots to end the UND season on a whimper.