The Fighting Sioux got off to a good start with three home wins against non-conference opponents before opening up the WCHA schedule against Michigan State on the road.

North Dakota returned home for a series against a Canadian junior team where UND utterly dominated then hit the road again and traveled to Duluth to take on the comparatively weak Bulldogs.

The mostly good weekend allowed North Dakota to finish 11–5–2 in league play, giving UND a .667 winning percentage which left them in a tie for first with Denver.

For the second consecutive year the WCHA had altered the playoff format, making the first round a two-game total-goal series instead of a single-elimination match.

Due to finishing as the WCHA runner-up North Dakota was offered the second western seed and accepted the entry into the 1963 NCAA Tournament, their first appearance since winning the title in 1959.

Ordinarily, UND would have played the winner of the ECAC Tournament but because an ongoing disagreement between the NCAA and the Ivy League about post-season participation[4] Harvard declined their invitation.

While the partisan crowd hoped that the Eagles would be able to carry the day North Dakota swiftly dispatched BC, winning the game 8–2, and sending them to the championship against Denver.

Al McLean scored just after the 5-minute mark to put his team up 6–2 but Denver started to slowly claw back with two goals to cut the lead in half before the end of the period.

While he did win the game, with Joe Lech's less-than-stellar championship game (5 goals allowed on 17 shots) it wasn't much of a surprise that he didn't make either All-Tournament team but five of his teammates were named to the first team: George Goodacre, Don Ross, Al McLean, Dave Merrifield and Don Stokaluk.