1981 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1981 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 34th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 19 and 27, 1981, and concluded with Wisconsin defeating Minnesota 6-3. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues while all succeeding games were played at the Duluth Arena in Duluth, Minnesota.

1981 was the first year that the tournament guaranteed 8 teams to be selected for the championship as opposed the policy put in place in 1977 that gave the selection committee the ability to choose up to 4 additional teams at its discretion (two was the maximum the committee ever choose).

Qualifying teams The NCAA permitted 8 teams to qualify for the tournament, four from each region (East and West). From the east the ECAC tournament champion and the regular season champions from the two ECAC divisions that did not contain the ECAC champion received automatic bids into the tournament with a fourth at-large bid going to one eastern team. From the west the two WCHA tournament co-champions and the CCHA tournament champion received automatic bids with a fourth at-large bid going to one western team.

East West SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type AppearanceLast bid1 Clarkson ECAC Hockey 26–6–3 Division champion 7th 19701 Minnesota WCHA 30–11–0 Tournament co-champion 10th 19802 Providence ECAC Hockey 17–13–1 Tournament champion 3rd 19782 Northern Michigan CCHA 26–11–3 Tournament champion 2nd 19803 Cornell ECAC Hockey 18–10–1 Division champion 8th 19803 Michigan Tech WCHA 26–13–1 Tournament co-champion 10th 19764 Colgate ECAC Hockey 21–10–2 At-large bid 1st Never4 Wisconsin WCHA 24–14–0 At-large bid 6th 1978

Format The tournament featured three rounds of play. The two odd-number ranked teams from one region were placed into a bracket with the two even-number ranked teams of the other region. The teams were then seeded according to their ranking. In the Quarterfinals the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds played two-game aggregate series to determine which school advanced to the Semifinals. Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the Duluth Arena and all series became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game with the losers playing in a Third Place game.

Tournament bracket

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Quarterfinals

(E1) Clarkson vs. (W4) Wisconsin

(E2) Providence vs. (W3) Michigan Tech

(W1) Minnesota vs. (E4) Colgate

(W2) Northern Michigan vs. (E3) Cornell

Semifinal

(W1) Minnesota vs. (W3) Michigan Tech

(W2) Northern Michigan vs. (W4) Wisconsin

Third-place game

(W2) Northern Michigan vs. (W3) Michigan Tech

National Championship

(W1) Minnesota vs. (W4) Wisconsin

Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st WISDan GorowskyNewberry and Vincent 9:24 1–0 WIS WISJohn Newberry – PPVincent and Welsh 14:49 2–0 WIS WISEd LeblerEthier 19:49 3–0 WIS 2nd WISTed Pearson – GWLebler and Newberry 29:23 4–0 WIS MINButsy EricksonUlseth and Knoke 32:37 4–1 WIS WISJohn Newberry – PPS. Lecy and Vincent 34:27 5–1 WIS 3rd MINMike Knoke – PPJensen and A. Broten 40:10 5–2 WIS MINButsy Erickson – PPHartzell and A. Broten 56:09 5–3 WIS WISEd Lebler – ENDriver 58:40 6–3 WIS Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st WISJohn NewberryRoughing 0:28 2:00 MINDave JensenRoughing 0:28 2:00 WISBruce DriverHooking 4:14 2:00 WISPat EthierInterference 9:35 2:00 WISBrian MullenCharging 10:11 2:00 MINNeal BrotenCross-checking 10:11 2:00 WISJay McFarlaneCharging 11:58 2:00 MINPaul ButtersInterference 14:15 2:00 2nd WISTheran WelshHolding 25:48 2:00 WISPete JohnsonHooking 30:31 2:00 MINScott BjugstadHigh-sticking 32:51 2:00 MINMike MeadowsRoughing 35:28 2:00 MINBob BergloffRoughing 36:00 2:00 WISPat EthierElbowing 38:15 2:00 3rd WISTed PearsonHooking 45:21 2:00 WISTodd LecyInterference 55:06 2:00

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Wisconsin 11 14 17 42 Minnesota 8 10 15 33

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice WIS Marc Behrend 30 3 MIN Paul Butters 33 5 MIN Jim Jetland 3 0

All-Tournament Team G: Marc Behrend* (Wisconsin) D: Mike Knoke (Minnesota) D: Tim Watters (Michigan Tech) F: Steve Bozek (Northern Michigan) F: Aaron Broten (Minnesota) F: John Newberry (Wisconsin) * Most Outstanding Player(s)

References