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
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Clarkson	ECAC Hockey	26–6–3	Division champion	7th	1970	1	Minnesota	WCHA	30–11–0	Tournament co-champion	10th	1980
2	Providence	ECAC Hockey	17–13–1	Tournament champion	3rd	1978	2	Northern Michigan	CCHA	26–11–3	Tournament champion	2nd	1980
3	Cornell	ECAC Hockey	18–10–1	Division champion	8th	1980	3	Michigan Tech	WCHA	26–13–1	Tournament co-champion	10th	1976
4	Colgate	ECAC Hockey	21–10–2	At-large bid	1st	Never	4	Wisconsin	WCHA	24–14–0	At-large bid	6th	1978

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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

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	Quarterfinals March 19–21							Semifinals March 25–26					National championship March 27
	E1	Clarkson	2	6	8
	W4	Wisconsin	3	6	9
								W4	Wisconsin	5
								W2	Northern Michigan	1
	W2	Northern Michigan	7	3	10
	E3	Cornell	3	4	7
													W4	Wisconsin	6
													W1	Minnesota	3
	W1	Minnesota	9	5	14
	E4	Colgate	4	4	8
								W1	Minnesota	7			Third-place game
								W3	Michigan Tech	2
	E2	Providence	3	5	8								W2	Northern Michigan	2
	W3	Michigan Tech	7	6	13								W3	Michigan Tech	5

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Quarterfinals

(E1) Clarkson vs. (W4) Wisconsin

March 20

Clarkson

2 – 3

Wisconsin

Walker Arena

March 21

Clarkson

6 – 6

Wisconsin

Walker Arena

Wisconsin won series 9–8

(E2) Providence vs. (W3) Michigan Tech

March 20

Providence

3 – 7

Michigan Tech

Schneider Arena

March 21

Providence

5 – 6

Michigan Tech

Schneider Arena

Michigan Tech won series 13–8

(W1) Minnesota vs. (E4) Colgate

March 20

Minnesota

9 – 4

Colgate

Williams Arena

March 21

Minnesota

5 – 4

Colgate

Williams Arena

Minnesota won series 14–8

(W2) Northern Michigan vs. (E3) Cornell

March 20

Northern Michigan

7 – 3

Cornell

Lakeview Arena

March 21

Northern Michigan

3 – 4

Cornell

Lakeview Arena

Northern Michigan won series 10–7

Semifinal

(W1) Minnesota vs. (W3) Michigan Tech

March 26

Minnesota

7 – 2

Michigan Tech

Duluth Arena

(W2) Northern Michigan vs. (W4) Wisconsin

March 27

Northern Michigan

1 – 5

Wisconsin

Duluth Arena

Third-place game

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

March 28

Northern Michigan

2 – 5

Michigan Tech

Duluth Arena

National Championship

(W1) Minnesota vs. (W4) Wisconsin

March 28[3]

Minnesota

3 – 6

Wisconsin

Duluth Arena

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	WIS	Dan Gorowsky	Newberry and Vincent	9:24	1–0 WIS
	WIS	John Newberry – PP	Vincent and Welsh	14:49	2–0 WIS
	WIS	Ed Lebler	Ethier	19:49	3–0 WIS
2nd	WIS	Ted Pearson – GW	Lebler and Newberry	29:23	4–0 WIS
	MIN	Butsy Erickson	Ulseth and Knoke	32:37	4–1 WIS
	WIS	John Newberry – PP	S. Lecy and Vincent	34:27	5–1 WIS
3rd	MIN	Mike Knoke – PP	Jensen and A. Broten	40:10	5–2 WIS
	MIN	Butsy Erickson – PP	Hartzell and A. Broten	56:09	5–3 WIS
	WIS	Ed Lebler – EN	Driver	58:40	6–3 WIS
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	WIS	John Newberry	Roughing	0:28	2:00
	MIN	Dave Jensen	Roughing	0:28	2:00
	WIS	Bruce Driver	Hooking	4:14	2:00
	WIS	Pat Ethier	Interference	9:35	2:00
	WIS	Brian Mullen	Charging	10:11	2:00
	MIN	Neal Broten	Cross–Checking	10:11	2:00
	WIS	Jay McFarlane	Charging	11:58	2:00
	MIN	Paul Butters	Interference	14:15	2:00
2nd	WIS	Theran Welsh	Holding	25:48	2:00
	WIS	Pete Johnson	Hooking	30:31	2:00
	MIN	Scott Bjugstad	High Sticking	32:51	2:00
	MIN	Mike Meadows	Roughing	35:28	2:00
	MIN	Bob Bergloff	Roughing	36:00	2:00
	WIS	Pat Ethier	Elbowing	38:15	2:00
3rd	WIS	Ted Pearson	Hooking	45:21	2:00
	WIS	Todd Lecy	Interference	55:06	2:00

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 Newbery (Wisconsin)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[4]

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References