1961 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

1961 NCAA Men's
Ice Hockey Tournament
Teams 4
Finals Site
Champions Denver Pioneers (3rd title)
Runner-Up St. Lawrence Saints (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coach Murray Armstrong (3rd title)
MOP Bill Masterton Denver
Attendance 19,826

The 1961 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1960–61 NCAA men's ice hockey season, the 14th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 16 and 18, 1961, and concluded with Denver defeating St. Lawrence 12-2. All games were played at the University of Denver Arena in Denver, Colorado.

This was the first and only time in the history of the tournament that teams from the same conference would play each other in the opening round.

Denver's 10-point margin of victory is the largest ever for a title game and the second most for one team in the championship match, second only to Colorado College in both 1950 and 1957. (as of 2016)

Qualifying teams[1]

Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The WCHA tournament co-champions received automatic bids into the tournament. Two at-large bids were offered to eastern teams based upon both their regular season record and strength of competition.

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth type Appearance Last bid Seed School Conference Record Berth type Appearance Last bid
1 St. Lawrence Tri-State League 15–4–0 At-Large 6th 1960 1 Denver WCHA 28–1–1 Tournament co-champion 3rd 1960
2 Rensselaer Tri-State League 16–3–1 At-Large 3rd 1954 2 Minnesota WCHA 16–10–1 Tournament co-champion 3rd 1954

Format

The higher-ranked eastern team was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA champion with the better conference record was given the top western seed. Because the WCHA played two-game semifinal sets to determine their conference representatives and the Tri-State League did not play a postseason tournament none of the teams involved had faced each other in prior tournaments during the season and, breaking with the tradition of the tournament, the two eastern teams played against one another in the semifinal as did the WCHA representatives. All games were played at the University of Denver Arena. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game.

Tournament Bracket[2]

  Semifinals
March 16–17		 National Championship
March 18
                     
E1 St. Lawrence 6  
E2 Renssealer 3  
  E1 St. Lawrence 2  
  W1 Denver 12  
W1 Denver 6
W2 Minnesota 1     Third Place Game
  E2 Rensselaer 3
  W2 Minnesota 4

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Semifinals

St. Lawrence vs. Rensselaer

Denver vs. Minnesota

Consolation Game

Rensselaer vs. Minnesota

National Championship

Denver vs. St. Lawrence

All-Tournament Team[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
  2. ↑ "NCAA Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Denver Pioneers 2007-08 Hockey Yearbook" (PDF). Denver Pioneers. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  4. ↑ "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
  5. ↑ "NCAA Division I Awards". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved 2013-07-17.
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