1979 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament
| Teams | 5 |
|---|---|
| Finals site | |
| Champions | Minnesota Golden Gophers (3rd title) |
| Runner-up | North Dakota Fighting Sioux (5th title game) |
| Semifinalists |
|
| Winning coach | Herb Brooks (3rd title) |
| MOP | Steve Janaszak (Minnesota) |
| Attendance | 13,859 |
The 1979 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 32nd such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 18 and 24, 1979, and concluded with Minnesota defeating North Dakota 4–3. The first-round game was held at the home team venue while all succeeding games were played at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.
Qualifying teams
The NCAA gave four teams automatic bids into the tournament. The two ECAC teams that reached the ECAC tournament final received bids as did the two WCHA co-champions. The NCAA also had the ability to add up to 4 additional teams as it saw fit and chose to include the CCHA tournament champion as well.
| East | West | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | New Hampshire | ECAC Hockey | 22–8–3 | Tournament champion | 2nd | 1977 | 1 | North Dakota | WCHA | 29–10–1 | Tournament co-champion | 7th | 1968 |
| 2 | Dartmouth | ECAC Hockey | 18–8–2 | Tournament finalist | 3rd | 1949 | 2 | Minnesota | WCHA | 29–11–1 | Tournament co-champion | 8th | 1976 |
| At-Large | |||||||||||||
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | |||||||
| A | Bowling Green | CCHA | 37–5–2 | Tournament champion | 3rd | 1978 | |||||||
Format
The four automatic qualifiers were seeded according to pre-tournament finish. The ECAC champion was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA co-champion that finished highest in the regular season was given the top western seed. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. Because an at-large bid was offered to a western school they were placed in a first-round game with the second western seed to determine the final semifinalist. The first-round game was played at the home venue of the second seed while all succeeding games were played at the Olympia in Detroit, Michigan. 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
| First round March 18 | Semifinals March 22–23 | National championship March 24 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | New Hampshire | 3 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Minnesota | 4 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Minnesota | 6 | ||||||||||||
| A | Bowling Green | 3 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Minnesota | 4 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | North Dakota | 3 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | North Dakota | 4 | Third-place game | |||||||||||
| E2 | Dartmouth | 2 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | New Hampshire | 3 | ||||||||||||
| E2 | Dartmouth | 7 | ||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
First round
(W2) Minnesota vs. (A) Bowling Green
| March 18 | Minnesota | 6 – 3 | Bowling Green | Williams Arena | ||||
Semifinal
(E1) New Hampshire vs. (W2) Minnesota
| March 22 | New Hampshire | 3 – 4 | Minnesota | Olympia Stadium | ||||
(W1) North Dakota vs. (E2) Dartmouth
| March 23 | North Dakota | 4 – 2 | Dartmouth | Olympia Stadium | ||||
Third-place game
(E1) New Hampshire vs. (E2) Dartmouth
| March 24 | Cornell | 3 – 7 | Dartmouth | Olympia Stadium | ||||
National Championship
(W1) North Dakota vs. (W2) Minnesota
| March 24[3] | North Dakota | 3 – 4 | Minnesota | Olympia Stadium | ||||
| Scoring summary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | MIN | Steve Christoff | Verchota | 4:11 | 1–0 MIN |
| MIN | John Meredith | Strobel and Ulseth | 8:05 | 2–0 MIN | |
| UND | Bill Himmelright – PP | Taylor and Maxwell | 17:10 | 2–1 MIN | |
| MIN | Joe Baker | Micheletti and Broten | 19:22 | 3–1 MIN | |
| 2nd | UND | Kevin Maxwell | Eades and Taylor | 38:02 | 3–2 MIN |
| 3rd | MIN | Neal Broten – GW | Christoff and Larson | 42:48 | 4–2 MIN |
| UND | Marc Chorney | Burggraf and Taylor | 49:56 | 4–3 MIN | |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- G: Steve Janaszak* (Minnesota)
- D: Mike Ramsey (Minnesota)
- D: Howard Walker (North Dakota)
- F: Steve Christoff (Minnesota)
- F: Eric Strobel (Minnesota)
- F: Mark Taylor (North Dakota)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)[4]
References
- ^ "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
- ^ "NCAA Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
- ^ "2008-09 Media Guide" (PDF). Minnesota Golden Gophers. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
- ^ "NCAA Division I Awards". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
- ^ "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
- "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey historical Archive. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- "NCAA Division 1 Awards". College Hockey historical Archive. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- "Herb Brooks Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- "Attendance Records and Sites" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2013.