# 1979 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

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 | East | East | East | East | East | East | West | West | West | West | West | West | 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 | At-Large | At-Large | At-Large | At-Large | At-Large | 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 | First round March 18 | First round March 18 | Semifinals March 22–23 | Semifinals March 22–23 | Semifinals March 22–23 | National championship March 24 | National championship March 24 | National championship March 24 |
| | | | E1 | New Hampshire | 3 | | | |
| | | | W2 | Minnesota | 4 | | | |
| W2 | Minnesota | 6 | W2 | Minnesota | 4 | | | |
| A | Bowling Green | 3 | | | | | | |
| A | Bowling Green | 3 | | | | W2 | Minnesota | 4 |
| | | | | | | W1 | North Dakota | 3 |
| | | | W1 | North Dakota | 4 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | E2 | Dartmouth | 2 |
| | | | E2 | Dartmouth | 2 | E1 | New Hampshire | 3 |
| | | | | | | E2 | Dartmouth | 7 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### National Championship
#### (W1) North Dakota vs. (W2) Minnesota

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | MIN | Steve Christoff | Verchota | 4:11 | 1–0 MIN |
| 1st | MIN | John Meredith | Strobel and Ulseth | 8:05 | 2–0 MIN |
| 1st | UND | Bill Himmelright – PP | Taylor and Maxwell | 17:10 | 2–1 MIN |
| 1st | 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 |
| 3rd | UND | Marc Chorney | Burggraf and Taylor | 49:56 | 4–3 MIN |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
| Minnesota | 16 | 8 | 11 | 35 |
| North Dakota | 9 | 11 | 8 | 28 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against |
| MIN | Steve Janaszak | 25 | 3 |
| UND | Bill Stankoven | 13 | 3 |
| UND | Bob Iwabuchi | 17 | 1 |

## All-Tournament team

* 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)