# 1991 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1990–91 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 44th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 15 and March 30, 1991, and concluded with Northern Michigan defeating Boston University 8-7 in overtime. All First Round and Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues with the 'Frozen Four' games being played at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

## Qualifying teams

The NCAA permitted 12 teams to qualify for the tournament and divided its qualifiers into two regions (East and West). Each of the tournament champions from the four Division I conferences (CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East and WCHA) received automatic invitations into the tournament with At-large bids making up the remaining 8 teams. The NCAA permitted one Independent team to participate in the tournament and because the previous year the independent qualifier was placed in the East pool the two western conferences (CCHA and WCHA) would split only three open spots as opposed to the East's four open spots. The top four remaining eastern teams and the top three remaining western teams received invitations and were seeded with the automatic qualifiers according to their ranking.
| 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 | Maine | Hockey East | 30–8–2 | At-large bid | 5th | 1990 | 1 | Lake Superior State | CCHA | 35–3–4 | Tournament champion | 5th | 1990 |
| 2 | Boston University | Hockey East | 25–10–2 | Tournament champion | 17th | 1990 | 2 | Northern Michigan | WCHA | 34–5–4 | Tournament champion | 4th | 1989 |
| 3 | Boston College | Hockey East | 27–10–0 | At-large bid | 18th | 1990 | 3 | Michigan | CCHA | 32–7–3 | At-large bid | 14th | 1977 |
| 4 | Clarkson | ECAC | 25–7–2 | Tournament champion | 11th | 1990 | 4 | Minnesota | WCHA | 28–7–5 | At-large bid | 18th | 1990 |
| 5 | Providence | Hockey East | 23–10–8 | At-large bid | 7th | 1989 | 5 | Wisconsin | WCHA | 26–13–3 | At-large bid | 12th | 1990 |
| 6 | Cornell | ECAC | 17–9–3 | At-large bid | 10th | 1986 | 6 | Alaska-Anchorage | Independent | 20–15–4 | At-large bid | 2nd | 1990 |

## Format

The tournament featured four rounds of play. The three odd-number ranked teams from one region were placed into a bracket with the three even-number ranked teams of the other region. The teams were then seeded according to their ranking with the top two teams in each bracket receiving byes into the quarterfinals. In the first round the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds played best-of-three series to determine which school advanced to the Quarterfinals with the winners of the 4 vs. 5 series playing the first seed and the winner of the 3 vs. 6 series playing the second seed. In the Quarterfinals the matches were best-of-three series once more with the victors advancing to the National Semifinals. Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the Saint Paul Civic Center and all series became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game.

## Tournament Bracket

| First Round March 15–17 | First Round March 15–17 | First Round March 15–17 | First Round March 15–17 | First Round March 15–17 | Quarterfinals March 22–24 | Quarterfinals March 22–24 | Quarterfinals March 22–24 | Quarterfinals March 22–24 | Quarterfinals March 22–24 | Frozen Four March 28 | Frozen Four March 28 | Frozen Four March 28 | National Championship March 30 | National Championship March 30 | National Championship March 30 |
| | | | | | E1 | Maine | 4 | 5 | – | | | | | | |
| W4 | Minnesota | 3 | 8 | 8 | W4 | Minnesota | 0 | 3 | – | | | | | | |
| E5 | Providence | 4 | 4 | 3 | | | | | | E1 | Maine | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | W2 | Northern Michigan | 5 | | | |
| | | | | | W2 | Northern Michigan | 8 | 5 | – | | | | | | |
| E3 | Boston College | 2 | 1 | – | W6 | Alaska Anchorage | 5 | 3 | – | | | | | | |
| W6 | Alaska-Anchorage | 3 | 3 | – | | | | | | | | | W2 | Northern Michigan | 8*** |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | E2 | Boston University | 7 |
| | | | | | W1 | Lake Superior State | 3 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | |
| E4 | Clarkson | 8 | 5 | – | E4 | Clarkson | 7 | 2 | 4 | | | | | | |
| W5 | Wisconsin | 3 | 4 | – | | | | | | E4 | Clarkson | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | E2 | Boston University | 7 | | | |
| | | | | | E2 | Boston University | 4 | 8 | – | | | | | | |
| W3 | Michigan | 4 | 6 | 9 | W3 | Michigan | 1 | 1 | – | | | | | | |
| E6 | Cornell | 5* | 4 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### First round
#### (E3) Boston College vs. (W6) Alaska-Anchorage

* Alaska-Anchorage won series 2–0

#### (E4) Clarkson vs. (W5) Wisconsin

* Clarkson won series 2–0

#### (W3) Michigan vs. (E6) Cornell

* Michigan won series 2–1

#### (W4) Minnesota vs. (E5) Providence

* Minnesota won series 2–1

### Quarterfinals
#### (E1) Maine vs. (W4) Minnesota

* Maine won series 2–0

#### (E2) Boston University vs. (W3) Michigan

* Boston University won series 2–0

#### (W1) Lake Superior State vs. (E4) Clarkson

* Clarkson won series 2–1

#### (W2) Northern Michigan vs. (W6) Alaska-Anchorage

* Northern Michigan won series 2–0

## Frozen Four
### National Championship
#### (W2) Northern Michigan vs. (E2) Boston University

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | BU | Ed Ronan | | | 1–0 BU |
| 1st | BU | David Sacco | | | 2–0 BU |
| 1st | BU | Ed Ronan | | | 3–0 BU |
| 2nd | NMU | Dean Antos | Werenka and Beattie | | 3–1 BU |
| 2nd | NMU | Mark Beaufait | Melone and Soukoroff | | 3–2 BU |
| 2nd | NMU | Scott Beattie | Melone and Scott | | 3–3 |
| 2nd | NMU | Darryl Plandowski | Frederick | | 4–3 NMU |
| 2nd | NMU | Scott Beattie | unassisted | | 5–3 NMU |
| 3rd | NMU | Scott Beattie | unassisted | 43:08 | 6–3 NMU |
| 3rd | BU | Dave Tomlinson | | 45:59 | 6–4 NMU |
| 3rd | NMU | Darryl Plandowski | Soukoroff | 48:24 | 7–4 NMU |
| 3rd | BU | Tony Amonte | McEachern | 52:24 | 7–5 NMU |
| 3rd | BU | Shawn McEachern | Amonte | 54:51 | 7–6 NMU |
| 3rd | BU | David Sacco | Tomlinson | 59:21 | 7–7 |
| 3rd Overtime | NMU | Darryl Plandowski | Beaufait and Antos | 81:57 | 8–7 NMU |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Goals against |
| NMU | Bill Pye | 7 |
| BU | John Bradley | 5 |
| BU | Scott Cashman | 3 |

## All-Tournament Team

* G: Bill Pye (Northern Michigan)
* D: Lou Melone (Northern Michigan)
* D: Brad Werenka (Northern Michigan)
* F: Tony Amonte (Boston University)
* F: Scott Beattie* (Northern Michigan)
* F: Jean-Yves Roy (Maine)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)