# 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 | 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 | 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 |

## 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

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

* Wisconsin won series 9–8

#### (E2) Providence vs. (W3) Michigan Tech

* Michigan Tech won series 13–8

#### (W1) Minnesota vs. (E4) Colgate

* Minnesota won series 14–8

#### (W2) Northern Michigan vs. (E3) Cornell

* Northern Michigan won series 10–7

### National Championship
#### (W1) Minnesota vs. (W4) Wisconsin

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | WIS | Dan Gorowsky | Newberry and Vincent | 9:24 | 1–0 WIS |
| 1st | WIS | John Newberry – PP | Vincent and Welsh | 14:49 | 2–0 WIS |
| 1st | WIS | Ed Lebler | Ethier | 19:49 | 3–0 WIS |
| 2nd | WIS | Ted Pearson – GW | Lebler and Newberry | 29:23 | 4–0 WIS |
| 2nd | MIN | Butsy Erickson | Ulseth and Knoke | 32:37 | 4–1 WIS |
| 2nd | 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 |
| 3rd | MIN | Butsy Erickson – PP | Hartzell and A. Broten | 56:09 | 5–3 WIS |
| 3rd | 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 |
| 1st | MIN | Dave Jensen | Roughing | 0:28 | 2:00 |
| 1st | WIS | Bruce Driver | Hooking | 4:14 | 2:00 |
| 1st | WIS | Pat Ethier | Interference | 9:35 | 2:00 |
| 1st | WIS | Brian Mullen | Charging | 10:11 | 2:00 |
| 1st | MIN | Neal Broten | Cross–Checking | 10:11 | 2:00 |
| 1st | WIS | Jay McFarlane | Charging | 11:58 | 2:00 |
| 1st | MIN | Paul Butters | Interference | 14:15 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | WIS | Theran Welsh | Holding | 25:48 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | WIS | Pete Johnson | Hooking | 30:31 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | MIN | Scott Bjugstad | High Sticking | 32:51 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | MIN | Mike Meadows | Roughing | 35:28 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | MIN | Bob Bergloff | Roughing | 36:00 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | WIS | Pat Ethier | Elbowing | 38:15 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | WIS | Ted Pearson | Hooking | 45:21 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | WIS | Todd Lecy | Interference | 55:06 | 2:00 |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
| Wisconsin | 11 | 14 | 17 | 42 |
| Minnesota | 8 | 10 | 15 | 33 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against |
| WIS | Marc Behrend | 30 | 3 |
| MIN | Paul Butters | 33 | 5 |
| MIN | Jim Jetland | 3 | 0 |

## 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)