1961 NCAA men's ice hockey tournament

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.

1961 NCAA men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams4
Finals site
ChampionsDenver Pioneers (3rd title)
Runner-upSt. Lawrence Saints (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachMurray Armstrong (3rd title)
MOPBill Masterton (Denver)
Attendance19,826

This was the first time in the history of the tournament that teams from the same conference would play each other in the opening round. The next occurrence would not happen until 2008.

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, behind only Colorado College in both 1950 and 1957. (as of 2016)

Qualifying teams

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

[1]

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 Minnesota refused to schedule Denver beginning this season as a result of a disagreement over recruiting practices, the two western participants had not yet played each other during the season. As a result the NCAA broke with tradition and pitted the two against one another in the semifinals, leaving the two eastern teams to face one another in the other semifinal game. 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.

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)

St. Lawrence vs. Rensselaer
March 16 St. Lawrence 6 – 3 Rensselaer University of Denver Arena

Denver vs. Minnesota
March 17 Denver 6 – 1 Minnesota University of Denver Arena

Rensselaer vs. Minnesota
March 18 Rensselaer 3 – 4 Minnesota University of Denver Arena

Denver vs. St. Lawrence
March 18[3] Denver 12 – 2 St. Lawrence University of Denver Arena
Scoring summary
Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score
1st SLU John Mason R. Mason and Corby 1:22 1–0 SLU
DEN Bill Masterton Beatty and Walker 3:19 1–1
DEN Trent Beatty Masterton and Munro 7:21 2–1 DEN
DEN Jerry Walker – GW Beatty 12:09 3–1 DEN
SLU Buster Dower Slater 13:14 3–2 DEN
DEN Jerry Duffus Williamson and Art 14:51 4–2 DEN
DEN Bill Masterton Walker and Munro 15:49 5–2 DEN
2nd DEN Trent Beatty Masterton and Walker 25:33 6–2 DEN
DEN Grant Munro Lomnes 26:57 7–2 DEN
DEN George Konik – PP Josephson and Wilson 31:31 8–2 DEN
DEN Ken Williamson – PP Art and Wilson 37:47 9–2 DEN
3rd DEN Bill Masterton – PP Konik 50:46 10–2 DEN
DEN Grant Munro – PP Josephson 52:15 11–2 DEN
DEN Terry Lomnes unassisted 56:57 12–2 DEN

All-Tournament team

[4]

See also

References
  1. "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  2. "NCAA Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  3. "Denver Pioneers 2007-08 Hockey Yearbook" (PDF). Denver Pioneers. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  4. "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  5. "NCAA Division I Awards". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
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