| 1979 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 6–11, 1979 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Finals site | Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota Winter Sports Center Grand Forks, North Dakota |
| Champions | Minnesota†[1] (6th title) North Dakota‡[2] (3rd title) |
| Winning coach | Herb Brooks[3] (4th title) John Gasparini[4] (1st title) |
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
The 1979 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 20th conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 6 and March 11, 1979. All games were played at home team campus sites, including each of the two regional final series. By winning the regional tournaments, both Minnesota and North Dakota were invited to participate in the 1979 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
Though not official designations, Minnesota is considered as the East Regional Champion† and North Dakota as the West Regional Champion‡.
Format
The top eight teams in the WCHA, according to their final conference standings, were eligible for the tournament and were seeded No. 1 through No. 8. In the first round the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds were matched in two-game series where the school that scored the higher number of goals was declared the winner. After the first round the remaining teams were reseeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to their final conference standings and advanced to the second round. In the second round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds competed in an additional two-game, total goal series with the winners of each being declared as co-conference champions.
Conference standings
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| North Dakota†* | 32 | 22 | 10 | 0 | 44 | 168 | 110 | 42 | 30 | 11 | 1 | 245 | 144 | |
| Minnesota* | 32 | 20 | 11 | 1 | 41 | 177 | 116 | 44 | 32 | 11 | 1 | 239 | 147 | |
| Minnesota-Duluth | 32 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 40 | 176 | 141 | 40 | 22 | 14 | 4 | 213 | 170 | |
| Wisconsin | 32 | 19 | 11 | 2 | 40 | 164 | 138 | 41 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 215 | 172 | |
| Notre Dame | 32 | 17 | 14 | 1 | 35 | 161 | 153 | 38 | 18 | 19 | 1 | 184 | 196 | |
| Denver | 32 | 14 | 16 | 2 | 30 | 147 | 174 | 43 | 20 | 20 | 3 | 188 | 217 | |
| Michigan Tech | 32 | 13 | 16 | 3 | 29 | 152 | 141 | 38 | 17 | 18 | 3 | 182 | 165 | |
| Colorado College | 32 | 11 | 19 | 2 | 24 | 144 | 185 | 38 | 12 | 24 | 2 | 165 | 218 | |
| Michigan State | 32 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 24 | 122 | 180 | 36 | 15 | 21 | 0 | 140 | 192 | |
| Michigan | 32 | 6 | 25 | 1 | 13 | 117 | 190 | 36 | 8 | 27 | 1 | 132 | 210 | |
| Championship: Minnesota, North Dakota † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion | ||||||||||||||
Bracket
[6] Teams are reseeded after the first round
| First Round March 6–7 | Second Round March 10–11 | ||||||||||
| 1 | North Dakota | 6 | 7 | ||||||||
| 8 | Colorado College | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 1 | North Dakota | 4 | 7 | ||||||||
| 4 | Wisconsin | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
| 2 | Minnesota | 5 | 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | Michigan Tech | 3 | 1 | ||||||||
| 3 | Minnesota-Duluth | 5 | 2* | ||||||||
| 6 | Denver | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| 2 | Minnesota | 2 | 6 | ||||||||
| 3 | Minnesota-Duluth | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| 4 | Wisconsin | 11 | 5 | ||||||||
| 5 | Notre Dame | 5 | 5 | ||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
First round
(1) North Dakota vs. (8) Colorado College
| March 6 | North Dakota | 6 – 3 | Colorado College | Winter Sports Center | ||||
| March 7 | North Dakota | 7 – 3 | Colorado College | Winter Sports Center | ||||
| North Dakota won series 13–6 | |
(2) Minnesota vs. (7) Michigan Tech
| March 6 | Minnesota | 5 – 3 | Michigan Tech | Williams Arena | ||||
| March 7 | Minnesota | 6 – 1 | Michigan Tech | Williams Arena | ||||
| Minnesota won series 11–4 | |
(3) Minnesota-Duluth vs. (6) Denver
| March 6 | Minnesota-Duluth | 5 – 2 | Denver | Duluth Arena Auditorium | ||||
| March 7 | Minnesota-Duluth | 2 – 4 | OT | Denver | Duluth Arena Auditorium | |||
| Minnesota-Duluth won series 7–6 | |
(4) Wisconsin vs. (5) Notre Dame
| March 6 | Wisconsin | 11 – 5 | Notre Dame | Dane County Coliseum | ||||
| March 7 | Wisconsin | 5 – 5 | Notre Dame | Dane County Coliseum | ||||
| Wisconsin won series 16–10 | |
Second round
(1) North Dakota vs. (4) Wisconsin
| March 10 | North Dakota | 4 – 2 | Wisconsin | Winter Sports Center | ||||
| March 11 | North Dakota | 7 – 7 | Wisconsin | Winter Sports Center | ||||
| North Dakota won series 11–9 | |
(2) Minnesota vs. (3) Minnesota-Duluth
| March 10 | Minnesota | 2 – 1 | Minnesota-Duluth | Williams Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Minnesota | 6 – 3 | Minnesota-Duluth | Williams Arena | ||||
| Minnesota won series 8–4 | |
Tournament awards
None
See also
References
- ^ "Minnesota Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "North Dakota Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "Herb Brooks Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "John "Gino" Gasparini Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 113-128" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
External links
- WCHA.com
- 1978–79 WCHA Standings
- 1978–79 NCAA Standings
- 2013–14 Colorado College Tigers Media Guide
- 2013–14 Denver Pioneers Media Guide[permanent dead link]
- 2013–14 Minnesota Golden Gophers Media Guide Archived 2014-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
- 2012–13 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs Media Guide
- 2013–14 North Dakota Hockey Media Guide
- 2008–09 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Media Guide; History Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- 2003–04 Wisconsin Badgers Media Guide
This page was last edited on 18 August 2023, at 00:36