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

Teams	4
Finals site	University of Denver Arena Denver, Colorado
Champions	Denver Pioneers (3rd title)
Runner-up	St. Lawrence Saints (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Minnesota Golden Gophers (3rd Frozen Four) Rensselaer Engineers (3rd Frozen Four)
Winning coach	Murray Armstrong (3rd title)
MOP	Bill Masterton (Denver)
Attendance	19,826

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

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

	Semifinals March 16–17					National championship March 18
	E1	St. Lawrence	6
	E2	Rensselaer	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)

Semifinals

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

Consolation Game

Rensselaer vs. Minnesota

March 18

Rensselaer

3 – 4

Minnesota

University of Denver Arena

National Championship

Denver vs. St. Lawrence

March 18

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

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	T
St. Lawrence	6	8	5	19
Denver	20	17	13	50

Goaltenders
Team	Name	Saves	Goals against	Time on ice
SLU	Richie Broadbelt	38	12
DEN	George Kirkwood	17	2

All-Tournament team

First Team

• G: Mike Larson (Minnesota)
• D: Marty Howe (Denver)
• D: Grant Munro (Denver)
• F: Trent Beatty (Denver)
• F: Bill Masterton* (Denver)
• F: Jerry Walker (Denver)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

Second Team

• G: George Kirkwood (Denver)
• D: George Konik (Denver)
• D: Arlie Parker (St. Lawrence)
• F: Terry Slater (St. Lawrence)
• F: Jim Josephson (Rensselaer)
• F: Ron Constantine (Minnesota)

See also

• 1961 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament