1961 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament
The 1961 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 2nd conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 10 and March 11, 1961. All games were played at home team campus sites. By being declared as co-champions, both Minnesota and Denver were invited to participate in the 1961 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
| 1961 WCHA Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 10–11, 1961 |
| Teams | 4 |
| Finals site | Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota DU Arena Denver, Colorado |
| Champions | Minnesota†[1] (1st title) Denver‡[2] (2nd title) |
| Winning coach | John Mariucci[3] (1st title) Murray Armstrong[4] (2nd title) |
WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments | |
Though not official designations, Minnesota is considered as the East Regional Champion† and Denver as the West Regional Champion‡.
Format
editThe top four teams in the WCHA, based upon the conference regular season standings, were eligible for the tournament and were seeded No. 1 through No. 4. In the first round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds were matched in two-game series where the team with the higher number of goals scored was declared the winner. Rather than decide upon a single tournament champion, the WCHA declared the winners of the two series as co-tournament champions.
Conference standings
editNote: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PCT = Winning percentage; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against
| Conference | Overall | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | PCT | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| Denver†* | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | .944 | 127 | 31 | 32 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 242 | 59 | |
| Minnesota* | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0 | .700 | 100 | 68 | 29 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 126 | 111 | |
| Michigan | 24 | 15 | 8 | 1 | .646 | 97 | 79 | 28 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 108 | 89 | |
| Michigan Tech | 24 | 13 | 11 | 0 | .542 | 92 | 58 | 29 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 132 | 78 | |
| North Dakota | 24 | 7 | 16 | 0 | .313 | 81 | 133 | 29 | 9 | 19 | 1 | 100 | 151 | |
| Michigan State | 20 | 5 | 15 | 0 | .250 | 55 | 90 | 27 | 11 | 16 | 0 | 121 | 115 | |
| Colorado College | 22 | 4 | 18 | 0 | .182 | 68 | 161 | 24 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 76 | 175 | |
| Championship: Minnesota, Denver † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion | ||||||||||||||
Bracket
edit| Finals March 10–11 | |||||
| 1 | Denver | 9 | 8 | ||
| 4 | Michigan Tech | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2 | Minnesota | 3 | 3 | ||
| 3 | Michigan | 1 | 3 | ||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Finals
edit(1) Denver vs. (4) Michigan Tech
edit| March 10 | Denver | 9 – 1 | Michigan Tech | DU Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Denver | 8 – 2 | Michigan Tech | DU Arena | ||||
| Denver won series 17–3 | |
(2) Minnesota vs. (3) Michigan
edit| March 10 | Minnesota | 3 – 1 | Michigan | Williams Arena | ||||
| March 11 | Minnesota | 3 – 3 | Michigan | Williams Arena | ||||
| Minnesota won series 6–4 | |
Tournament awards
edit- None
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Michigan Tech Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "Denver Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "John Mariucci Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "Murray Armstrong Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 97-112" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
External links
edit- WCHA.com
- 1960–61 WCHA Standings
- 1960–61 NCAA Standings
- 2013–14 Denver Pioneers Media Guide[permanent dead link]
- 2013–14 Michigan Wolverines Media Guide; Through the Years Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
- 2013–14 Minnesota Golden Gophers Media Guide Archived 2014-07-28 at the Wayback Machine