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
DatesMarch 10–11, 1961
Teams4
Finals siteWilliams Arena
Minneapolis, Minnesota
DU Arena
Denver, Colorado
ChampionsMinnesota†[1] (1st title)
Denver‡[2] (2nd title)
Winning coachJohn 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

The 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

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PCT = Winning percentage; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

1960–61 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
Conference Overall
GP W L T PCT GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Denver†*181710.9441273132301124259
Minnesota*201460.700100682917111126111
Michigan241581.6469779281610210889
Michigan Tech2413110.5429258291613013278
North Dakota247160.31381133299191100151
Michigan State205150.25055902711160121115
Colorado College224180.1826816124420076175
Championship: Minnesota, Denver
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion

[5]

Bracket

[6]

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)

(1) Denver vs. (4) Michigan Tech
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
March 10 Minnesota 3 – 1 Michigan Williams Arena
March 11 Minnesota 3 – 3 Michigan Williams Arena
Minnesota won series 6–4

Tournament awards
  • None

See also

References
  1. "Michigan Tech Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  2. "Denver Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  3. "John Mariucci Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  4. "Murray Armstrong Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  5. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 97-112" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  6. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 129-144" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
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