1979 WCHA men's ice hockey tournament

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 ← 1978 1980 →

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

1978–79 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings v t e
	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

^[5]

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

• Western Collegiate Hockey Association men's champions

References

1. "Minnesota Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
2. "North Dakota Men's Team History". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
3. "Herb Brooks Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
4. "John "Gino" Gasparini Year-by-Year Coaching Record". Retrieved June 1, 2014.
5. "2009-10 WCHA Yearbook 113-128" (PDF). WCHA. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
6. "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