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1991 NCAA Division I men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams	12
Finals site	Saint Paul Civic Center; Saint Paul, Minnesota;
Champions	Northern Michigan Wildcats (1st title)
Runner-up	Boston University Terriers (6th title game)
Semifinalists	Clarkson Golden Knights (7th Frozen Four); Maine Black Bears (3rd Frozen Four);
Winning coach	Rick Comley (1st title)
MOP	Scott Beattie (Northern Michigan)
Attendance	35,938
	← 1990 ; NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournaments; 1992 →;

The 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1990–91 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 44th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 15 and March 30, 1991, and concluded with Northern Michigan defeating Boston University 8-7 in overtime. All First Round and Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues with the 'Frozen Four' games being played at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Qualifying teams

The NCAA permitted 12 teams to qualify for the tournament and divided its qualifiers into two regions (East and West). Each of the tournament champions from the four Division I conferences (CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East and WCHA) received automatic invitations into the tournament with At-large bids making up the remaining 8 teams. The NCAA permitted one Independent team to participate in the tournament and because the previous year the independent qualifier was placed in the East pool the two western conferences (CCHA and WCHA) would split only three open spots as opposed to the East's four open spots. The top four remaining eastern teams and the top three remaining western teams received invitations and were seeded with the automatic qualifiers according to their ranking.

East							West
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Maine	Hockey East	30–8–2	At-large bid	5th	1990	1	Lake Superior State	CCHA	35–3–4	Tournament champion	5th	1990
2	Boston University	Hockey East	25–10–2	Tournament champion	17th	1990	2	Northern Michigan	WCHA	34–5–4	Tournament champion	4th	1989
3	Boston College	Hockey East	27–10–0	At-large bid	18th	1990	3	Michigan	CCHA	32–7–3	At-large bid	14th	1977
4	Clarkson	ECAC	25–7–2	Tournament champion	11th	1990	4	Minnesota	WCHA	28–7–5	At-large bid	18th	1990
5	Providence	Hockey East	23–10–8	At-large bid	7th	1989	5	Wisconsin	WCHA	26–13–3	At-large bid	12th	1990
6	Cornell	ECAC	17–9–3	At-large bid	10th	1986	6	Alaska-Anchorage	Independent	20–15–4	At-large bid	2nd	1990

^[2]

Format

The tournament featured four rounds of play. The three odd-number ranked teams from one region were placed into a bracket with the three even-number ranked teams of the other region. The teams were then seeded according to their ranking with the top two teams in each bracket receiving byes into the quarterfinals. In the first round the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds played best-of-three series to determine which school advanced to the Quarterfinals with the winners of the 4 vs. 5 series playing the first seed and the winner of the 3 vs. 6 series playing the second seed. In the Quarterfinals the matches were best-of-three series once more with the victors advancing to the National Semifinals. Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the Saint Paul Civic Center and all series became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game.

Tournament Bracket

First Round March 15–17					Quarterfinals March 22–24					Frozen Four March 28			National Championship March 30

					E1	Maine	4	5	–
W4	Minnesota	3	8	8	W4	Minnesota	0	3	–
E5	Providence	4	4	3						E1	Maine	3
										W2	Northern Michigan	5
					W2	Northern Michigan	8	5	–
E3	Boston College	2	1	–	W6	Alaska Anchorage	5	3	–
W6	Alaska-Anchorage	3	3	–									W2	Northern Michigan	8***
													E2	Boston University	7
					W1	Lake Superior State	3	6	3
E4	Clarkson	8	5	–	E4	Clarkson	7	2	4
W5	Wisconsin	3	4	–						E4	Clarkson	3
										E2	Boston University	7
					E2	Boston University	4	8	–
W3	Michigan	4	6	9	W3	Michigan	1	1	–
E6	Cornell	5*	4	3

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

First round

(E3) Boston College vs. (W6) Alaska-Anchorage

March 15

Boston College

2 – 3

Alaska-Anchorage

Conte Forum

March 16

Boston College

1 – 3

Alaska-Anchorage

Conte Forum

Alaska-Anchorage won series 2–0

(E4) Clarkson vs. (W5) Wisconsin

March 15

Clarkson

8 – 3

Wisconsin

Walker Arena

March 16

Clarkson

5 – 4

Wisconsin

Walker Arena

Clarkson won series 2–0

(W3) Michigan vs. (E6) Cornell

March 15

Michigan

4 – 5

OT

Cornell

Yost Ice Arena

March 16

Michigan

6 – 4

Cornell

Yost Ice Arena

March 17

Michigan

9 – 3

Cornell

Yost Ice Arena

Michigan won series 2–1

(W4) Minnesota vs. (E5) Providence

March 15

Minnesota

3 – 4

Providence

Mariucci Arena

March 16

Minnesota

8 – 4

Providence

Mariucci Arena

March 17

Minnesota

8 – 3

Providence

Mariucci Arena

Minnesota won series 2–1

Quarterfinals

(E1) Maine vs. (W4) Minnesota

March 22

Maine

4 – 0

Minnesota

Alfond Arena

March 23

Maine

5 – 3

Minnesota

Alfond Arena

Maine won series 2–0

(E2) Boston University vs. (W3) Michigan

March 22

Boston University

4 – 1

Michigan

Walter Brown Arena

March 23

Boston University

8 – 1

Michigan

Walter Brown Arena

Boston University won series 2–0

(W1) Lake Superior State vs. (E4) Clarkson

March 22

Lake Superior State

3 – 7

Clarkson

Taffy Abel Arena

March 23

Lake Superior State

6 – 2

Clarkson

Taffy Abel Arena

March 24

Lake Superior State

3 – 4

Clarkson

Taffy Abel Arena

Clarkson won series 2–1

(W2) Northern Michigan vs. (W6) Alaska-Anchorage

March 22

Northern Michigan

8 – 5

Alaska-Anchorage

Lakeview Arena

March 23

Northern Michigan

5 – 3

Alaska-Anchorage

Lakeview Arena

Northern Michigan won series 2–0

Frozen Four

National Semifinal

(E1) Maine vs. (W2) Northern Michigan

March 28

Maine

3 – 5

Northern Michigan

Saint Paul Civic Center

(E2) Boston University vs. (E4) Clarkson

March 28

Boston University

7 – 3

Clarkson

Saint Paul Civic Center

National Championship

(W2) Northern Michigan vs. (E2) Boston University

March 30

Northern Michigan

8 – 7

3OT

Boston University

Saint Paul Civic Center

[https://^[3]^[4] Recap]

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	BU	Ed Ronan			1–0 BU
	BU	David Sacco			2–0 BU
	BU	Ed Ronan			3–0 BU
2nd	NMU	Dean Antos	Werenka and Beattie		3–1 BU
	NMU	Mark Beaufait	Melone and Soukoroff		3–2 BU
	NMU	Scott Beattie	Melone and Scott		3–3
	NMU	Darryl Plandowski	Frederick		4–3 NMU
	NMU	Scott Beattie	unassisted		5–3 NMU
3rd	NMU	Scott Beattie	unassisted	43:08	6–3 NMU
	BU	Dave Tomlinson		45:59	6–4 NMU
	NMU	Darryl Plandowski	Soukoroff	48:24	7–4 NMU
	BU	Tony Amonte	McEachern	52:24	7–5 NMU
	BU	Shawn McEachern	Amonte	54:51	7–6 NMU
	BU	David Sacco	Tomlinson	59:21	7–7
3rd Overtime	NMU	Darryl Plandowski	Beaufait and Antos	81:57	8–7 NMU

Goaltenders
Team	Name	Saves	Goals against	Time on ice
NMU	Bill Pye		7
BU	John Bradley		5
BU	Scott Cashman		3

All-Tournament Team

G: Bill Pye (Northern Michigan)
D: Lou Melone (Northern Michigan)
D: Brad Werenka (Northern Michigan)
F: Tony Amonte (Boston University)
F: Scott Beattie* (Northern Michigan)
F: Jean-Yves Roy (Maine)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[5]

^[6]

References

^ "Northern Michigan Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
^ "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
^ Golden Season- Part 2: 1990-91 NMU Hockey. Six Productions. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
^ Golden Season- Part 3: 1990-91 NMU Hockey. Six Productions. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
^ "NCAA Division I Awards". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
^ "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2013.