1979 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The NCAA gave four teams automatic bids into the tournament. The two ECAC teams that reached the ECAC tournament final received bids as did the two WCHA co-champions. The NCAA also had the ability to add up to 4 additional teams as it saw fit and chose to include the CCHA tournament champion as well.

^[1]

The four automatic qualifiers were seeded according to pre-tournament finish. The ECAC champion was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA co-champion that finished highest in the regular season was given the top western seed. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. Because an at-large bid was offered to a western school they were placed in a first-round game with the second western seed to determine the final semifinalist. The first-round game was played at the home venue of the second seed while all succeeding games were played at the Olympia in Detroit, Michigan. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game.

^[2]

First Round March 18

Semifinals March 22–23

National Championship March 24

E1

New Hampshire

3

W2

Minnesota

4

W2

Minnesota

6

A

Bowling Green

3

W2

Minnesota

4

W1

North Dakota

3

W1

North Dakota

4

Third Place Game

E2

Dartmouth

2

E1

New Hampshire

3

E2

Dartmouth

7

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

First Round

March 18, 1979 7:30 pm

(W2) Minnesota

6–3 (3–0, 2–2, 1–1)

(A) Bowling Green

Williams Arena Attendance: 7,940

More information Game reference ...

Game reference
	Steve Janaszak	Goalies	Wally Charko	Referees: Dino Baniccia Dewey Marcus
	(McClanahan, Micheletti) Tim Harrer – 06:36 1 – 0 (Micheletti, McClanahan) Steve Christoff – 09:11 2 – 0 (Micheletti, Harrer) Steve Christoff – 16:16 3 – 0 3 – 1 24:59 – PP – Bruce Newton (Morrow, Dawe) 3 – 2 33:46 – Steve Dawe (Douglass) (Ramsey, Broten) Don Micheletti – GW PP – 35:26 4 – 2 (B. Larson, Teal) Eric Strobel – 37:07 5 – 2 (Micheletti, Ramsey) Tim Harrer – PP – 40:27 6 – 2 6 – 3 46:44 – Mike Cotter (Crowther, Guertin)
	10 min	Penalties	12 min
	30	Shots	39

Close

Semifinals

March 22, 1979 7:30 pm

(E1) New Hampshire

3–4 (1–3, 1–0, 1–1)

(W2) Minnesota

Olympia Stadium Attendance: 2,743

More information Game reference ...

Game reference
	Greg Moffett	Goalies	Steve Janaszak
	0 – 1 00:35 – Steve Christoff (Broten, Greeder) 0 – 2 02:10 – Eric Strobel (B. Baker, Ulseth) (Gould) Bobby Francis – PP – 06:34 1 – 2 1 – 3 13:48 – PP – Eric Strobel (B. Larson, Ramsey) (Francis) Ralph Cox – 38:36 2 – 3 2 – 4 41:53 – GW – Eric Strobel (Greeder) (McPherson, Crowder) Terry Flanagan – PP – 57:33 3 – 4
	14 min	Penalties	18 min
	40	Shots	32

Close

March 23, 1979 7:30 pm

(W1) North Dakota

4–2 (1–1, 2–0, 1–1)

(E2) Dartmouth

Olympia Stadium Attendance: 4,105

More information Game reference ...

Game reference
	Bob Iwabuchi	Goalies	Bob Gaudet	Referees: Medo Martinello Jim Quinn
	0 – 1 12:39 – Chip Bettencourt (Hughes, Brownridge) (Taylor, Burggraf) Howard Walker – SH – 14:55 1 – 1 (Chorney, Stone) Erwin Martens – 29:18 2 – 1 (Eades, Walker) Mark Taylor – GW – 39:21 3 – 1 (Maxwell, Taylor) Cary Eades – PP – 47:38 4 – 1 4 – 2 54:57 – PP – Dennis Murphy (Hughes, Brownridge)
	20 min	Penalties	10 min
	32	Shots	25

Close

Third Place Game

March 24, 1979 4:00 pm

(E1) New Hampshire

3–7 (2–1, 1–3, 0–3)

(E2) Dartmouth

Olympia Stadium

More information Game reference ...

Game reference
	Greg Moffett	Goalies	Bob Gaudet
	(Francis, Yantzi) Ralph Cox – 01:27 1 – 0 1 – 1 04:18 – Rick Mellum (Sosnowski, Higgins) (Francis, Yantzi) Ralph Cox – 10:46 2 – 1 (McPherson, Holt) Bruce Crowder – 24:05 3 – 1 3 – 2 26:02 – PP – Mark Culhane (Brownridge, Jangro) 3 – 3 29:41 – PP – Mark Culhane (Mellum, Hughes) 3 – 4 33:51 – GW PP – Chip Bettencourt (Murphy) 3 – 5 42:43 – Buddy Teevens (Ryerson) 3 – 6 53:02 – Dennis Hughes (Culhane, Higgins) 3 – 7 54:35 – Mark Bodard (Sosnowski, McLaughlin)
	14 min	Penalties	10 min
	30	Shots	36

Close

National Championship

March 24, 1979 8:00 pm

(W1) North Dakota

3–4 (1–3, 1–0, 1–1)

(W2) Minnesota

Olympia Stadium Attendance: 7,011

More information Game reference ...

Game reference
				Referees: Medo Martinello John Ricci Linesman: Dennis Parish

Close

More information Scoring summary, Period ...

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	MIN	Steve Christoff	Verchota	4:11	1–0 MIN
	MIN	John Meredith	Strobel and Ulseth	8:05	2–0 MIN
	UND	Bill Himmelright – PP	Taylor and Maxwell	17:10	2–1 MIN
	MIN	Bill Baker	Micheletti and Broten	19:22	3–1 MIN
2nd	UND	Kevin Maxwell	Eades and Taylor	38:02	3–2 MIN
3rd	MIN	Neal Broten – GW	Christoff and Larson	42:48	4–2 MIN
	UND	Marc Chorney	Burggraf and Taylor	49:56	4–3 MIN
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	MIN	Rob McClanahan	High-sticking	1:53	2:00
	MIN	Mike Ramsey	High-sticking	5:18	2:00
	MIN	Don Micheletti	Hooking	9:50	2:00
	UND	Mark Taylor	Elbowing	10:50	2:00
	MIN	Rob McClanahan	High-sticking	15:23	2:00
	UND	Dave Christian	High-sticking	15:23	2:00
	MIN	Tim Harrer	Hooking	16:04	2:00
	UND	Marc Chorney	Hooking	17:20	2:00
2nd	UND	Charles Burggraf	Hooking	20:25	2:00
	UND	Cary Eades	Slashing	23:33	2:00
	UND	Doug Smail	Charging	38:50	2:00
3rd	UND	Howard Walker	Interference	47:40	2:00

Close

More information Shots by period, Team ...

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Minnesota 16 8 11 35 North Dakota 9 11 8 28

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice MIN Steve Janaszak 25 3 UND Bill Stankoven 13 3 20:00 UND Bob Iwabuchi 17 1

Close

• G: Steve Janaszak* (Minnesota)
• D: Mike Ramsey (Minnesota)
• D: Howard Walker (North Dakota)
• F: Steve Christoff (Minnesota)
• F: Eric Strobel (Minnesota)
• F: Mark Taylor (North Dakota)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[3]

^[4]