1979 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1979 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 32nd such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 18 and 24, 1979, and concluded with Minnesota defeating North Dakota 4–3. The first-round game was held at the home team venue while all succeeding games were played at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.

1979 NCAA Division I men's
ice hockey tournament

Teams	5
Finals site	Olympia Stadium, Detroit, Michigan
Champions	Minnesota Golden Gophers (3rd title)
Runner-up	North Dakota Fighting Sioux (5th title game)
Semifinalists	Dartmouth Big Green (3rd Frozen Four) New Hampshire Wildcats (2nd Frozen Four)
Winning coach	Herb Brooks (3rd title)
MOP	Steve Janaszak (Minnesota)
Attendance	13,859
← 1978  NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournaments 1980 →

Qualifying teams

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.

East							West
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	New Hampshire	ECAC Hockey	22–8–3	Tournament champion	2nd	1977	1	North Dakota	WCHA	29–10–1	Tournament co-champion	7th	1968
2	Dartmouth	ECAC Hockey	18–8–2	Tournament finalist	3rd	1949	2	Minnesota	WCHA	29–11–1	Tournament co-champion	8th	1976
							At-Large
							Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
							A	Bowling Green	CCHA	37–5–2	Tournament champion	3rd	1978

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Format

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.

Tournament bracket

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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)

First round

(W2) Minnesota vs. (A) Bowling Green

March 18

Minnesota

6 – 3

Bowling Green

Williams Arena

Semifinal

(E1) New Hampshire vs. (W2) Minnesota

March 22

New Hampshire

3 – 4

Minnesota

Olympia Stadium

(W1) North Dakota vs. (E2) Dartmouth

March 23

North Dakota

4 – 2

Dartmouth

Olympia Stadium

Third-place game

(E1) New Hampshire vs. (E2) Dartmouth

March 24

New Hampshire

3 – 7

Dartmouth

Olympia Stadium

National Championship

(W1) North Dakota vs. (W2) Minnesota

March 24[3]

North Dakota

3 – 4

Minnesota

Olympia Stadium

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	Joe 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

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 UND Bob Iwabuchi 17 1

All-Tournament team

• 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)^[4]

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