1991 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship

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, marking the 44th edition of the tournament in NCAA history. The season began in October 1990 and concluded on March 30, 1991, with the championship game held at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Tournament Format

The tournament format in 1991 returned to the structure used from 1986-1987. This included a single-elimination Frozen Four held at one site, and the reinstatement of the 3rd Place Game. A total of eight teams qualified for the tournament.

For the quarterfinal round only, teams played a two-game series to determine advancement. In the event of a series tie, a 20-minute mini-game was played to decide the winner. Seeding in the quarterfinals was determined by geographic proximity, ensuring the shortest possible travel distances for visiting teams. Quarterfinal games took place at campus sites on March 8 and 9.

Qualification

Twelve teams were permitted by the NCAA to qualify for the tournament, divided into two regions: East and West. Automatic invitations were granted to the tournament champions from the four Division I conferences (CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East, and WCHA). The remaining eight teams were selected as at-large bids. One independent team was permitted to participate. Due to the previous year's independent qualifier being placed in the East pool, the two western conferences (CCHA and WCHA) were allocated three open spots, while the East had four.

Tournament Structure

The tournament comprised four rounds of play. Teams were seeded according to their ranking, with the top two teams in each bracket receiving byes into the quarterfinals.

First Round: The third and sixth seeds, as well as the fourth and fifth seeds, played best-of-three series to determine quarterfinalists. The winner of the 4 vs. 5 series played the first seed, and the winner of the 3 vs. 6 series played the second seed.
Quarterfinals: Matches were best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to the National Semifinals.
Semifinals: Beginning with the Semifinals, all games were played at the Saint Paul Civic Center and all series became Single-game eliminations.

Teams and Matchups

The following teams qualified for the tournament:

(E1) Maine vs.
(E2) Boston University vs.
(E3) Boston College vs.
(E4) Clarkson vs.
(W1) Lake Superior State vs.
(W2) Northern Michigan vs.
(W3) Michigan vs.
(W4) Minnesota vs.

There were no automatic bids, however, conference tournament champions were given preferential consideration. No formal seeding was used, while quarterfinal matches were arranged so that the road teams would have the shortest possible travel distances. -K.B. The UW-Stevens Point vs.

Championship Game

Northern Michigan defeated Boston University 8-7 in overtime to win the championship. In the fifth instance of this format, which involved a Frozen Four (both semifinals, and finals) at one site, Elmira became the first host school to not win a game, finishing in 4th place out of 4. This was only the second time that neither an All-Tournament Team, or Tournament MVP was named, with the first coming in 1988.

The Road to the Final

In 1991, the national tournament teams were divided between East and West regions. Four east teams would face four west teams in the first round. Northern Michigan and Boston University were 2 seeds in the respective regions. This meant both programs received a bye in the first round. The Quarterfinal Round was a best-of-three series. In the quarterfinals, Northern Michigan swept Alaska Anchorage while Boston University swept Michigan sending both teams to St. Paul for the semifinals. (The Frozen Four title wasn’t officially coined until 1999.) The Wildcats defeated Maine 5-3 while the Terriers ran through Clarkson 7-3. This set the stage for one of the most thrilling title games in college hockey history.

A Thrilling Final

Two teams that were powerhouses throughout the season met in this final game: Northern Michigan and Boston University. The Northern Michigan Wildcats came into the game with a record of 37-5-4. As the WCHA regular season and tournament champion, the team was riding a staggering 25-game unbeaten streak. The Boston University Terriers were boasting a 28-10-2 record as the Hockey East tournament champions. The team only had one loss in the last twelve games.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

Boston University got on the board quick - exactly one minute into the game - when Ed Ronan scored his fifteenth goal of the season. Before the period was halfway over, the Terriers would tally two more; one being Ronan’s sixteenth of the season. The score remained 3-0 at the first intermission.

Members of the crowd were likely wondering if this was the beginning of a blowout when it reality it was the polar opposite. Head coach Rick Comley lit a fire under the Wildcats as Dean Antos put them on the board 1:33 into the middle frame on a power-play goal. Mark Beaufait would score less than three minutes later for the Wildcats. They wouldn’t stop there. In fact, Northern Michigan scored three more unanswered goals during the period to make it 5-3 Wildcats at the second intermission. Two of the goals would be numbers 46 and 47 on the season for Scott Beattie.

It was a back-and-forth start to the third period. The Wildcats extended the lead to 6-3 on Scott Beattie’s hat trick goal just over three minutes into the final period. Dave Tomlinson stopped the bleeding and put the Terriers back on the board several minutes later. After another Wildcat goal, the score was 7-4 with less than eight minutes left in regulation. That’s when Boston University would kick it into another gear. Tony Amonte and Shawn McEachern both scored within three minutes of each other. Then with only 39 seconds left in the game, David Sacco scored the late-tying goal to make it 7-7. It was Sacco’s second goal of the night and would send the game to overtime.

Two overtime periods would end up scoreless. Then only 1:57 into the third overtime, Darryl Plandowski netted the championship-winning goal in the third overtime. It also give him a hat trick for the game. It was Northern Michigan’s first Division I men’s hockey championship. Boston University would need to wait four more years to win the program’s fourth championship trophy.

The 1991 Division I men’s title game required three overtimes to determine a champion. When it was all said and done, fifteen goals were scored in the final game of the 1990-91 season.

Aftermath

Both of these teams will meet this weekend for a two-game series in Marquette, Michigan. This will be Boston University’s first visit to Marquette since 1988 and first time playing at the Barry Events Center. Northern Michigan will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the championship this weekend.

Key Personnel

Les Kuntar, St.
Daniel Laperrière, St.
Andy Pritchard, St.
Mike McCourt, St.
Eric Lacroix, St.
Bret Hedican, St.
P. J. St.

Statistics and Awards

(Details regarding statistics and awards from the tournament would be included here if available).

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