1981 ECAC Hockey men's ice hockey tournament

1981 ECAC Men's ice hockey tournament
DatesMarch 10–14, 1981
Teams8
Finals siteBoston Garden
Boston, Massachusetts
ChampionsProvidence[1] (2nd title)
Winning coachLou Lamoriello[2] (1st title)
MVPKurt Kleinendorst[3] (Providence)
ECAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments

The 1981 ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 20th tournament in league history. It was played between March 10 and March 14, 1981.[4] Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the 'final four' games were played at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. By winning the tournament, Providence received the ECAC's automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

The tournament featured three rounds of play, all of which were single-elimination. The three teams that were division champions automatically qualified for the tournament while the remaining five seeds were given to the teams with the highest winning percentage. The top four seeds were given out to the three division champions and the top qualifier and assorted based upon winning percentage. The remaining four seeds were assigned to the other qualifiers and assorted based upon winning percentage. In the quarterfinals the first seed and eighth seed, the second seed and seventh seed, the third seed and sixth seed and the fourth seed and fifth seed played against one another. In the semifinals, the highest seed plays the lowest remaining seed while the two remaining teams play with the winners advancing to the championship game and the losers advancing to the third place game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Conference standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; Pct. = Winning percentage; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

1980–81 ECAC Hockey standings
Conference Overall
GP W L T Pct. GF GA GP W L T GF GA
East Region
Boston College 22 13 6 3 .659 85 72 31 20 8 3 126 100
Maine 21 12 9 0 .571 101 93 34 23 11 0 197 147
Northeastern 21 12 9 0 .571 118 104 26 13 13 0 140 139
Providence* 22 12 9 1 .568 106 90 33 17 15 1 165 143
New Hampshire 24 13 10 1 .563 128 100 33 19 13 1 166 129
Boston University 22 10 12 0 .455 87 88 29 14 15 0 115 116
West Region
Clarkson† 20 17 2 1 .875 119 65 37 26 7 4 202 119
Colgate 20 12 7 1 .625 99 84 35 21 12 2 194 150
Rensselaer 21 10 11 0 .476 98 83 29 16 13 0 158 118
St. Lawrence 22 9 12 1 .432 77 87 33 15 16 2 137 126
Vermont 22 4 16 2 .227 81 114 34 9 23 2 136 173
Ivy Region
Cornell 22 12 9 1 .568 95 79 31 19 11 1 144 110
Yale 21 11 9 1 .548 96 101 26 13 12 1 127 137
Princeton 21 10 11 0 .476 78 99 25 12 13 0 93 111
Harvard 21 8 12 1 .405 79 98 26 11 14 1 103 119
Dartmouth 22 8 14 0 .364 87 115 26 10 16 0 100 138
Brown 22 3 18 1 .159 67 125 26 5 20 1 83 144
Independent
Army^ - - - - - - - 35 21 13 1 230 160
Championship: Providence
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion
^ Army had been accepted into ECAC Hockey but had not begun a conference schedule

[5]

Bracket

Teams are reseeded after the first round

Quarterfinals
March 10 		Semifinals
March 13 		Championship
March 14
         
1 Clarkson 3
8 New Hampshire 2
1 Clarkson 3
7 Providence 4*
2 Boston College 2
7 Providence 5
4 Cornell 4
7 Providence 8
3 Colgate 5
6 Northeastern 3
3 Colgate 3 Third Place
4 Cornell 4
4 Cornell 7 1 Clarkson 3*
5 Maine 4 3 Colgate 3

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Quarterfinals

(1) Clarkson vs. (8) New Hampshire

March 10 Clarkson 3 – 2 New Hampshire Walker Arena


(2) Boston College vs. (7) Providence

March 10 Boston College 2 – 5 Providence McHugh Forum


(3) Colgate vs. (6) Northeastern

March 10 Colgate 5 – 3 Northeastern Starr Rink


(4) Cornell vs. (5) Maine

March 10 Cornell 7 – 4 Maine Lynah Rink


Semifinals

(1) Clarkson vs. (7) Providence

March 13 Clarkson 3 – 4 OT Providence Boston Garden


(3) Colgate vs. (4) Cornell

March 13 Colgate 3 – 4 Cornell Boston Garden


Third Place

(1) Clarkson vs. (3) Colgate

March 14 Clarkson 3 – 3 OT Colgate Boston Garden


Championship

(4) Cornell vs. (7) Providence

March 14 Cornell 4 – 8 Providence Boston Garden


Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

None

[6]

MOP

References

  1. ^ "Providence Men's Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  2. ^ "Lou Lamoriello Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  3. ^ "ECAC Awards". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  4. ^ "ECAC Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  5. ^ "2008-09 ECAC Hockey Media Guides". ECAC Hockey. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  6. ^ "Men's All-Tournament Teams" (PDF). ECAC Hockey. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2014.