1981 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

1981 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Dates	March 6–14, 1981
Teams	4
Finals site	Lakeview Arena Marquette, Michigan
Champions	Northern Michigan (2nd title)
Winning coach	Rick Comley (2nd title)
CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the tenth CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. It was played between March 6 and March 14, 1981. All games were played at Lakeview Arena in Marquette, Michigan, the home venue of the Northern Michigan Wildcats. By winning the tournament, Northern Michigan received the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, the first automatic bid for the conference.

Format

The tournament featured two rounds of play. Only the top four teams in the conference standings were eligible for postseason play. Each of the two rounds were structured so that the two teams facing one another would play two games and the winner would be decided by the goal differential totals of the combined scores. In the semifinal the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds were matched as opponents. The victorious teams would then compete in the finals for the conference championship. 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; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

1980–81 Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Northern Michigan†*	22	18	4	0	36	115	81		44	27	14	3	201	158
Ohio State	22	15	6	1	31	107	82		39	24	12	3	189	149
Ferris State	22	13	9	0	26	101	92		36	20	14	2	166	144
Bowling Green	22	10	12	0	20	98	99		39	13	24	2	153	188
Western Michigan	22	8	13	1	17	99	107		36	15	19	2	178	165
Lake Superior State	22	6	15	1	13	101	134		36	14	21	1	183	202
Miami^	12	0	11	1	1	42	68		35	16	17	2	174	142
Championship: Northern Michigan † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion ^ Only Miami's road games were counted for conference standings

Bracket

	Semifinals March 6–7						Championship March 13-14
	1	Northern Michigan	3	10
	4	Bowling Green	3	2
							1	Northern Michigan	2	4
							2	Ohio State	2	2
	2	Ohio State	5	3
	3	Ferris State	3	3

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Semifinals

(1) Northern Michigan vs. (4) Bowling Green

March 6

Northern Michigan

3 – 3

Bowling Green

Lakeview Arena

March 7

Northern Michigan

10 – 2

Bowling Green

Lakeview Arena

Northern Michigan won series 13-5

(2) Ohio State vs. (3) Ferris State

March 6

Ohio State

5 – 3

Ferris State

Lakeview Arena

March 7

Ohio State

3 – 3

Ferris State

Lakeview Arena

Ohio State won series 8-6

Championship

(1) Northern Michigan vs. (2) Ohio State

March 13

Northern Michigan

2 – 2

Ohio State

Lakeview Arena

March 14

Northern Michigan

4 – 2

Ohio State

Lakeview Arena

Northern Michigan won series 6-4

Tournament awards

MVP

• None

External links

• CCHA Champions
• 1980–81 CCHA Standings
• 1980–81 NCAA Standings