The 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began in October 1980 and concluded with the 1981 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 28, 1981 at the Duluth Arena in Duluth, Minnesota. This was the 34th

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 87th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team. For the first time the Hobey Baker Award was conferred after the conclusion of the regular season. After the season four teams from the WCHA left to join the CCHA. As a result of dividing the four Big Ten schools that had previously been in the WCHA the Big Ten stopped declaring a conference ice hockey champion until the formation of a separate conference in 2013–14.

Season Outlook

Pre-season poll

The top teams in the nation voted on by coaches before the start of the season. The poll was compiled by radio station WMPL.

Regular season

Season tournaments

Standings

Final regular season polls

The final top 10 teams as ranked by coaches (WMPL) before the conference tournament finals.

1981 NCAA Tournament

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Player stats

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the season. ''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes''

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average at the end of the regular season while playing at least 33% of their team's total minutes. ''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

; GAA = Goals against average''

Awards

NCAA

CCHA

ECAC

WCHA

1981 NHL Entry Draft

† incoming freshman
‡ Eakin had left school during the season

References

External links

College Hockey Historical Archives1980–81 NCAA Standings
{{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...