This was the first time in the history of the tournament that teams from the same conference would play each other in the opening round. The next occurrence would not happen until2008.
Denver's 10-point margin of victory is the largest ever for a title game and the second most for one team in the championship match, behind onlyColorado College in both1950 and1957.(as of 2016)
Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. TheWCHAtournament co-champions received automatic bids into the tournament. Two at-large bids were offered to eastern teams based upon both their regular season record and strength of competition.
The higher-ranked eastern team was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA champion with the better conference record was given the top western seed. Because Minnesota refused to schedule Denver beginning this season as a result of a disagreement over recruiting practices, the two western participants had not yet played each other during the season. As a result, the NCAA broke with tradition and pitted the two against one another in the semifinals, leaving the two eastern teams to face one another in the other semifinal game. All games were played at the University of Denver Arena. All matches wereSingle-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game.
