2019 NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament

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The 2019 NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament was the national championship tournament for men’s college ice hockey in the United States. The tournament involved 16 teams in single-elimination play to determine the national champion at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the highest level of competition in college hockey. The tournament’s Frozen Four – the semifinals and finals – were hosted by the MAAC at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York from April 11–13, 2019. This was the second Frozen Four in the city of Buffalo, as it previously hosted in 2003.

This was the first championship since 2007 to have multiple programs make their first NCAA tournament appearance (American International and Arizona State).

Bowling Green State University made their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 29 years, while for the first time since 1992 an Independent program (Arizona State) made the tournament.

The tournament is as remembered for the lack of attendance as anything that happened on the ice.[1] All semifinal and championship games had at least 5,000 fewer spectators than the building capacity (19,070) and the title game saw the lowest attendance since 2000. Though there was much discussion on the matter, a general consensus by fan bases was that the ticket prices of $200–$300 were far too high even for a championship game.[2]

Tournament procedure[edit]

2019 Regionals (blue) and Frozen Four (red)

The tournament is composed of four groups of four teams in regional brackets. The four regionals are officially named after their geographic areas. The following are the sites for the 2019 regionals:
[3]

March 29–30
Northeast Regional, SNHU Arena – Manchester, New Hampshire (Host: New Hampshire)
West Regional, Scheels Arena – Fargo, North Dakota (Host: North Dakota)
March 30–31
East Regional, Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, Rhode Island (Host: Brown)
Midwest Regional, PPL Center – Allentown, Pennsylvania (Host: Penn State)

The winner of each regional will advance to the Frozen Four:

April 11/13
KeyBank Center – Buffalo, New York (Host: MAAC)

Qualifying teams[edit]

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 24.[4] Teams were seeded according to their PairWise rankings (PWR) 1 thru 16 then matchups were adjusted to prevent teams from the same conference meeting in the first round. After the four groups were decided they were placed in regions as close, geographically, to the top seed as possible. The ECAC Hockey had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, the NCHC and Hockey East each had three teams receive a berth, the WCHA and Big Ten had two teams receive a berth, while one team from Atlantic Hockey received a berth. For the first time since 1992 an independent program, Arizona State, also received a tournament berth.

Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

Tournament bracket[edit]

Regional semifinals
March 29–30
Regional Finals
March 30–31
Semifinals
April 11
Championship
April 13
                       
1 St. Cloud State (1) 1
4 American International 2
4 American International 0
WestFargo – Fri/Sat
2 Denver 3
2 Denver 2
3 Ohio State 0
W2 Denver 3
NE1 Massachusetts (4) 4*
1 Massachusetts (4) 4
4 Harvard 0
1 Massachusetts (4) 4
NortheastManchester – Fri/Sat
3 Notre Dame 0
2 Clarkson 2
3 Notre Dame 3*
NE1 Massachusetts (4) 0
MW1 Minnesota–Duluth (2) 3
1 Minnesota–Duluth (2) 2*
4 Bowling Green 1
1 Minnesota–Duluth (2) 3
MidwestAllentown – Sat/Sun
2 Quinnipiac 1
2 Quinnipiac 2
3 Arizona State 1
MW1 Minnesota–Duluth (2) 4
E4 Providence 1
1 Minnesota State (3) 3
4 Providence 6
4 Providence 4
EastProvidence – Sat/Sun
3 Cornell 0
2 Northeastern 1
3 Cornell 5

Note: * denotes overtime period

Results[edit]

West Region – Fargo, North Dakota[edit]

Regional semifinal[edit]

Regional Final[edit]

Midwest Region – Allentown, Pennsylvania[edit]

Regional semifinal[edit]

Regional Final[edit]

East Region – Providence, Rhode Island[edit]

Regional semifinal[edit]

Regional Final[edit]

Northeast Region – Manchester, New Hampshire[edit]

Regional semifinal[edit]

Regional Final[edit]

Frozen Four – KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York[edit]

National semifinal[edit]

2019 National Championship[edit]

(MW1) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (NE1) Massachusetts[edit]

Scoring summary
Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score
1st UMD Parker Mackay (16) – GW PP Anderson and Tufte 3:51 1–0 UMD
2nd UMD Mikey Anderson (6) Mackay and Richards 35:48 2–0 UMD
3rd UMD Jackson Cates (8) Laderoute and Anderson 57:18 3–0 UMD
Penalty summary
Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM
1st UMA Marc Del Gaizo Interference 2:31 2:00
UMD Scott Perunovich Holding 12:23 2:00
UMA Jake Gaudet Elbowing 18:37 2:00
2nd UMD Noah Cates Roughing 36:59 2:00
UMA Cale Makar Interference 39:41 2:00
3rd UMD Kobe Roth Elbowing 46:47 2:00
UMD Peter Krieger Holding 54:58 2:00
UMA Kurt Keats Roughing 58:15 2:00

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

[5]

Record by conference[edit]

Conference # of Bids Record Win % Regional Finals Frozen Four Championship Game Champions
ECAC Hockey 4 2–4 .333 2
NCHC 3 6–2 .750 2 2 1 1
Hockey East 3 5–3 .625 2 2 1
Big Ten 2 1–2 .333 1
WCHA 2 0–2 .000
Atlantic Hockey 1 1–1 .500 1
Independent 1 0–1 .000

Television[edit]

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament for the fifteenth consecutive year.[6] ESPN aired every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, and ESPN3, which were streamed online via WatchESPN.

In Canada, the tournament was broadcast by TSN and streamed on TSN Go.

In the UK, the tournament was broadcast by BT Sport ESPN.

Broadcast assignments[edit]

Regionals

Frozen Four

  • John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, Colby Cohen and Quint Kessenich – Buffalo, New York

Radio[edit]

Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the Frozen Four and broadcast both the semifinals and the championship.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Inside the NCAA Frozen Four, Part 2: A look at why attendance for the 2019 title game was the lowest since 2000”. The Rink Live. April 24, 2019. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  2. ^ “High ticket price was set during bidding for Frozen Four, organizers say”. Buffalo News. April 15, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  3. ^ Future NCAA DI Championship sites through 2026 | NCAA.com
  4. ^ “Field of 16 set for 2019 NCAA Division I men’s national tournament; St. Cloud State earns top overall seed”. NCAA.com. March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  5. ^ “Notebook: Minnesota Duluth’s Mackay finishes in style as Most Outstanding Player”. USCHO.com. April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  6. ^ Margolis, Rachel (December 15, 2011). “ESPN and NCAA® Extend Rights Agreement through 2023–24”. ESPN. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  7. ^ “NCAA, Westwood One extend deal”. NCAA. January 13, 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-05-16. Retrieved May 12, 2013.