2002 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 2002 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 12 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey.

The final event was played at Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota. The University of Minnesota, coached by Don Lucia, won its first NCAA title since 1979 by defeating the University of Maine, coached by Tim Whitehead, 4-3, in overtime on April 6. Matt Koalska tied the game with 53 seconds remaining in regulation with Minnesota goaltender Adam Hauser pulled for an extra attacker. Grant Potulny then won it on his power-play goal at 16:58 of the extra session, giving the Golden Gophers their fourth NCAA championship (6th overall). Minnesota senior forward John Pohl assisted on both the tying and winning goals in his final game in a Gophers uniform.

Minnesota advanced to the finals with a 3-2 semifinal win over Michigan on April 4, after Maine had bested Hockey East rival New Hampshire by a 7-2 score in the other semifinal.

Game locations

The NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship is a single-elimination tournament featuring 12 teams representing five Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeds the entire field from 1 to 12 within two regionals of 6 teams. The winners of five Division I conference championships receive automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship. The top regional placements are given to the best teams from each of the two regions (East and West) while the remaining 10 teams are seeded based upon their rankings regardless of region.

Regional Sites

• East Regional – Centrum Centre, Worcester, Massachusetts
• West Regional – Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Championship Site

• Frozen Four – Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced after the conference tournaments concluded on March 17, 2002. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, Hockey East had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), and the ECAC each had two berths, while the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) received a single bid for its tournament champion.

East Regional – Worcester							West Regional – Ann Arbor
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	New Hampshire (1)	Hockey East	29–6–3	Tournament champion	12th	2000	1	Denver (2)	WCHA	32–7–1	Tournament champion	16th	1999
2	Boston University	Hockey East	25–9–3	At-large bid	26th	2000	2	Minnesota	WCHA	29–8–4	At-large bid	26th	2001
3	Maine	Hockey East	23–10–7	At-large bid	12th	2001	3	Michigan State	CCHA	27–8–5	At-large bid	22nd	2001
4	Cornell	ECAC	24–7–2	At-large bid	13th	1997	4	Michigan	CCHA	26–10–5	Tournament champion	25th	2001
5	Quinnipiac	MAAC	20–12–5	Tournament champion	1st	Never	5	St. Cloud State	WCHA	29–10–2	At-large bid	4th	2001
6	Harvard	ECAC	15–14–4	Tournament champion	17th	1994	6	Colorado College	WCHA	26–12–3	At-large bid	15th	2001

Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

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Bracket

Frozen Four

	National semifinals April 4					National championship April 6
	E1	New Hampshire	2
	E3	Maine	7
						E3	Maine	3
						W2	Minnesota	4*
	W4	Michigan	2
	W2	Minnesota	3

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Regional Quarterfinals

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East Regional

(3) Maine vs. (6) Harvard

March 23[3]	Maine		4 – 3	OT	Harvard	Centrum Centre	Recap
(Kariya, Reimann) Niko Dimitrakos – PP – 10:27		First period			07:55 – Tim Pettit (Cavanaugh)
(Reimann) Chris Heisten – 12:08 (Liscak, Jackson) Michael Schutte – 14:22		Second period			03:43 – Dave McCulloch (Nowak, Kolarik)
No scoring		Third period			06:15 – PP – Tom Cavanagh (Pettit, Welch)
(Falco) John Ronan – GW – 02:02		First overtime period			No scoring
Mike Morrison ( 19 saves / 22 shots )		Goalie stats			Dov Grumet-Morris ( 33 saves / 37 shots )

(4) Cornell vs. (5) Quinnipiac

March 23[4]	Cornell		6 – 1		Quinnipiac	Centrum Centre	Recap
(Knoepfli) Krzysztof Wieckowski – 01:29 Sam Paolini – GW – 03:30 (McRae, Vesce) Douglas Murray – PP – 08:57 (McRae) Kelly Hughes – 14:24		First period			No scoring
(Bâby, McRae) Ryan Vesce – PP – 07:56		Second period			No scoring
(Knoepfli) Stephen Bâby – SH – 03:28		Third period			15:23 – Ryan Morton
Matt Underhill ( 13 saves / 14 shots )		Goalie stats			Jamie Holden ( 1 saves / 3 shots ) / Justin Eddy ( 28 saves / 32 shots )

West Regional

(3) Michigan State vs. (6) Colorado College

March 22[5]	Michigan State		0 – 2		Colorado College	Yost Ice Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			10:05 – GW – Trent Clark (Petiot)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			05:43 – Alex Kim (Clarke, Polaski)
Ryan Miller ( 27 saves / 29 shots )		Goalie stats			Jeff Sanger ( 25 saves / 25 shots )

(4) Michigan vs. (5) St. Cloud State

March 22[6]	Michigan		4 – 2		St. Cloud State	Yost Ice Arena	Recap
(Shouneyia, Mink) Jason Ryznar – 04:09 (Werner) Craig Murray – PP – 13:20 (Helminen, Roemensky) Milan Gajic – GW – 04:09		First period			05:19 – PP – Jeff Finger (Cullen, Motzko)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
14:40 – Dwight Helminen (Gajic)		Third period			(Motzko, Malone) Jon Cullen – PP – 04:19
Josh Blackburn ( 22 saves / 24 shots )		Goalie stats			Dean Weasler ( 8 saves / 11 shots ) / Jake Moreland ( 12 saves / 13 shots )

Regional semifinals

East Regional

(1) New Hampshire vs. (4) Cornell

March 24[7]	New Hampshire		4 – 3		Cornell	Centrum Centre	Recap
(Callander, Barker) Jim Abbott – 01:55 (Haydar, Collins) Colin Hemingway – PP – 06:39 (Collins, Haydar) Colin Hemingway – PP – 11:22		First period			04:32 – Stephen Bâby (Palahicky, McRae) 05:37 – PP – Sam Paolini (Vesce, Bâby)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Stafford) Jim Abbott – GW – 17:21		Third period			13:17 – Shane Palahicky (Bell)
Matt Carney ( 15 saves / 18 shots )		Goalie stats			Matt Underhill ( 20 saves / 24 shots )

(2) Boston University vs. (3) Maine

March 24[8]	Boston University		3 – 4		Maine	Centrum Centre	Recap
(Collins) Mike Pandolfo – PP – 07:14		First period			03:47 – Róbert Liščák (Metcalf, Lawson)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
(Magowan, Bussoli) David Klema – 10:14 (Mullen, Cronin) David Klema – 16:58		Third period			03:48 – Lucas Lawson (Liscak, Nault) 10:54 – Lucas Lawson 15:37 – GW – Colin Shields
Sean Fields ( 30 saves / 34 shots )		Goalie stats			Matt Yeats ( 31 saves / 34 shots )

West Regional

(1) Denver vs. (4) Michigan

March 23[9]	Denver		3 – 5		Michigan	Yost Ice Arena	Recap
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
(James, Caldwell) Chris Paradise – PP – 03:05 (Ulanski, Cook) Kevin Doell – PP – 09:16 (Bull, MacKenzie) Luke Fulghum – 12:25		Second period			00:56 – Eric Nystrom (Shouneyia, Ortmeyer) 05:43 – Mike Komisarek (Shouneyia, Ortmeyer)
No scoring		Third period			04:47 – Eric Werner (Cammalleri) 18:39 – GW – Jed Ortmeyer (Nystrom, Cammalleri) 19:33 – EN – Eric Nystrom (Cammalleri)
Wade Dubielewicz ( 33 saves / 37 shots )		Goalie stats			Josh Blackburn ( 18 saves / 21 shots )

(2) Minnesota vs. (6) Colorado College

March 23[10]	Minnesota		4 – 2		Colorado College	Yost Ice Arena	Recap
(Pohl, Riddle) Grant Potulny – 10:30		First period			07:52 – Alex Kim
(Ballard, Riddle) Nick Angell – PP – 08:26 (Welch) Jeff Taffe – GW – 9:24		Second period			13:26 – Peter Sejna (Heerema)
John Pohl – SH – 05:56		Third period			No scoring
Adam Hauser ( 33 saves / 35 shots )		Goalie stats			Jeff Sanger ( 37 saves / 41 shots )

Frozen Four

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National semifinal

(E1) New Hampshire vs. (E3) Maine

April 4[12]	New Hampshire		2 – 7		Maine	Xcel Energy Center	Recap
Sean Collins – 00:21 (Busch) Steve Saviano – SH – 17:55		First period			03:34 – Róbert Liščák (Jackson, Shaneberger)
No scoring		Second period			03:37 – Peter Metcalf (Heisten) 05:57 – GW – Peter Metcalf (Falco)
No scoring		Third period			08:16 – Róbert Liščák (Jackson) 12:20 – Lucas Lawson (Dimitrakos, Metcalf) 13:30 – Paul Falco (Liscak) 16:21 – PP – Paul Falco (Murphy, Ronan)
Mike Ayers ( 33 saves / 40 shots )		Goalie stats			Mike Morrison ( 23 saves / 25 shots )

(W2) Minnesota vs. (W4) Michigan

April 4[13]	Minnesota		3 – 2		Michigan	Xcel Energy Center	Recap
(Taffe) Grant Potulny – 04:20		First period			No scoring
(Leopold, Pohl) Grant Potulny – PP – 04:33		Second period			No scoring
(Welch) Jeff Taffe – GW – 01:40		Third period			13:55 – SH – J.J. Swistak (Roemensky) 18:26 – EA – Jed Ortmeyer (Nystrom, Cammalleri)
Adam Hauser ( 27 saves / 29 shots )		Goalie stats			Josh Blackburn ( 23 saves / 26 shots )

National Championship

(W2) Minnesota vs. (E3) Maine

April 6[14]

Minnesota

4 – 3

OT

Maine

Xcel Energy Center

Recap

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	MIN	Keith Ballard (10) – PP	Riddle and Angell	7:18	1–0 MIN
2nd	Maine	Michael Schutte (12) – PP	Metcalf and Dimitrakos	24:47	1–1
	MIN	John Pohl (27)	Anthony and Angell	25:38	2–1 MIN
3rd	Maine	Michael Schutte (13)	Ryan and Jackson	46:18	2–2
	Maine	Róbert Liščák (17)	Dimitrakos	55:27	3–2 Maine
	MIN	Matt Koalska (10) – EA	Riddle and Pohl	59:07	3–3
1st Overtime	MIN	Grant Potulny (15) – GW PP	Pohl and Leopold	76:58	4–3 MIN
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	Maine	Cliff Loya	Holding	5:40	2:00
	Maine	Ben Murphy	Goaltender Interference	9:20	2:00
	Maine	Cliff Loya	Cross-Checking	10:08	2:00
	MIN	Grant Potulny	Holding the Stick	13:18	2:00
	Maine	Ben Murphy	High-Sticking	16:34	2:00
2nd	MIN	Grant Potulny	Interference	23:47	2:00
	MIN	Keith Ballard	Obstruction Holding	29:37	2:00
	Maine	Gray Shaneberger	Tripping	33:02	2:00
3rd	MIN	Jeff Taffe	Boarding	49:15	2:00
	Maine	Lucas Lawson	Hitting after the Whistle	59:19	2:00
	MIN	Matt DeMarchi	Hitting after the Whistle	59:19	2:00
1st Overtime	Maine	Michael Schutte	Tripping	75:58	2:00

All-Tournament team

• G: Adam Hauser (Minnesota)
• D: Peter Metcalf (Maine)
• D: Michael Schutte (Maine)
• F: Róbert Liščák (Maine)
• F: John Pohl (Minnesota)
• F: Grant Potulny* (Minnesota)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[15]

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Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	Regional semifinals	Frozen Four	Championship Game	Champions
WCHA	4	4-3	.571	3	1	1	1
Hockey East	3	4-3	.571	3	2	1	-
CCHA	2	2-2	.500	1	1	-	-
ECAC	2	1-2	.333	1	-	-	-
MAAC	1	0-1	.000	-	-	-	-

References