2019 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

Collegiate ice hockey tournament

2019 NCAA Division I men's
ice hockey tournament
2019 Frozen Four Logo
Teams	16
Finals site	KeyBank Center Buffalo, New York
Champions	Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (3rd title)
Runner-up	Massachusetts Minutemen (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Denver Pioneers (17th Frozen Four) Providence Friars (5th Frozen Four)
Winning coach	Scott Sandelin (3rd title)
MOP	Parker Mackay (Minnesota Duluth)
Attendance	13,624 (Championship) 39,726 (Frozen Four) 98,807 (Tournament)
← 2018 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournaments 2020 →

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. 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.

Tournament procedure

Buffalo

Manchester

Providence

Fargo

Allentownclass=notpageimage| 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:

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

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 24. 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.

West Regional – Fargo							Midwest Regional – Allentown
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	St. Cloud State (1)	NCHC	30–5–3	At Large	14th	2018	1	Minnesota–Duluth (2)	NCHC	25–11–2	Tournament champion	13th	2018
2	Denver	NCHC	22–11–5	At-Large	29th	2018	2	Quinnipiac	ECAC	25–9–2	At-Large	6th	2016
3	Ohio State	Big Ten	20–10–5	At-Large	9th	2018	3	Arizona State	Independent	21–12–1	At-Large	1st	Never
4	American International	Atlantic Hockey	22–16–1	Tournament champion	1st	Never	4	Bowling Green	WCHA	25–10–5	At-Large	10th	1990
East Regional – Providence							Northeast Regional – Manchester
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Minnesota State (3)	WCHA	32–7–2	Tournament champion	6th	2018	1	Massachusetts (4)	Hockey East	28–9–0	At-Large	2nd	2007
2	Northeastern	Hockey East	27–10–1	Tournament champion	7th	2018	2	Clarkson	ECAC	26–10–2	Tournament champion	22nd	2018
3	Cornell	ECAC	20–10–4	At-Large	22nd	2018	3	Notre Dame	Big Ten	22–13–3	Tournament champion	11th	2018
4	Providence	Hockey East	22–11–6	At-Large	15th	2018	4	Harvard	ECAC	19–10–3	At-Large	25th	2017

Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

Tournament bracket

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
West – Fargo – 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
Northeast – Manchester – 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
Midwest – Allentown – 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
East – Providence – Sat/Sun
			3	Cornell	0
2	Northeastern	1

3	Cornell	5

Note: * denotes overtime period

Results

West Region – Fargo, North Dakota

Regional semifinal

March 29, 2019
6:30 pm

(1) St. Cloud State

1–2
(0–1, 0–1, 1–0)

(4) American International

Scheels Arena, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 4,220

Game reference

Dávid Hrenák

Goalies

Zackarias Skog

Referees:
Dan Kovarik
Josh Lupenek
Linesmen:
Matt Tyree
Kyle Domin

	0–1	06:01 – Joel Kocur (11) (Stephan)
	0–2	27:32 – GW – Brennan Kapcheck (5) (Christensen, Fladeby)
Easton Brodzinski (16) (Lizotte, Schuldt) – 43:27	1–2

4 min

Penalties

8 min

Shots

March 29, 2019
3:00 pm

(2) Denver

2–0
(0–0, 1–0, 1–0)

(3) Ohio State

Scheels Arena, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 4,220

Game reference

Filip Larsson

Goalies

Tommy Nappier

Referees:
Jamie Koharski
Peter Schlittenhart
Linesmen:
Tom George
Jeff McCorkle

Lester Lancaster (5) (Pettersen, Davies) – GW – 39:20	1–0
Colin Staub (6) (Davies) – EN – 59:02	2–0

8 min

Penalties

6 min

Shots

Regional Final

March 30, 2019
8:00 pm

(2) Denver

3–0
(0–0, 1–0, 2–0)

(4) American International

Scheels Arena, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 4,248

Game reference

Filip Larsson

Goalies

Zackarias Skog

Referees:
Dan Kovarik
Josh Lupenek
Linesmen:
Matt Tyree
Kyle Domin

Colin Staub (7) (Barrow) – GW – 35:45	1–0
Liam Finlay (16) (unassisted) – 56:30	2–0
Jarid Lukosevicius (19) (unassisted) – EN – 58:37	3–0

12 min

Penalties

8 min

Shots

Midwest Region – Allentown, Pennsylvania

Regional semifinal

March 30, 2019
4:00 pm

(1) Minnesota–Duluth

2 – 1 (OT)
(0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)

(4) Bowling Green

PPL Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 3,763

Game reference

Hunter Shepard

Goalies

Ryan Bednard

Referees:
Cameron Lynch
Robert St. Lawrence
Linesmen:
Jim Briggs
Ryan Knapp

	0–1	36:23 – Brandon Kruse (10) (Johnson, Craggs)
Parker Mackay (13) (Koepke) – 56:59	1–1
Parker Mackay (14) (Koepke, Richards) – GW – 71:45	2–1

4 min

Penalties

8 min

Shots

March 30, 2019
8:00 pm

(2) Quinnipiac

2–1
(1–0, 1–0, 0–1)

(3) Arizona State

PPL Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 3,763

Game reference

Andrew Shortridge

Goalies

Joey Daccord

Referees:
Kevin Shea
Terrence Murphy
Linesmen:
Nick Briganti
Kevin Briganti

Joe O'Connor (3) (Friedmann) – 03:54	1–0
William Fällström (8) (Whelan, Martin) – GW – 26:59	2–0
	2–1	51:42 – Brinson Pasichnuk (13) (Maniscalco, Garcia)

4 min

Penalties

21 min

Shots

Regional Final

March 31, 2019
6:30 pm

(1) Minnesota–Duluth

3–1
(0–0, 1–0, 2–1)

(2) Quinnipiac

PPL Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 3,531

Game reference

Hunter Shepard

Goalies

Andrew Shortridge

Referees:
Chris Ciamaga
Mike Schubert
Linesmen:
Brendan Lewis
Joe Sherman

Peter Krieger (9) (Perunovich, Swaney) – 35:12	1–0
Kobe Roth (8) (Miller, Exell) – GW – 54:58	2–0
	2–1	57:57 – PP EA – Craig Martin (11) (Rafferty)
Parker Mackay (15) (unassisted) – EN – 59:03	3–1

4 min

Penalties

4 min

Shots

East Region – Providence, Rhode Island

Regional semifinal

March 30, 2019
1:00 pm

(1) Minnesota State

3–6
(3–1, 0–2, 0–3)

(4) Providence

Dunkin' Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Attendance: 7,180

Game reference

Dryden McKay

Goalies

Hayden Hawkey

Referees:
Brett Desrosiers
CJ Beaurline
Linesmen:
Joe Hutek
Tom Dellafranco

Charlie Gerard (12) (Tuomie, Michaelis) – 07:52	1–0
Jake Jaremko (7) (Lutz, Hookenson) – 08:28	2–0
Nicholas Rivera (10) (unassisted) – 11:08	3–0
	3–1	13:12 – PP – Josh Wilkins (17) (Thompson, Printz)
	3–2	24:37 – Vimal Sukumaran (14) (Tait)
	3–3	29:33 – PP – Kasper Björkqvist (17) (Dugan, Bryson)
	3–4	48:37 – GW PP – Tyce Thompson (8) (Duhaime, Wilkins)
	3–5	49:55 – PP – Josh Wilkins (17) (Thompson, Duhaime)
	3–6	57:50 – EN – Jason O'Neill (6) (unassisted)

23 min

Penalties

6 min

Shots

March 30, 2019
4:30 pm

(2) Northeastern

1–5
(0–1, 1–3, 0–1)

(3) Cornell

Dunkin' Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Attendance: 7,180

Game reference

Cayden Primeau

Goalies

Austin McGrath

Referees:
Colin Kronforst
Brian Aaron
Linesmen:
Sam Shikowsky
Nick Bradshaw

	0–1	04:02 – Beau Starrett (8) (Kaldis, McCrea)
	0–2	20:54 – GW – Mitch Vanderlaan (11) (McCrea)
	0–3	29:47 – Morgan Barron (15) (unassisted)
	0–4	32:46 – PP – Michael Regush (12) (Andreev, McCrea)
Liam Pecararo (15) (Davies, Hawkins) – 36:00	1–4
	1–5	44:34 – Brenden Locke (7) (Donaldson)

4 min

Penalties

12 min

Shots

Regional Final

March 31, 2019
4:00 pm

(3) Cornell

0–4
(0–1, 0–2, 0–1)

(4) Providence

Dunkin' Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Attendance: 5,231

Game reference

Austin McGrath

Goalies

Hayden Hawkey

Referees:
Colin Kronforst
Brian Aaron
Linesmen:
Sam Shikowsky
Nick Bradshaw

	0–1	10:20 – GW – Greg Printz (11) (Bryson, Desharnais)
	0–2	21:40 – Josh Wilkins (19) (Björkqvist, Dugan)
	0–3	39:59 – PP – Scott Conway (15) (Wilkins, Duhaime)
	0–4	58:13 – EN – Brandon Duhaime (11) (Conway)

4 min

Penalties

6 min

Shots

Northeast Region – Manchester, New Hampshire

Regional semifinal

March 29, 2019
3:00 pm

(1) Massachusetts

4–0
(0–0, 1–0, 3–0)

(4) Harvard

SNHU Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire
Attendance: 5,033

Game reference

Filip Lindberg

Goalies

Michael Lackey

Referees:
Cameron Voss
Nick Krebsbach
Linesmen:
Brandon Schmitt
John Philo

Anthony Del Gaizo (6) (Keats, Farmer) – GW – 34:15	1–0
John Leonard (14) (Hildenbrand, McLaughlin) – 47:24	2–0
Brett Boeing (9) (Makar, Leonard) – 49:11	3–0
Brett Boeing (10) (unassisted) – EN – 59:36	4–0

6 min

Penalties

8 min

Shots

March 29, 2019
6:30 pm

(2) Clarkson

2 – 3 (OT)
(1–0, 1–1, 0–1, 0–1)

(3) Notre Dame

SNHU Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire
Attendance: 5,033

Game reference

Jake Kielly

Goalies

Cale Morris

Referees:
Gene Binda
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
John Grandt
Sterling Egan

Marly Quince (3) (Jokiharju, McCarthy) – 16:56	1–0
	1–1	24:58 – Colin Theisen (11) (Burke, Clurman)
Haralds Egle (19) (Thow, Brosseau) – 26:29	2–1
	2–2	57:40 – Bobby Nardella (8) (Burke, Peeke)
	2–3	75:53 – GW – Cam Morrison (11) (Graham, Nardella)

21 min

Penalties

8 min

Shots

Regional Final

March 30, 2019
4:00 pm

(1) Massachusetts

4–0
(0–0, 3–0, 1–0)

(3) Notre Dame

SNHU Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire
Attendance: 5,679

Game reference

Filip Lindberg

Goalies

Cale Morris

Referees:
Gene Binda
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
John Grandt
Sterling Egan

Jake Gaudet (7) (Ferraro, Farmer) – GW PP – 27:49	1–0
John Leonard (15) (Boeing, Hildenbrand) – 30:32	2–0
Cale Makar (16) (M. Del Gaizo, Gaudet) – 34:49	3–0
Oliver Chau (9) (McLaughlin) – EN – 57:27	4–0

6 min

Penalties

8 min

Shots

Frozen Four – KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York

National semifinal

April 11, 2019
5:00 pm
ESPN2

(MW1) Minnesota–Duluth

4–1
(0–0, 1–1, 3–0)

(E4) Providence

KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York
Attendance: 13,051

Game reference

Hunter Shepard

Goalies

Hayden Hawkey

Referees:
Chris Ciamaga
Mike Schubert
Linesmen:
Joe Sherman
Brendan Lewis

Justin Richards (11) (Mackay, Anderson) – 26:39	1–0
	1–1	31:17 – PP – Josh Wilkins (20) (Duhaime, Bryson)
Billy Exell (3) (Roth, Samberg) – GW – 50:07	2–1
Dylan Samberg (7) (unassisted) – EN – 59:27	3–1
Justin Richards (13) (Cates) – EN – 59:54	4–1

6 min

Penalties

4 min

Shots

April 11, 2019
8:45 pm
ESPN2

(NE1) Massachusetts

4 – 3 (OT)
(3–1, 0–0, 0–2, 1–0)

(W2) Denver

KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York
Attendance: 13,051

Game reference

Filip Lindberg

Goalies

Filip Larsson

Referees:
Dan Kovarik
Josh Lupinek
Linesmen:
Kyle Domin
Matt Tyree

	0–1	08:29 – PP – Colin Staub (8) (Olischefski, Guttman)
Bobby Trivigno (17) (Pritchard, M. Del Gaizo) – PP – 11:41	1–1
Mitchell Chaffee (18) (Makar, Pritchard) – PP – 13:04	2–1
John Leonard (16) (Ferraro, Gaudet) – PP – 13:22	3–1
	3–2	50:32 – Cole Guttman (13) (Ward, Durflinger)
	3–3	56:14 – Cole Guttman (14) (McLellan, Lancaster)
Marc Del Gaizo (13) (Chau, Gaudet) – GW – 75:18	4–3

34 min

Penalties

21 min

Shots

2019 National Championship

(MW1) Minnesota–Duluth vs. (NE1) Massachusetts

April 13

Minnesota–Duluth

3–0

Massachusetts

KeyBank Center

Recap

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
2nd	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

Shots by period
Team	1	2	3	T
Massachusetts	5	7	6	18
Minnesota–Duluth	14	11	6	31

Goaltenders
Team	Name	Saves	Goals against	Time on ice
UMA	Filip Lindberg	28	3	60:00
UMD	Hunter Shepard	18	0	59:53

All-Tournament team

G: Hunter Shepard (Minnesota–Duluth)
D: Mikey Anderson (Minnesota–Duluth)
D: Marc Del Gaizo (Massachusetts)
F: Parker Mackay* (Minnesota–Duluth)
F: Justin Richards (Minnesota–Duluth)
F: Billy Exell (Minnesota–Duluth)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

Record by conference

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	–	–	–	–

Media

Television

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament for the fifteenth consecutive year. 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

Regionals

Northeast Regional: John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, Colby Cohen and Quint Kessenich – Manchester, New Hampshire
West Regional: Clay Matvick and Dave Starman – Fargo, North Dakota
East Regional: Leah Hextall and Billy Jaffe – Providence, Rhode Island
Midwest Regional: Kevin Brown and Fred Pletsch – Allentown, Pennsylvania

Frozen Four

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

Radio

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

Brian Tripp, Pat Micheletti, & Shireen Saski

References

"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.
"High ticket price was set during bidding for Frozen Four, organizers say". Buffalo News. April 15, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
Future NCAA DI Championship sites through 2026 | NCAA.com
"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.
"Notebook: Minnesota Duluth's Mackay finishes in style as Most Outstanding Player". USCHO.com. April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
Margolis, Rachel (December 15, 2011). "ESPN and NCAA® Extend Rights Agreement through 2023–24". ESPN. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
"NCAA, Westwood One extend deal". NCAA. January 13, 2011. Archived from the original on May 16, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2013.

NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

Tournaments

Records & achievements

v t e 2019 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournaments
Conference	Atlantic Hockey Big Ten ECAC Hockey East NCHC WCHA
National	NCAA

2018–19 NCAA Division I championships

† Not an officially sanctioned NCAA championship

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