2009 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 2009 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey as the culmination of the 2008–09 season. The tournament began on March 27, 2009, and ended with the championship game on April 11.^[1]

2009 NCAA Division I men's
ice hockey tournament

2009 Frozen Four logo
Teams	16
Finals site	Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
Champions	Boston University Terriers (5th title)
Runner-up	Miami RedHawks (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Bemidji State Beavers (1st Frozen Four) Vermont Catamounts (2nd Frozen Four)
Winning coach	Jack Parker (3rd title)
MOP	Colby Cohen (Boston University)
Attendance	135,631
← 2008  NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournaments 2010 →

Boston University, coached by Jack Parker, won its fifth national title (and first since 1995) with a 4–3 overtime victory in the championship game over Miami University, coached by Enrico Blasi.^[2] The game marked the thirteenth time the NCAA championship game has gone to overtime and the first since Minnesota's win over Maine in 2002.

Colby Cohen, sophomore defenseman for Boston University, scored the championship-winning goal in overtime and was named the Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player.^[3]

This year’s Frozen Four featured multiple teams, Bemidji State and Miami, making their first appearance. This last occurred in 1988, when Lake Superior State and Maine both made their first Frozen Four appearances.

Tournament procedure

Bridgeport

Grand Rapids

Minneapolis

Manchester

Washington, D.C.

2008 Regionals (blue) and Frozen Four (red)

The 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship was a single-elimination tournament featuring 16 teams representing all six Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 16 within four regionals of 4 teams. The winners of the six Division I conference championships received automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship.

In setting up the tournament, the Championship Committee sought to ensure "competitive equity, financial success and likelihood of playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site." A team serving as the host of a regional was placed within that regional. The top four teams were assigned overall seeds and placed within the bracket such that the national semifinals would feature the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed had the top four teams have won their respective regional finals. Number 1 seeds were also placed as close to their home site as possible, with the No. 1 seed receiving first preference. Conference matchups were avoided in the first round; should five or more teams from one conference have made the tournament, this guideline may have been disregarded in favor of preserving the bracket's integrity.^[4]

The four regionals were officially named after their geographic areas. The following were the sites for the 2009 regionals:^[1]

March 27 and 28

East Regional, Arena at Harbor Yard – Bridgeport, Connecticut (Hosts: Yale University and Fairfield University)

West Regional, Mariucci Arena – Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)

March 28 and 29

Midwest Regional, Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, Michigan (Hosts: Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Western Michigan University)

Northeast Regional, Verizon Wireless Arena – Manchester, New Hampshire (Host: University of New Hampshire)

Each regional winner advanced to the Frozen Four:^[1]

April 9 and 11

Verizon Center – Washington, D.C. (Hosts: United States Naval Academy and the Greater Washington Sports Alliance)

Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 22, 2009.^[5] The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and Hockey East each had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, while ECAC Hockey and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) each had three teams receive a berth, and Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America (CHA) each had one team receive a berth.

East Regional – Bridgeport					Northeast Regional – Manchester
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type
1	Michigan (4)	CCHA	29–11–0	At-large bid	1	Boston University (1)	Hockey East	31–6–4	Tournament champion
2	Yale	ECAC Hockey	24–7–2	Tournament champion	2	North Dakota	WCHA	24–14–4	At-large bid
3	Vermont	Hockey East	20–11–5	At-large bid	3	New Hampshire	Hockey East	19–12–5	At-large bid
4	Air Force	Atlantic Hockey	27–10–2	Tournament champion	4	Ohio State	CCHA	23–14–4	At-large bid
West Regional – Minneapolis					Midwest Regional – Grand Rapids
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type
1	Denver (3)	WCHA	23–11–5	At-large bid	1	Notre Dame (2)	CCHA	31–5–3	Tournament champion
2	Minnesota-Duluth	WCHA	21–12–8	Tournament champion	2	Northeastern	Hockey East	25–11–4	At-large bid
3	Princeton	ECAC Hockey	22–11–1	At-large bid	3	Cornell	ECAC Hockey	21–9–4	At-large bid
4	Miami	CCHA	20–12–5	At-large bid	4	Bemidji State	CHA	18–15–1	Tournament champion

Preliminary rounds

The number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.
(*) denotes overtime period(s).

East Regional – Bridgeport, Connecticut

	Regional semifinals March 27					Regional final March 28
	1	Michigan (4)	0
	4	Air Force	2
						4	Air Force	2
						3	Vermont	3**
	3	Vermont	4
	2	Yale	1

Regional semifinals

March 27, 2009

(1) Michigan

0–2 (0–1, 0–1, 0–0)

(4) Air Force

Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, CT Attendance: 8,478

Game reference
	Bryan Hogan	Goalies	Andrew Volkening	Referees: John Gravallese, Tom Fyrer Chris Millea, Chris Federico
	0 – 1 15:18 – pp – Derrick Burnett (Hajner, Flynn) 0 – 2 27:02 – Jacques Lamoureux (Fairchild, Flynn)
	16 min	Penalties	14 min
	13	Shots	43

March 27, 2009

(2) Yale

1–4 (0–1, 0–2, 1–1)

(3) Vermont

Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, CT Attendance: 8,478

Game reference
	Alec Richards	Goalies	Rob Madore	Referees: Todd Anderson, Marco Hunt Tony Czech, Matti Ulwelling
	0 – 1 14:28 – Peter Lenes (Medvec) 0 – 2 21:50 – Viktor Stålberg (Brian Roloff) 0 – 3 39:01 – Colin Vock (Stacey, Lawson) 0 – 4 56:25 – Corey Carlson Chris Cahill (Donald) – 58:15 1 – 4
	10 min	Penalties	14 min
	26	Shots	26

Regional final

March 28, 2009

(4) Air Force

2 – 3 (2OT) (0–0, 1–0, 1–2, 0–0, 0–1)

(3) Vermont

Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, CT Attendance: 8,478

Game reference
	Andrew Volkening	Goalies	Rob Madore	Referees: Todd Anderson, Marco Hunt Tony Czech, Matt Ulwelling
	Paul Weisgarber (Bertsch, Mathis) – 23:46 1 – 0 1 – 1 43:56 – Josh Burrows (Cullity, Milo) 1 – 2 49:29 – Dan Lawson (Carlson) Sean Bertsch (Phillipich) – 51:18 2 – 2 2 – 3 94:10 – Dan Lawson (Stacey, Stålberg)
	8 min	Penalties	10 min
	48	Shots	35

Northeast Regional – Manchester, New Hampshire

	Regional semifinals March 28					Regional final March 29
	1	Boston University (1)	8
	4	Ohio State	3
						1	Boston University (1)	2
						3	New Hampshire	1
	3	New Hampshire	6*
	2	North Dakota	5

Regional semifinals

March 28, 2009

(1) Boston University

8–3 (3–0, 3–2, 2–1)

(4) Ohio State

Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH Attendance: 6,883

Game reference
	Kieran Millan	Goalies	Dustin Carlson (out 27:01) Cal Heeter (in 27:01)	Referees: Tim Kotyra, Bob Ritchie Dave Brow, Brett Reed
	Nick Bonino (Yip, Gilroy) – pp – 8:49 1 – 0 Jason Lawrence (Bonino, C. Cohen) – 9:34 2 – 0 Zach Cohen (Popko, Gilroy) – 13:16 3 – 0 Corey Trivino (Gilroy) – 25:57 4 – 0 Brandon Yip (McCarthy, Bonino) – 27:01 5 – 0 Jason Lawrence (Wilson, Higgins) – 33:34 6 – 0 6 – 1 35:12 – Hunter Bishop (Elkins) 6 – 2 38:45 – Zach Pelletier (Reed, Schafer) 6 – 3 51:12 – pp – Matt Bartkowski (Boots, Bishop) Zach Cohen (Gilroy, C. Cohen) – en – 53:40 7 – 3 Chris Higgins (Wilson) – en, sh – 57:12 8 – 3
	16 min	Penalties	8 min
	27	Shots	25

March 28, 2009

(2) North Dakota

5 – 6 (OT) (2–1, 2–2, 1–2, 0–1)

(3) New Hampshire

Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH Attendance: 6,883

Game reference
	Brad Eidsness	Goalies	Brian Foster	Referees: Peter Feola, Chip McDonald Joe Testa, Glen Cooke
	0 – 1 2:34 – pp – Mike Sislo (van Riemsdyk, Fritsch) Jason Gregoire – 3:34 1 – 1 Brad Malone (Kozek) – 13:55 2 – 1 2 – 2 24:08 – Jerry Pollastrone (Kapstad) 2 – 3 27:21 – Peter LeBlanc (Collins, Butler) Ryan Duncan (Hextall, Gregoire) – 29:47 3 – 3 Chris VandeVelde (Malone, Frattin) – 37:06 4 – 3 Chris VandeVelde (Frattin) – 49:08 5 – 3 5 – 4 51:00 – Greg Collins (Kipp, Butler) 5 – 5 59:59 – Thomas Fortney (Pollastrone, Sislo) 5 – 6 60:45 – Peter LeBlanc (Pollastrone, Sislo)
	12 min	Penalties	10 min
	45	Shots	34

Regional final

March 29, 2009

(1) Boston University

2–1 (1–0, 0–1, 1–0)

(3) New Hampshire

Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH Attendance: 7,863

Game reference
	Kieran Millan	Goalies	Brian Foster	Referees: Peter Feola, Chip McDonald Glen Cooke, Rich Patry
	Corey Trivino (Connolly, Saponari) – 13:43 1 – 0 1 – 1 25:52 – Bobby Butler (LeBlanc, Collins) Jason Lawrence (Higgins, C. Cohen) – pp – 59:45 2 – 1
	6 min	Penalties	8 min
	23	Shots	28

West Regional – Minneapolis, Minnesota

	Regional semifinals March 27					Regional final March 28
	1	Denver (3)	2
	4	Miami	4
						4	Miami	2
						2	Minnesota-Duluth	1
	3	Princeton	4
	2	Minnesota-Duluth	5*

Regional semifinals

March 27, 2009

(1) Denver

2–4 (0–2, 2–1, 0–1)

(4) Miami

Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN Attendance: 7,187

Game reference
	Marc Cheverie	Goalies	Cody Reichard	Referees: Tim Benedetto, Jeff Bunyon Chris Aughe, Bob Brenard
	0 – 1 7:28 – Justin Mercier (Vogelhuber) 0 – 2 18:04 – Alden Hirschfeld (Roeder, Wingels) 0 – 3 25:36 – Bill Loupée (Camper, Wingels) Joe Colborne (Wiercioch, Bozak) – pp – 37:29 1 – 3 1 – 4 39:27 – Andy Miele (Steffes, LoVerde) Tyler Bozak (Wiercioch, Rakhshani) – pp – 55:12 2 – 4
	12 min	Penalties	12 min
	18	Shots	29

March 27, 2009

(2) Minnesota-Duluth

5 – 4 (OT) (1–1, 1–2, 2–1, 1–0)

(3) Princeton

Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN Attendance: 7,187

Game reference
	Alex Stalock	Goalies	Zane Kalemba
	Andrew Carroll (Oleksuk, Gergen) – 8:17 1 – 0 1 – 1 14:56 – pp – Brett Wilson (Godlewski) 1 – 2 21:42 – Derrick Pallis (Bartlett, MacIntyre) 1 – 3 28:10 – Brett Wilson (Godlewski, Schroeder) Brady Lamb (Akins) – 28:39 2 – 3 2 – 4 49:21 – sh – Brandan Kushniruk Jack Connolly (Sharp, M. Connolly) – pp – 59:20 3 – 4 Evan Oberg (Sharp, M. Connolly) – 59:59 4 – 4 Mike Connolly (Fontaine, Oberg) – pp – 73:39 5 – 4
	4 min	Penalties	12 min
	35	Shots	31

Regional final

March 28, 2009

(2) Minnesota-Duluth

1–2 (0–0, 0–2, 1–0)

(4) Miami

Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN Attendance: 7,554

Game reference
	Alex Stalock	Goalies	Cody Reichard	Referees: Jeff Bunyon, Jim Benedetto Bob Bernard, Chris Aughe
	0 – 1 28:42 – sh – Justin Mercier 0 – 2 36:00 – pp – Justin Mercier (Wideman, Schilling) MacGregor Sharp (M. Connolly, Oberg) – 57:55 1 – 2
	16 min	Penalties	14 min
	26	Shots	19

Midwest Regional – Grand Rapids, Michigan

	Regional semifinals March 28					Regional final March 29
	1	Notre Dame (2)	1
	4	Bemidji State	5
						4	Bemidji State	4
						3	Cornell	1
	3	Cornell	3
	2	Northeastern	2

Regional semifinals

March 28, 2009

(1) Notre Dame

1–5 (0–2, 0–1, 1–2)

(4) Bemidji State

Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI Attendance: 4,052

Game reference
	Jordan Pearce	Goalies	Matt Dalton	Referees: Derreck Sheppard, Don Adam Ed Moberg, Brian Novlesky
	0 – 1 1:42 – Chris McKelvie 0 – 2 11:03 – pp – Tyler Scofield (Hunt, Read) 0 – 3 33:19 – Ben Kinne (Cramer, Walters) 0 – 4 40:49 – sh – Matt Read (Scofield, Hardwick) Dan Kissel (Guentzel, Blatchford) – 46:02 1 – 4 1 – 5 56:33 – en – Tyler Scofield
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	35	Shots	19

March 28, 2009

(2) Northeastern

2–3 (1–0, 1–1, 0–2)

(3) Cornell

Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI Attendance: 4,052

Game reference
	Brad Thiessen	Goalies	Ben Scrivens	Referees: Kevin Hall, Brian Hill Chris Davis, Paul Tunison
	Louis Liotti (Silva, Maley) – 19:20 1 – 0 Steve Silva (Donovan) – 29:21 2 – 0 2 – 1 37:58 – Blake Gallagher (Greening, Kennedy) 2 – 2 56:04 – pp – Colin Greening (Barlow, B. Nash) 2 – 3 59:42 – Evan Barlow (R. Nash, Gallagher)
	10 min	Penalties	14 min
	21	Shots	32

Regional final

March 29, 2009

(3) Cornell

1–4 (0–0, 1–1, 0–3)

(4) Bemidji State

Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI Attendance: 3,170

Game reference
	Ben Scrivens	Goalies	Matt Dalton	Referees: Kevin Hall, Brian Hill Chris Davis, Paul Tunison
	Sean Collins (Ross, Mugford) – 32:35 1 – 0 1 – 1 34:25 – Ryan Adams (Scofield) 1 – 2 44:05 – Tyler Scofield (Read, Hardwick) 1 – 3 49:30 – Matt Francis (Kinne) 1 – 4 56:37 – en – Tyler Scofield (Read, McManamin)
	8 min	Penalties	10 min
	26	Shots	21

Frozen Four – Verizon Center, Washington, DC

	National semifinals April 9					National championship April 11
	NE1	Boston University (1)	5
	E3	Vermont	4
						NE1	Boston University (1)	4*
						W4	Miami	3
	W4	Miami	4
	MW4	Bemidji State	1

National semifinals

April 9, 2009

Boston University

5–4 (2–0, 1–3, 2–1)

Vermont

Verizon Center, Washington, D. C. Attendance: 18,427

Game reference
	Kieran Millan	Goalies	Rob Madore	Referees: Matt Shegos, Brian Hill Tony Molina, TJ Likens
	Colin Wilson (Shattenkirk, Higgins) – 11:19 1 – 0 Jason Lawrence (Higgins, Wilson) – 16:27 2 – 0 2 – 1 23:50 – Wahsontiio Stacey (Cullity, Burrows) 2 – 2 29:04 – pp – Justin Milo (MacKenzie, Stålberg) 2 – 3 29:49 – Josh Burrows Vinnie Saponari (Bonino, Yip) – pp – 38:39 3 – 3 3 – 4 49:40 – pp – Drew MacKenzie (Brian Roloff, Milo) Chris Higgins (Lawrence, Strait) – 53:06 4 – 4 Colin Wilson (Higgins) – 54:19 5 – 4
	10 min	Penalties	18 min
	28	Shots	27

April 9, 2009

Miami

4–1 (0–0, 3–1, 1–0)

Bemidji State

Verizon Center, Washington, D. C. Attendance: 18,427

Game reference
	Cody Reichard	Goalies	Matt Dalton	Referees: Peter Feola, Chip McDonald Glen Cooke, Dave Brown
	Tommy Wingels (Tomassoni, Miele) – pp – 23:56 1 – 0 Alden Hirschfeld (Wingles, Camper) – 28:35 2 – 0 2 – 1 29:46 – pp – Matt Read (Francis, Scofield) Bill Loupée (Weber) – 30:46 3 – 1 Tommy Wingels – en – 57:52 4 – 1
	8 min	Penalties	4 min
	37	Shots	25

National championship

April 11, 2009

Boston University

4 – 3 (OT) (1–0, 0–1, 2–2, 1–0)

Miami

Verizon Center, Washington, D. C. Attendance: 18,512

Game reference
				Referees: Todd Anderson, Marco Hunt Tony Czech, Matt Ulwelling

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	BU	Chris Connolly (10)	Warsofsky and Gryba	15:15	1–0 BU
2nd	MIA	Gary Steffes (11)	Miele and Palmer	22:01	1–1
3rd	MIA	Tommy Wingels (11)	Camper	52:31	2–1 MIA
	MIA	Trent Vogelhuber (2)	Kaufman	55:52	3–1 MIA
	BU	Zach Cohen (13) – EA	Bonino and Yip	59:00	3–2 MIA
	BU	Nick Bonino (18) – EA	Gilroy and Higgins	59:42	3–3
Overtime	BU	Colby Cohen (8) – GW	Shattenkirk and Connolly	71:47	4–3 BU
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	BU	Eric Gryba	Tripping	2:23	2:00
	BU	Vinny Saponari	Cross–Checking	5:19	2:00
	MIA	Chris Wideman	Holding	12:01	2:00
	BU	John McCarthy	Roughing	12:01	2:00
	BU	Eric Gryba	Cross–Checking	15:46	2:00
	MIA	Tommy Wingels	Hooking	19:48	2:00
2nd	BU	Brandon Yip	Holding	23:13	2:00
	MIA	Justin Mercier	Tripping	26:09	2:00
	BU	Colby Cohen	Cross–Checking	37:17	2:00
3rd	BU	Colby Cohen	Slashing	45:51	2:00
	BU	Jason Lawrence	Slashing	53:38	2:00

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT T Miami 10 9 9 4 32 Boston University 9 7 7 9 32

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice MIA Cody Reichard 28 4 71:47 BU Kieran Millan 29 3 69:09

Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	Regional Finals	Frozen Four	Championship Game	Champions
Hockey East	4	7–3	.700	3	2	1	1
CCHA	4	3–4	.429	1	1	1	–
ECAC Hockey	3	1–3	.250	1	–	–	–
WCHA	3	1–3	.250	1	–	–	–
Atlantic Hockey	1	1–1	.500	1	–	–	–
CHA	1	2–1	.667	1	1	–	–

Media

Television

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the fifth consecutive year ESPN aired every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN360.

Broadcast Assignments

Regionals

• East Regional: Justin Kutcher, Damian DiGiulian, & Ken Hodge – Bridgeport, Connecticut
• West Regional: Clay Matvick & Jim Paradise – Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Midwest Regional: Ben Holden & Sean Ritchlin – Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Northeast Regional: John Buccigross & Barry Melrose – Manchester, New Hampshire

Frozen Four & Championship

• Gary Thorne, Barry Melrose, & Clay Matvick – Washington, DC

Radio

Westwood One used exclusive radio rights to air both the semifinals and the championship, AKA the "Frozen Four.

• Sean Grande & Cap Raeder

All-Tournament Team

East Regional All-East Regional Team Goaltender: Andrew Volkening (Air Force) Defensemen: Greg Flynn (Air Force), Dan Lawson (Vermont) Forwards: Sean Bertsch (Air Force), Jacques Lamoureux (Air Force), Viktor Stalberg (Vermont)[6] MOP Dan Lawson (Vermont)[6] Northeast Regional All-Northeast Regional Team Goaltender: Kieran Millan (Boston University) Defensemen: Matt Gilroy (Boston University), Kevin Kapstad (New Hampshire) Forwards: Nick Bonino (Boston University), Jason Lawrence (Boston University), Peter Leblanc (New Hampshire)[7] MOP Jason Lawrence (Boston University)[7]

West Regional All-West Regional Team Goaltender: Cody Reichard (Miami) Defensemen: Evan Oberg (Minnesota-Duluth), Cameron Schilling (Miami) Forwards: Mike Connolly (Minnesota-Duluth), Justin Mercier (Miami), Brett Wilson (Princeton)[8] MOP Justin Mercier (Miami)[8] Midwest Regional All-Midwest Regional Team Goaltender: Matt Dalton (Bemidji State) Defensemen: Ryan Adams (Bemidji State), Brad Hunt (Bemidji State) Forwards: Evan Barlow (Cornell), Matt Read (Bemidji State), Tyler Scofield (Bemidji State)[9] MOP Tyler Scofield (Bemidji State)[9]

Frozen Four

• G: Kieran Millan (Boston University)
• D: Colby Cohen* (Boston University)
• D: Kevin Roeder (Miami)
• F: Nick Bonino (Boston University)
• F: Colin Wilson (Boston University)
• F: Tommy Wingels (Miami)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[10]

^[3]