2019 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

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.

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 East Regionals were played at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island

This year’s tournament was the first since 2007 to feature multiple programs, AIC and Arizona State, making their first appearance in the NCAA playoffs. Arizona State’s tournament appearance was also the first for an Independent program since 1992.

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

Buffalo

Manchester

Providence

Fargo

Allentown

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

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.

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
	34	Shots	13

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
	13	Shots	24

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
	24	Shots	26

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
	42	Shots	31

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
	38	Shots	21

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
	26	Shots	22

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
	34	Shots	29

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
	21	Shots	19

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
	19	Shots	29

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
	36	Shots	17

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
	22	Shots	38

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
	34	Shots	13

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
	36	Shots	29

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
	28	Shots	40

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
	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)

^[5]

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.^[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

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.^[7]

• Brian Tripp, Pat Micheletti, & Shireen Saski