2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the national championship tournament for men's college ice hockey in the United States. It took place between March 26 and April 10, 2021. 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 – was hosted by Robert Morris University at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh from April 8 to 10.^[1]

2021 NCAA Division I men's
ice hockey tournament

Teams	16
Finals site	PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Champions	Massachusetts Minutemen (1st title)
Runner-up	St. Cloud State Huskies (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Minnesota State Mavericks (1st Frozen Four) Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (8th Frozen Four)
Winning coach	Greg Carvel (1st title)
MOP	Bobby Trivigno (Massachusetts)
Attendance	3,963 (Championship) 11,283 (Frozen Four) 16,985 (Tournament)
← 2020  NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournaments 2022 →

The SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, was selected to host the Northeast Region, but pulled out on January 26, 2021, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] The Times Union Center in Albany, New York, was selected as a replacement site.^[3]

This year's tournament featured, as of 2024, the longest game in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament history, when the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defeated the North Dakota Fighting Hawks by a score of 3–2 in five overtimes, totaling 142:13 minutes of play, in the West Regional Final.

This tournament's Frozen Four teams were also notable for a number of reasons. First, it was just the second time in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament history in which three of the final four teams came from one state. This first occurred in 1992, when the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, and Lake Superior State Lakers, all from Michigan, made the Frozen Four. In this year’s tournament, three teams came from Minnesota, these teams being the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, St. Cloud State Huskies, and Minnesota State Mavericks. Also, this year's tournament was only the third time since 1992, when Regional Tournaments were first conducted, that no teams ranked no. 1 in their respective Regional Tournament advanced to the Frozen Four. This also occurred in the 1998 and 2007 tournaments.

Tournament procedure

Pittsburgh

Bridgeport

Albany

Fargo

Loveland

2021 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.^[4]

Regional semifinals and finals

• March 26–27

East Regional, Webster Bank Arena – Bridgeport, Connecticut (Hosts: Sacred Heart and Yale)

Midwest Regional, Scheels Arena – Fargo, North Dakota (Host: North Dakota)

• March 27–28

Northeast Regional, Times Union Center – Albany, New York (Hosts: ECAC)

West Regional, Budweiser Events Center – Loveland, Colorado (Host: Denver)

National semifinals and championship (Frozen Four and championship)

• April 8 and April 10

PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: Robert Morris University)

Qualifying teams

Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 21, 2021.^[5]

Typically, teams are seeded according to their PairWise rankings (PWR); however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing a severe lack of inter-conference games among the league, using the PWR would not be a reliable representation of overall NCAA standings. As a result, the NCAA Selection Committee awarded seeds manually based on varying factors, including perceived strength of conference and performance against the best teams in conference. Once seeds were determined, matchups were adjusted to prevent teams from the same conference meeting in the first round, as well as minimize the amount of traveling required due to the pandemic.

The NCHC and Big Ten each had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, Hockey East and WCHA each had three teams receive a berth, and one team from Atlantic Hockey and the ECAC each received a berth.

ECAC Tournament champions St. Lawrence earned an autobid but were forced to withdraw from the tournament as a result of a positive COVID-19 test among the team's coaching staff.^[6] Quinnipiac was selected to replace St. Lawrence as ECAC's autobid.^[7]

On March 25, it was announced that Notre Dame would be forced to withdraw from the tournament due to COVID protocols.^[8] As a result, their matchup with Boston College was ruled a no-contest and the Eagles automatically advanced to the Northeast Regional Final. Similarly, on March 26, the NCAA announced Michigan was forced to withdraw as well due to COVID protocols.^[9] As a result, Minnesota–Duluth automatically advanced to the Midwest Regional Final.

Midwest Regional – Fargo							East Regional – Bridgeport
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	North Dakota (1)	NCHC	21–5–1	Tournament champion	33rd	2017	1	Wisconsin (4)	Big Ten	20–9–1	At-Large bid	26th	2014
2	Michigan	Big Ten	15–10–1	At-Large bid	38th	2018	2	Massachusetts	Hockey East	16–5–4	Tournament champion	3rd	2019
3	Minnesota Duluth	NCHC	14–10–2	At-Large bid	14th	2019	3	Lake Superior State	WCHA	19–6–3	Tournament champion	11th	1996
4	American International	Atlantic Hockey	15–3–0	Tournament champion	2nd	2019	4	Bemidji State	WCHA	15–9–3	At-Large bid	5th	2010
West Regional – Loveland							Northeast Regional – Albany
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Minnesota (3)	Big Ten	23–6–0	Tournament champion	38th	2017	1	Boston College (2)	Hockey East	17–5–1	At-Large bid	36th	2016
2	Minnesota State	WCHA	20–4–1	At-Large bid	7th	2019	2	St. Cloud State	NCHC	17–10–0	At-Large bid	15th	2019
3	Quinnipiac	ECAC	17–7–4	Replacement Autobid	7th	2019	3	Boston University	Hockey East	10–4–1	At-Large bid	37th	2018
4	Omaha	NCHC	14–10–1	At-Large bid	4th	2015	4	Notre Dame	Big Ten	14–13–2	At-Large bid	12th	2019

Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

Tournament bracket

	Regional semifinals March 26–27					Regional Finals March 27–28					Semifinals April 8					Championship April 10
	1	North Dakota (1)	5
	4	American International	1
						1	North Dakota (1)	2
	Midwest – Fargo – Fri/Sat
						3	Minnesota–Duluth	3*****
	2	Michigan†	–
	3	Minnesota–Duluth	–
											MW3	Minnesota–Duluth	2
											E2	Massachusetts	3*
	1	Wisconsin (4)	3
	4	Bemidji State	6
						4	Bemidji State	0
	East – Bridgeport – Fri/Sat
						2	Massachusetts	4
	2	Massachusetts	5
	3	Lake Superior State	1
																E2	Massachusetts	5
																NE2	St. Cloud State	0
	1	Minnesota (3)	7
	4	Omaha	2
						1	Minnesota (3)	0
	West – Loveland – Sat/Sun
						2	Minnesota State	4
	2	Minnesota State	4*
	3	Quinnipiac	3
											W2	Minnesota State	4
											NE2	St. Cloud State	5
	1	Boston College (2)	–
	4	Notre Dame†	–
						1	Boston College (2)	1
	Northeast – Albany – Sat/Sun
						2	St. Cloud State	4
	2	St. Cloud State	6
	3	Boston University	2

* denotes overtime period
† Michigan and Notre Dame were removed from the tournament due to positive COVID-19 test results.^[10][11]

Results

Midwest Region – Fargo, North Dakota

Regional semifinals

March 26, 2021 7:30 PM

(1) North Dakota

5 – 1 (4–0, 0–0, 1–1)

(4) American International

Scheels Arena, Fargo, North Dakota Attendance: 1,435

Game reference
	Adam Scheel	Goalies	Stefano Durante (20 min) Jake Kucharski (40 min)	Referees: Robert Lukkason Brady Johnson Linesmen: Tyler Landman Nathan Voll
	(Bernard-Docker, Sanderson) Jasper Weatherby (13) – 08:58 1–0 (unassisted) Jasper Weatherby (14) – GW – 11:54 2–0 (Kleven, Caulfield) Grant Mismash (10) – 14:16 3–0 (Gaber, Bast) Collin Adams (12) – 16:22 4–0 4–1 57:46 – Tobias Fladeby (10) (Theodore, Callahan) (Kawaguchi) Collin Adams (13) – 58:08 5–1
	12 min	Penalties	12 min
	33	Shots	25

March 26, 2021

(2) Michigan

No contest

(3) Minnesota–Duluth

Regional Final

March 27, 2021 6:30 PM

(1) North Dakota

2 – 3 (5OT) (0–0, 0–0, 2–2, 0–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

(3) Minnesota–Duluth

Scheels Arena, Fargo, North Dakota Attendance: 1,494

Game reference
	Adam Scheel	Goalies	Zach Stejskal (124:37) Ryan Fanti (17:36)	Referees: Joe Carusone C. J. Hanifin Linesmen: Ryan Knapp Brian Oliver
	0–1 43:21 – Jackson Cates (11) (Lellig, Bender) 0–2 44:41 – Cole Koepke (14) (unassisted) (Weatherby, Pinto) Collin Adams (14) – EA – 58:19 1–2 (Pinto, Kiersted) Jordan Kawaguchi (10) – EA – 59:03 2–2 2–3 142:13 – GW – Luke Mylymok (2) (unassisted)
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	65	Shots	54

Northeast Region – Albany, New York

Regional semifinals

March 27, 2021

(1) Boston College

No contest

(4) Notre Dame

March 27, 2021 1:00 PM

(2) St. Cloud State

6 – 2 (0–0, 3–2, 3–0)

(3) Boston University

Times Union Center, Albany, New York Attendance: 1,136

Game reference
	Dávid Hrenák	Goalies	Drew Commesso	Referees: Colin Kronfrost Brett DesRosiers Linesmen: Sam Shikowsky Nick Bradshaw
	0–1 20:08 – Wilmer Skoog (4) (Cockerill) (Walker, Trejbal) Micah Miller (2) – 32:14 1–1 (Hammer, Kupka) Nick Perbix (7) – 33:29 2–1 2–2 35:28 – PP – Jake Wise (9) (Tuch) (Walker) Easton Brodzinski (12) – GW – 36:00 3–2 (unassisted) Jami Krannila (11) – SH PS – 44:17 4–2 (Walker) Easton Brodzinski (13) – 50:04 5–2 (Bushy, Krannila) Veeti Miettinen (11) – 55:02 6–2
	23 min	Penalties	21 min
	38	Shots	36

Regional Final

March 28, 2021 5:30

(1) Boston College

1 – 4 (1–0, 0–3, 0–1)

(2) St. Cloud State

Times Union Center, Albany, New York Attendance: 1,136

Game reference
	Spencer Knight	Goalies	Dávid Hrenák	Referees: Ryan Sweeney Mike Schubert Linesmen: Joe Sherman Anthony Valley
	(Newhook, Hardman) Matt Boldy (11) – 14:23 1–0 1–1 29:21 – Luke Jaycox (1) (Okabe, Krannila) 1–2 35:15 – GW – Will Hammer (2) (Perbix, Cockrell) 1–3 39:15 – Nolan Walker (9) (Perbix) 1–4 59:15 – EN – Micah Miller (3) (Bushy)
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	27	Shots	36

West Region – Loveland, Colorado

Regional semifinals

March 27, 2021 8:00 PM

(1) Minnesota

7 – 2 (3–1, 3–0, 1–1)

(4) Omaha

Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado Attendance: 125

Game reference
	Jack LaFontaine	Goalies	Isaiah Saville (27:13) Austin Roden (32:47)	Referees: Scott Hansen Walker Holton Linesmen: Kevin Briganti Kyle Richetelle
	(Munson, Faber) Mason Nevers (1) – 05:48 1–0 (Faber, Johnson) Jack Perbix (4) – 15:35 2–0 (McLaughlin, Walker) Scott Reedy (11) – GW – 17:36 3–0 3–1 18:04 – Taylor Ward (12) (Weiss, Scanlin) (Faber, Meyers) Ryan Johnson (2) – 20:41 4–1 (LaCombe, Brodzinski) Ben Meyers (12) – 27:13 5–1 (Ranta, Faber) Mason Nevers (2) – 36:13 6–1 6–2 43:05 – Taylor Ward (13) (Weiss, Proctor) (Nelson, Faber) Sampo Ranta (19) – 44:17 7–2
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	30	Shots	28

March 27, 2021 2:00 PM

(2) Minnesota State

4 – 3 (OT) (0–2, 1–0, 2–1, 1–0)

(3) Quinnipiac

Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado Attendance: 101

Game reference
	Dryden McKay	Goalies	Keith Petruzzelli	Referees: Tony Czech Brett Sheva Linesmen: Justin Cornell Pat Richardson
	0–1 03:00 – Odeen Tufto (8) (Räsänen) 0–2 15:35 – Peter DiLiberatore (5) (van Nes, Fillion) (Napravnik) Jake Jaremko (4) – PP – 38:09 1–2 1–3 48:54 – C. J. McGee (1) (Miller, Harris) (Gerads, Aamodt) Nathan Smith (6) – 54:54 2–3 (Livingstone) Cade Borchardt (9) – EA – 58:58 3–3 (Furry, Lutz) Ryan Sandelin (6) – GW – 71:13 4–3
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	38	Shots	30

Regional Final

March 28, 2021 6:00

(1) Minnesota

0 – 4 (0–2, 0–0, 0–2)

(2) Minnesota State

Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado Attendance: 175

Game reference
	Jack LaFontaine	Goalies	Dryden McKay	Referees: Peter Schlittenhardt Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: William Kingdom Nicholas Briganti
	0–1 10:23 – GW – Sam Morton (5) (Sandelin, Zmolek) 0–2 12:30 – Ryan Sandelin (7) (McNeely, Furry) 0–3 49:50 – Nathan Smith (7) (Borchardt, Napravnik) 0–4 57:41 – EN – Dallas Gerads (8) (Aamodt)
	6 min	Penalties	8 min
	22	Shots	27

East Region – Bridgeport, Connecticut

Regional semifinals

March 26, 2021 1:00 PM

(1) Wisconsin

3 – 6 (0–2, 1–2, 2–2)

(4) Bemidji State

Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Robbie Beydoun (40 min) Cameron Rowe (20 min)	Goalies	Zach Driscoll	Referees: Brendan Blanchard Chris Leavitt Linesmen: Bob Griffin Brendan Lewis
	0–1 06:33 – Ross Armour (5) (Rosén) 0–2 19:44 – Elias Rosén (5) (unassisted) (C. Caufield, Pelton-Byce) Linus Weissbach (12) – PP – 22:38 1–2 1–3 34:42 – Ethan Somoza (3) (Miller, Harris) 1–4 38:39 – SH GW – Owen Sillinger (10) (unassisted) 1–5 46:08 – Ethan Somoza (3) (Harris) (Holloway, Pelton-Byce) Cole Caufield (29) – PP – 48:19 2–5 (Ahcan, Vorlicky) Cole Caufield (30) – 54:56 3–5 3–6 59:58 – EN – Brendan Harris (9) (Somoza)
	6 min	Penalties	12 min
	33	Shots	40

March 26, 2021 6:30 PM

(2) Massachusetts

5 – 1 (1–1, 2–0, 2–0)

(3) Lake Superior State

Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut Attendance: 100

Game reference
	Filip Lindberg	Goalies	Mareks Mitens	Referees: Dan Dreger Joseph Sullivan Linesmen: Tony Anderson Dana Penkivech
	(Harding, Jones) Jake Gaudet (4) – 10:07 1–0 1–1 17:14 – Ashton Calder (16) (Veillette, Nordqvist) (Trivigno) Josh Lopina (9) – GW – 31:03 2–1 (Farmer, Chau) Carson Gicewicz (14) – 33:00 3–1 (Chau, Jones) Jake Gaudet (5) – 50:49 4–1 (Jones) Anthony Del Gaizo (1) – 55:47 5–1
	12 min	Penalties	8 min
	37	Shots	31

Regional Final

March 27, 2021 4:00 PM

(2) Massachusetts

4 – 0 (2–0, 1–0, 1–0)

(4) Bemidji State

Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut Attendance: 0

Game reference
	Filip Lindberg	Goalies	Zach Driscoll	Referees: Nick Krebsbach Ryan Hersey Linesmen: Tyler Liffrig Justin Hills
	(Chau, Bohlinger) Carson Gicewicz (15) – SH GW – 14:24 1–0 (Kessel) Carson Gicewicz (16) – 19:08 2–0 (Gaudet, M. Del Gaizo) Carson Gicewicz (17) – 26:34 3–0 (M. Del Gaizo) Oliver Chau (5) – EN – 56:56 4–0
	23 min	Penalties	6 min
	28	Shots	18

Frozen Four – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

National semifinal

April 8, 2021 5:00 PM

(W2) Minnesota State

4 – 5 (1–2, 2–1, 1–2)

(NE2) St. Cloud State

PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Attendance: 3,660

Game reference
	Dryden McKay	Goalies	Dávid Hrenák	Referees: Peter Schlittenhardt Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Nicholas Briganti William Kingdon
	0–1 03:18 – PP – Spencer Meier (4) (Okabe, Fitzgerald) (Hirose, Napravnik) Nathan Smith (8) – PP – 16:09 1–1 1–2 16:19 – Kyler Kupka (3) (Walker, Hentges) 1–3 22:40 – Will Hammer (3) (unassisted) (Gerads, Carroll) Walker Duehr (10) – 32:07 2–3 (Morton, Hirose) Nathan Smith (9) – PP – 34:24 3–3 (Duehr) Dallas Gerads (9) – 44:18 4–3 4–4 50:14 – Joe Molenaar (1) (Hammer, Meier) 4–5 59:06 – GW – Nolan Walker (4) (Donohue, Kupka)
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	29	Shots	22

April 8, 2021 9:00 PM

(E2) Massachusetts

3 – 2 (OT) (1–1, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0)

(MW3) Minnesota Duluth

PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Attendance: 3,660

Game reference
	Matt Murray	Goalies	Zach Stejskal	Referees: Brett DesRosiers Brett Sheva Linesmen: Justin Cornell Pat Richardson
	(Kessel, Chau) Zac Jones (9) – PP – 15:33 1–0 1–1 17:50 – Tanner Laderoute (3) (Olson, Kelley) 1–2 31:01 – Cole Koepke (15) (Cates, Swaney) (Lopina, Trivigno) Anthony Del Gaizo (2) – 48:25 2–2 (Trivigno, Lopina) Garrett Wait (9) – GW – 74:30 3–2
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	28	Shots	38

2021 National Championship

(E2) Massachusetts vs. (NE2) St. Cloud State

April 10, 2021 7:00 PM

(E2) Massachusetts

5 – 0

(NE2) St. Cloud State

PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Attendance: 3,963

Game reference

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	UMA	Aaron Bohlinger (1) – GW	Sullivan and Farmer	7:26	1–0 UMA
	UMA	Reed Lebster (2)	Kiefiuk	18:56	2–0 UMA
2nd	UMA	Philip Lagunov (6) – SH	unassisted	25:10	3–0 UMA
	UMA	Matthew Kessel (10) – PP	Chau and Gaudet	33:45	4–0 UMA
3rd	UMA	Bobby Trivigno (11)	Lebster	46:00	5–0 UMA
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	UMA	Anthony Del Gaizo	Slashing	15:27	2:00
2nd	STC	Seamus Donohue	Tripping	20:24	2:00
	UMA	Ryan Sullivan	Tripping	23:57	2:00
	UMA	Jake Gaudet	Elbowing	30:31	2:00
	STC	Bench (served by Zach Okabe)	Too many men on the ice	32:35	2:00
3rd	None

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T St. Cloud State 3 12 10 25 Massachusetts 7 6 9 22

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice STC Dávid Hrenák 17 5 60:00 UMA Filip Lindberg 25 0 60:00

All-Tournament team

• G: Filip Lindberg (Massachusetts)
• D: Zac Jones (Massachusetts)
• D: Matthew Kessel (Massachusetts)
• F: Nathan Smith (Minnesota State)
• F: Bobby Trivigno* (Massachusetts)
• F: Nolan Walker (St. Cloud State)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

Record by conference

Conference	Bids	Record	Win %	Regional Finals	Frozen Four	Championship Game	Champions
NCHC	4	5–4	.556	3	2	1	–
Big Ten	4	1–2	.333	1	–	–	–
Hockey East	3	4–2	.667	2	1	1	1
WCHA	3	3–3	.500	2	1	–	–
Atlantic Hockey	1	0–1	.000	–	–	–	–
ECAC Hockey	1	0–1	.000	–	–	–	–

Note: Two regional semifinal games were declared 'No Contest' and the four teams involved were not credited with a win or a loss in those games.

Media

Television

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament for the sixteenth consecutive year.^[12] ESPN aired every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, and ESPN3, which were streamed online via WatchESPN.

Broadcast assignments

Regionals

• East Regional: John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, and Colby Cohen – Bridgeport, Connecticut
• Midwest Regional: Leah Hextall and Dave Starman – Fargo, North Dakota
• Northeast Regional: Kevin Brown and Sean Ritchlin – Albany, New York
• West Regional: Ben Holden and Fred Pletsch – Loveland, Colorado

Frozen Four

• John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, Colby Cohen, and Quint Kessenich – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Radio

Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the Frozen Four and broadcast both the semifinals and the championship.^[13]

• Brian Tripp and Dave Starman