2018 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 2018 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 final – were hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota from April 5–7, 2018.

Minnesota-Duluth defeated Notre Dame 2–1 to win the program's 2nd NCAA title.

Tournament procedure

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 2018 regionals:

March 23–24 East Regional, Webster Bank Arena – Bridgeport, Connecticut (Host: Fairfield and Yale) West Regional, Premier Center – Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Host: North Dakota) March 24–25 Northeast Regional, DCU Center – Worcester, Massachusetts (Host: Holy Cross) Midwest Regional, PPL Center – Allentown, Pennsylvania (Host: Penn State)

The winner of each regional will advance to the Frozen Four: April 5–7 Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)

Qualifying teams The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 18. The Big Ten had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, the NCHC, Hockey East, and ECAC Hockey each had three teams receive a berth, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) had two teams receive a berth, and one team from Atlantic Hockey received a berth.

East Regional – BridgeportWest Regional – Sioux FallsSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bid1Notre Dame (2)Big Ten25–9–2Tournament champion10th20171St. Cloud State (1)NCHC25–8–6At-large bid13th20162ProvidenceHockey East23–11–4At-large bid14th20172Minnesota StateWCHA29–9–1At-large bid5th20153ClarksonECAC23–10–6At-large bid21st20083Minnesota–DuluthNCHC21–16–3At-large bid12th20174Michigan TechWCHA22–16–5Tournament champion13th20174Air ForceAtlantic Hockey22–14–5Tournament champion7th2017Northeast Regional – WorcesterMidwest Regional – AllentownSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bid1Cornell (3)ECAC25–5–2At-large bid21st20171Ohio State (4)Big Ten24–9–5At-large bid8th20172MichiganBig Ten20–14–3At-large bid37th20162DenverNCHC20–9–8Tournament champion28th20173NortheasternHockey East23–9–5At-large bid6th20163Penn StateBig Ten18–14–5At-large bid2nd20174Boston UniversityHockey East21–13–4Tournament champion36th20174PrincetonECAC19–12–4Tournament champion4th2009

Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

Tournament bracket

Note: * denotes overtime period

Results

West Region – Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Regional semifinal

Regional Final

East Region – Bridgeport, Connecticut

Regional semifinal

Regional Final

Northeast Region – Worcester, Massachusetts

Regional semifinal

Regional Final

Midwest Region – Allentown, Pennsylvania

Regional semifinal

Regional Final

Frozen Four – Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota

National semifinal

2018 National Championship

(E1) Notre Dame vs. (W3) Minnesota–Duluth

Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st UMDKarson Kuhlman (13)Miller 9:06 1–0 UMD UMDJared Thomas (11) – GWKuhlman 18:39 2–0 UMD 2nd NDAndrew Oglevie (15) – PPMorrison and Evans 27:40 2–1 UMD 3rd None Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st NDMike O'LearyHooking 19:42 2:00 2nd NDJordan GrossTripping 22:19 2:00 UMDLouie RoehlInterference 24:35 2:00 UMDScott PerunovichInterference 27:08 2:00 NDColin TheisenKneeing 30:02 2:00

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Minnesota–Duluth 10 18 7 35 Notre Dame 7 8 5 20

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice UMD Hunter Shepard 19 1 59:26 ND Cale Morris 33 2 58:32

All-Tournament team G: Hunter Shepard (Minnesota–Duluth) D: Scott Perunovich (Minnesota–Duluth) D: Jordan Gross (Notre Dame) F: Karson Kuhlman* (Minnesota–Duluth) F: Jared Thomas (Minnesota–Duluth) F: Andrew Oglevie (Notre Dame) * Most Outstanding Player(s)

Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Regional FinalsFrozen FourChampionship GameChampions Big Ten 4 7-4 .636 3 3 1 - NCHC 3 5-2 .714 2 1 1 1 Hockey East 3 2-3 .400 2 - - - ECAC Hockey 3 0-3 .000 - - - - WCHA 2 0-2 .000 - - - - Atlantic Hockey 1 1-1 .500 1 - - -

Media

Television ESPN has US television rights to all games during the tournament for the fourteenth consecutive year. ESPN will air every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, or ESPN3 and streamed them online via WatchESPN.

In Canada, the tournament will be broadcast by TSN and streamed on TSN Go.

In the UK, the tournament will be broadcast by BT Sport ESPN.

Broadcast assignments Regionals East Regional: John Buccigross, Barry Melrose and Quint Kessenich – Bridgeport, Connecticut West Regional: Clay Matvick and Sean Ritchlin – Sioux Falls, South Dakota Northeast Regional: Joe Beninati and Billy Jaffe – Worcester, Massachusetts Midwest Regional: Kevin Brown and Colby Cohen – Allentown, Pennsylvania

Frozen Four John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, and Quint Kessenich – St. Paul, Minnesota

Radio Westwood One has exclusive radio rights to the Frozen Four and will air both the semifinals and the championship. Brian Tripp, Pat Micheletti, and Shireen Saski

References