The 2022 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the national championship tournament for men's college ice hockey in the United States scheduled for on April 7–9, 2022. 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 Hockey East at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
In this year’s tournament, the Hockey East conference went winless, despite having three programs in the playoffs (Massachusetts, Massachusetts-Lowell, and Northeastern). This was the first time Hockey East went winless in tournament play since 1992.
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 2022 regionals:
March 24 & 26, 2022 East Regional, MVP Arena – Albany, New York (Hosts: Union) West Regional, Budweiser Events Center – Loveland, Colorado (Host: Denver) March 25 & 27, 2022 Midwest Regional, PPL Center – Allentown, Pennsylvania (Host: Penn State) Northeast Regional, DCU Center – Worcester, Massachusetts (Host: Holy Cross)
The winner of each regional will advance to the Frozen Four: April 7–9 TD Garden – Boston, Massachusetts (Host: Hockey East)
Qualifying teams
The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 20, 2022.
The NCHC received five bids, the Big Ten and Hockey East each received three, the CCHA and ECAC both received two, and one team from Atlantic Hockey received a berth.
Midwest Regional – AllentownEast Regional – AlbanySeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bid1Michigan (1)Big Ten29–9–1Tournament champion39th20211Minnesota State (2)CCHA35–5–0Tournament champion8th20212QuinnipiacECAC31–6–3At-Large bid8th20212North DakotaNCHC24–13–1At-Large bid34th20213St. Cloud StateNCHC18–14–4At-Large bid16th20213Notre DameBig Ten27–11–0At-Large bid13th20214American InternationalAtlantic Hockey22–12–3Tournament champion3rd20214HarvardECAC21–10–3Tournament champion26th2019Northeast Regional – WorcesterWest Regional – LovelandSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bid1Western Michigan (3)NCHC25–11–1At-Large bid7th20171Denver (4)NCHC27–9–1At-Large bid29th20192MinnesotaBig Ten24–12–0At-Large bid39th20212Minnesota DuluthNCHC21–15–4Tournament champion15th20213MassachusettsHockey East22–12–2Tournament champion4th20213Michigan TechCCHA21–12–3At-Large bid14th20184NortheasternHockey East25–12–1At-Large bid8th20194Massachusetts LowellHockey East21–10–3At-Large bid9th2017
Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.
Tournament bracket
* denotes overtime period
Results Note: All game times are local.
Midwest Region – Allentown, Pennsylvania
Regional semifinals
Game summaryHeavy favorite, Michigan, lived up to their billing early when the Wolverines scored twice in the first five minutes of the game. Alec Calvaruso held the fort and stopped the tournament's top seed from extending their lead afterwards. Past the mid-way point of the period, AIC finally got a bounce their way when Blake Bennett tried to center the puck. It deflected up into the air, hit Luke Hughes in the back and then rolled past a sprawling Erik Portillo.
A penalty taken by AIC at the end of the first period resulted in a Michigan power play goal less than a minute into the second. A quick passing play a few minutes later put Michigan ahead by 3 and the Wolverines looked to be just too much for the Yellow Jackets. A few minutes later, however, AIC scored their second goal of the game after a turnover at the Michigan blueline. The Wolverines responded the very next shift when Dylan Duke potted his team's 5th goal, however, the play was reviewed for offsides. While a Michigan player had entered the zone before the puck, it was unclear whether or not an AIC player had shot the puck into the zone. While it appeared that Michigan had caused the puck to cross the blueline, the video was ruled inconclusive and the goal was allowed to stand. AIC continued to play hard, forcing Michigan to take consecutive penalties in the middle of the period, but weren't able to capitalize on their opportunities.
Michigan tried to play a sleepy third period and bleed away the clock but AIC kept playing hard. After Garrett Van Wyhe took an inadvisable holding penalty in the middle of the period, Bennett found himself alone in front of the net and slid the puck around Portillo. Near the end of the game, after the Yellow Jackets pulled their goaltender, Nick Blankenburg cross-checked Elijiah Barriga into the board from behind. There was some concern that the Michigan captain might receive a suspension for the hit and miss the team's next game.
Regional Final
Game summaryJust as they had in their first game, Michigan came out charging and raced into the Bobcats' end. After Owen Power hit the post, the puck bounced out to Nolan Moyle and he took a whack at the puck, sending it off of Jayden Lee into the net just 33 seconds into the game. Afterwards both teams went on the attack and several additional scoring chances were produced over the next 14 minutes. After it appeared that Quinnipiac might be turning the tide in their favor, Michigan scored their second goal on a deflection right off of an offensive faceoff. After the second goal, Michigan dominated play for the remainder of the period.
The play evened out in the second but Quinnipiac handed Michigan a golden opportunity when Michael Lombardi took a hooking call 5 minutes in. Just 30 seconds later, Thomas Bordeleau got free in the middle of the Quinnipiac box and fired a shot past Yaniv Perets, who was moving side-to-side. The third goal appeared to take the wind out of the Bobcats' sails and Michigan again took control of the play. Quinnipiac slowly got back into the game and, after a gaff behind the goal, Erik Portillo took an interference penalty to stop a scoring chance. The 50th-ranked power play wasn't able to generate much and it wasn't until the sides had evened-out that Quinnipiac got a quality scoring opportunity. Michigan took another penalty just before the end of the period but Quinnipiac flubbed the puck along the wall after the faceoff. Michigan raced down the ice, flipped the puck into the crease, and Perets couldn't find the puck as it hit the Bobcat goalie and rolled into the net.
Desperate to change something, Quinnipiac opened the third period with Dylan St. Cyr in goal. The Bobcats went on the offense and relentlessly attack the Michigan goal. Portillo made several saves until Jayden Lee shot the puck while falling, sending it in off of Nick Blankenburg's skate. Over the next several minutes Quinnipiac had trouble keeping the puck in Michigan's end but, when Ethan Edwards caught an edge and fell down, Ethan de Jong grabbed the loose puck, passed it across the front of the net to team captain Wyatt Bongiovanni, who deposited it into a wide-open cage. Just a few minutes later the Bobcats won a battle behind the Michigan net which led to Ty Smilanic passing the puck out to Desi Burgart, who had been left alone at the top of the Michigan goal crease, and the Wolverines' lead was down to 1. Immediately afterwards, Portillo went to the bench to get a skate issue taken care of and Michigan was forced to take its timeout on the delay. The delay didn't stop the Bobcat avalanche when Jimmy Lambert took a hooking penalty deep in the Quinnipiac zone. the Wolverines killed off the penalty but Quinnipiac's assault did not relent. Surprisingly, Rand Pecknold pulled St. Cyr just after the 4-minute mark and though they won the ensuing faceoff, a bad pass by Oliver Chau gave Michigan the puck. The Wolverines skated down the ice and potted it in an open goal to double their lead and take all of the momentum away from the Bobcats. A further empty-netter essentially salted the game away and Michigan advanced to the Frozen Four.
East Region – Albany, New York
Regional semifinals
Game summaryThe game started slowly, with both teams feeling out one another in the first period, but Minnesota State soon took over the game. The Mavericks' hemmed Harvard in their own zone for much of the first, firing 19 shots on goal, and finally opened the scoring on a deflected Akito Hirose shot from the point. They stretched their lead to 2 when Lutz found himself alone in the right circle on the power play, but then gave Harvard a chance when Benton Maass took a tripping call near the end of the period. MSU managed to kill off the disadvantage and then scored their third goal less than a minute later. Near the middle of the period, Marshall Rifai put his hand on the puck when it was in his own goal crease, which gave Minnesota State a penalty shot. Mitchell Gibson managed to stop the nation's #2 scorer, Julian Napravnik, to keep his team in the game.
With Minnesota State completely dominating the first half of the game, Harvard needed to find something to change the momentum. In the later part of the second, US Olympian Sean Farrell collected a puck behind the goal-line and fired it out in front of the net. MSU's goaltender, Dryden McKay, was unable to get back to his post quick enough and the puck deflected off of his pad and into the net. Less than a minute later, Harvard got its second goal to cut the Mavericks' lead to one.
Harvard continued to press but MSU closed ranks and managed to prevent the Crimson from tying the game despite several chances. In the third period, the game began to open up and the two teams traded chances. After a save at one end, the Mavericks' got on a break and Ondrej Pavel fired the puck past Gibson's glove into the top corner. The two-goal cushion proved vital for Minnesota State as Harvard's continued attack eventually forced Nathan Smith to take a tripping penalty. On the ensuing power play, Harvard pulled Gibson and scored to pull within one. Harvard kept up the pressure in the final 3:31, twice finding a half-open net on the left side of the Minnesota State cage. Unfortunately for the Crimson, they fanned on both opportunities, failing to get the puck on goal. Their loss was MSU's gain as the Maverick's advanced out of the first round of the tournament for just the second time in eight appearances.
Game summaryAs predicted by some, the game quickly became a defensive struggle. Both teams played to their strengths, relying on a stifling brand of teamwork to limit chances on their own goal. The immediate result was very few shots in the first period but that didn't stop Brent Johnson from being able to open the scoring near the end of the period. Just after the start of the second, Graham Slaggert turned over the puck at the North Dakota blue line and sent his brother Landon in on a break. The younger Slaggert slid the puck between Zach Driscoll's pads to tie the score.