The 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began in October 2018 and ended with the Frozen Four in April 2019. This was the 72nd season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held, and United States college ice hockey's 125th year overall.

Polls

Regular season

Overtime rule changes The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a proposal to allow conferences to use one of two alternative formats to award points in their league standings after the mandatory five-on-five, five-minute overtime period.

After a traditional five-minute, five-on-five overtime, conferences may use either a five-minute, three-on-three overtime period and a shootout or only a shootout to award additional conference points. Conferences are not required to use one of the alternative systems and may end play after the five-minute overtime.

During non-conference regular-season games, these alternative options are not permitted, and a game would end in a tie after the traditional five-minute overtime.

In regular-season tournaments that require advancement, a 20-minute sudden death format can be implemented for overtime, instead of the traditional five-minute overtime period. These tournaments also may use the three-on-three and shootout or the standalone shootout format.

Each conference's approach if no goal is scored in the initial five-minute overtime: Atlantic Hockey, ECAC & Hockey East: game ends in tie Big Ten, NCHC & WCHA: Five-minute, three-on-three overtime; if still tied a sudden-death shootout follows

Points Explanation: Atlantic Hockey, ECAC & Hockey East: Teams are awarded two points for each conference win in regulation or five-on-five overtime. Teams are awarded one point for a tie. Big Ten, NCHC & WCHA: Teams are awarded three points for each conference win in regulation or five-on-five overtime. A three-on-three overtime or shootout win is worth two points in the standings while the team that loses the three-on-three overtime/shootout receives just one point. The three-on-three overtime and shootouts only affect conference standings while the game is officially a tie for NCAA purposes.

Season tournaments Tournament Dates Teams Champion IceBreaker Invitational October 12–13 4 Notre Dame Friendship Four November 22–23 4 Union Catamount Cup December 28–29 4 Vermont Desert Hockey Classic December 28–29 4 Clarkson Ledyard Bank Classic December 29–30 4 Providence Great Lakes Invitational December 30–31 4 Lake Superior State Fortress Invitational January 4–5 4 Western Michigan Three Rivers Classic January 4–5 4 Brown Beanpot February 4, 11 4 Northeastern

Standings

PairWise Rankings The PairWise Rankings (PWR) are a statistical tool designed to approximate the process by which the NCAA selection committee decides which teams get at-large bids to the 16-team NCAA tournament. Although the NCAA selection committee does not use the PWR as presented by USCHO, the PWR has been accurate in predicting which teams will make the tournament field.

For Division I men, all teams are included in comparisons starting in the 2013–14 season (formerly, only teams with a Ratings Percentage Index of .500 or above, or teams under consideration, were included). The PWR method compares each team with every other such team, with the winner of each “comparison” earning one PWR point. After all comparisons are made, the points are totaled up and rankings listed accordingly.

With 60 Division I men's teams, the greatest number of PWR points any team could earn is 59, winning the comparison with every other team. Meanwhile, a team that lost all of its comparisons would have no PWR points.

Teams are then ranked by PWR point total, with ties broken by the teams’ RPI ratings, which starting in 2013–14 is weighted for home and road games and includes a quality wins bonus (QWB) for beating teams in the top 20 of the RPI (it also is weighted for home and road).

When it comes to comparing teams, the PWR uses three criteria which are combined to make a comparison: RPI, record against common opponents and head-to-head competition. Starting in 2013–14, the comparison of record against teams under consideration was dropped because all teams are now under comparison.

+ NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Final PairWise Rankings Rank Team PWR RPI Conference 1 58 .6117* NCHC 1 58 .5833 NCHC 3 57 .5796* WCHA 4 56 .5763 Hockey East 5 55 .5609* ECAC Hockey 6 54 .5593 Hockey East 7 53 .5588* ECAC Hockey 8 52 .5579 NCHC 9 51 .5550 Big Ten 10 50 .5508 Independent 11 49 .5457 ECAC Hockey 12 47 .5433 Big Ten 12 47 .5425 ECAC Hockey 14 46 .5423 Hockey East 15 45 .5408* WCHA 16 44 .5374 Big Ten 17 43 .5339 NCHC 17 43 .5338 ECAC Hockey 19 41 .5260 Big Ten 20 40 .5281* NCHC 21 39 .5246 Hockey East 22 38 .5215* WCHA 23 37 .5131* NCHC 24 36 .5120 WCHA 25 34 .5101 Hockey East 26 33 .5115 ECAC Hockey 26 33 .5083 Big Ten 28 31 .5052 Big Ten 28 31 .5032 Hockey East 30 30 .5036 ECAC Hockey 31 28 .5012 Atlantic Hockey 31 28 .5003 Big Ten 33 27 .4936 Hockey East 34 26 .4958 Hockey East 35 25 .4864 WCHA 35 25 .4849 Atlantic Hockey 37 22 .4800 ECAC Hockey 37 22 .4790 NCHC 37 22 .4776 Hockey East 40 21 .4781 Atlantic Hockey 41 20 .4780 Atlantic Hockey 42 18 .4748 WCHA 43 17 .4745 Atlantic Hockey 44 16 .4740 ECAC Hockey 45 15 .4738 Atlantic Hockey 45 15 .4713 Hockey East 47 13 .4684 NCHC 48 12 .4666 WCHA 49 11 .4625 Atlantic Hockey 50 10 .4619 ECAC Hockey 51 9 .4615 ECAC Hockey 52 8 .4541 Atlantic Hockey 53 7 .4515 Atlantic Hockey 53 7 .4510 Atlantic Hockey 55 5 .4447 Hockey East 56 4 .4435 Atlantic Hockey 57 3 .4420 WCHA 58 2 .4299 WCHA 59 1 .4186 ECAC Hockey 60 0 .3935 WCHA *A team's RPI has been adjusted to remove negative effect from defeating a weak opponent Note: A team's record is based only on games against other Division I hockey schools which are eligible for the NCAA tournament; PairWise Rankings were last updated March 25, 2019, 12:22pm ET

2019 NCAA tournament

Note: * denotes overtime period

Player stats

Scoring leaders

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player Class Team GP G A Pts PIM Sophomore Penn State 39 23 27 50 10 Junior Michigan State 36 15 35 50 14 Sophomore Massachusetts 41 16 33 49 31 Senior St. Cloud State 39 21 26 47 8 Junior Mercyhurst 37 16 31 47 42 Junior American International 41 16 31 47 22 Senior Massachusetts 41 16 31 47 8 Junior Providence 40 20 26 46 10 Junior Minnesota 38 21 24 45 30 Junior Clarkson 39 14 31 45 33 Junior Harvard 32 9 36 45 14

Leading goaltenders The following goaltenders lead the NCAA in goals against average.

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player Class Team GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA Junior Quinnipiac 27 1544:39 18 7 2 39 4 .940 1.51 Freshman Massachusetts 17 939:31 11 4 0 25 4 .934 1.60 Freshman Minnesota State 34 2011:26 24 7 2 59 4 .927 1.76 Junior Minnesota–Duluth 42 2556:19 29 11 2 75 7 .923 1.76 Junior Bowling Green 32 1961:52 20 8 4 58 3 .927 1.77 Sophomore Cornell 27 1591:50 16 7 3 48 5 .923 1.81 Sophomore Denver 20 1169:27 11 6 2 36 4 .934 1.85 Sophomore Ohio State 20 1160:38 12 4 3 36 4 .934 1.86 Senior Providence 41 2463:31 24 12 5 75 8 .921 1.88 Junior Clarkson 39 2325:53 26 11 2 74 5 .929 1.91

Awards

NCAA Award RecipientHobey Baker Award Cale Makar, MassachusettsSpencer Penrose Award Greg Carvel, MassachusettsTim Taylor Award Joel Farabee, Boston UniversityMike Richter Award Cayden Primeau, NortheasternDerek Hines Unsung Hero Award Brendon Kearney, Ohio StateLowe's Senior CLASS Award Kyle Haak, Air ForceTournament Most Outstanding Player Parker Mackay, Minnesota-DuluthAHCA All-American Teams East First Team   Position   West First TeamCayden Primeau, Northeastern GHunter Shepard, Minnesota–DuluthCale Makar, Massachusetts DJimmy Schuldt, St. Cloud StateAdam Fox, Harvard DQuinn Hughes, MichiganNico Sturm, Clarkson FRem Pitlick, MinnesotaRyan Kuffner, Princeton FPatrick Newell, St. Cloud StateMitchell Chaffee, Massachusetts FTaro Hirose, Michigan State East Second Team   Position   West Second TeamAndrew Shortridge, Quinnipiac GJoey Daccord, Arizona StateJoseph Duszak, Mercyhurst DScott Perunovich, Minnesota–DuluthJérémy Davies, Northeastern DBobby Nardella, Notre Dame DJack Ahcan, St. Cloud StateJosh Wilkins, Providence FTroy Loggins, Northern MichiganDavid Cotton, Boston College FBlake Lizotte, St. Cloud StateBlake Christensen, American International FMason Jobst, Ohio State

Atlantic Hockey Award RecipientPlayer of the Year Joseph Duszak, MercyhurstRookie of the Year Ludwig Stenlund, NiagaraBest Defensive Forward Joshua Lammon, MercyhurstBest Defenseman Joseph Duszak, MercyhurstIndividual Sportsmanship Award Dylan McLaughlin, CanisiusRegular Season Scoring Trophy Blake Christensen, American InternationalRegular Season Goaltending Award Billy Christopoulos, Air ForceCoach of the Year Eric Lang, American InternationalTournament MVP Zackarias Skog, American InternationalAll-Atlantic Hockey Teams First Team   Position   Second TeamBilly Christopoulos, Air Force GAidan Pelino, BentleyJoseph Duszak, Mercyhurst DTanner Jago, BentleyBrennan Kapcheck, American International DDalton MacAfee, ArmyDerek Barach, Mercyhurst FAbbott Girduckis, RITBlake Christensen, American International FLuke Santerno, BentleyDylan McLaughlin, Cansius FAlex Tonge, Robert Morris Third Team   Position   Rookie TeamFrank Marotte, Robert Morris GJosh Benson, Sacred HeartAdam Brubacher, RIT DJosh McDougall, MercyhurstNoah Delmas, Niagara DMatt Slick, Holy CrossErik Brown, RIT FAustin Magera, Sacred HeartJonathan Desbiens, Bentley FLudwig Stenlund, NiagaraAustin Magera, Sacred Heart FAnthony Vincent, Holy CrossLudwig Stenlund, Niagara F–

Big Ten Award RecipientPlayer of the Year Taro Hirose, Michigan StateDefensive Player of the Year Sasha Larocque, Ohio StateGoaltender of the Year Tommy Nappier, Ohio StateFreshman of the Year Sammy Walker, MinnesotaScoring Champion Taro Hirose, Michigan StateCoach of the Year Steve Rohlik, Ohio StateTournament Most Outstanding Player Cale Morris, Notre DameAll-Big Ten Teams First Team   Position   Second TeamTommy Nappier, Ohio State GCale Morris, Notre DameQuinn Hughes, Michigan DSasha Larocque, Ohio StateBobby Nardella, Notre Dame DWyatt Kalynuk, WisconsinTaro Hirose, Michigan State FPatrick Khodorenko, Michigan StateRem Pitlick, Minnesota FTyler Sheehy, MinnesotaNick Schilkey, Ohio State F– Honorable Mention   Position   Freshman TeamMat Robson, Minnesota GDrew DeRidder, Michigan StateCole Hults, Penn State DDennis Cesana, Michigan StateK'Andre Miller, Wisconsin DK'Andre Miller, WisconsinZach Osburn, Michigan State D–Brandon Biro, Penn State FMichael Graham, Notre Dame Tanner Laczynski, Ohio State FSammy Walker, Minnesota Mitchell Lewandowski, Michigan State FGustaf Westlund, Ohio StateWill Lockwood, Michigan F–Dylan Malmquist, Notre Dame F–

ECAC