# 2002 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 2002 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 12 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey.
The final event was played at Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota. The University of Minnesota, coached by Don Lucia, won its first NCAA title since 1979 by defeating the University of Maine, coached by Tim Whitehead, 4-3, in overtime on April 6. Matt Koalska tied the game with 53 seconds remaining in regulation with Minnesota goaltender Adam Hauser pulled for an extra attacker. Grant Potulny then won it on his power-play goal at 16:58 of the extra session, giving the Golden Gophers their fourth NCAA championship (6th overall). Minnesota senior forward John Pohl assisted on both the tying and winning goals in his final game in a Gophers uniform.
Minnesota advanced to the finals with a 3-2 semifinal win over Michigan on April 4, after Maine had bested Hockey East rival New Hampshire by a 7-2 score in the other semifinal.

## Game locations

The NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship is a single-elimination tournament featuring 12 teams representing five Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeds the entire field from 1 to 12 within two regionals of 6 teams. The winners of five Division I conference championships receive automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship. The top regional placements are given to the best teams from each of the two regions (East and West) while the remaining 10 teams are seeded based upon their rankings regardless of region.

### Regional Sites

* East Regional – Centrum Centre, Worcester, Massachusetts
* West Regional – Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan

### Championship Site

* Frozen Four – Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota

## Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced after the conference tournaments concluded on March 17, 2002. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, Hockey East had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), and the ECAC each had two berths, while the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) received a single bid for its tournament champion.
| East Regional – Worcester | East Regional – Worcester | East Regional – Worcester | East Regional – Worcester | East Regional – Worcester | East Regional – Worcester | East Regional – Worcester | West Regional – Ann Arbor | West Regional – Ann Arbor | West Regional – Ann Arbor | West Regional – Ann Arbor | West Regional – Ann Arbor | West Regional – Ann Arbor | West Regional – Ann Arbor |
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | New Hampshire (1) | Hockey East | 29–6–3 | Tournament champion | 12th | 2000 | 1 | Denver (2) | WCHA | 32–7–1 | Tournament champion | 16th | 1999 |
| 2 | Boston University | Hockey East | 25–9–3 | At-large bid | 26th | 2000 | 2 | Minnesota | WCHA | 29–8–4 | At-large bid | 26th | 2001 |
| 3 | Maine | Hockey East | 23–10–7 | At-large bid | 12th | 2001 | 3 | Michigan State | CCHA | 27–8–5 | At-large bid | 22nd | 2001 |
| 4 | Cornell | ECAC | 24–7–2 | At-large bid | 13th | 1997 | 4 | Michigan | CCHA | 26–10–5 | Tournament champion | 25th | 2001 |
| 5 | Quinnipiac | MAAC | 20–12–5 | Tournament champion | 1st | Never | 5 | St. Cloud State | WCHA | 29–10–2 | At-large bid | 4th | 2001 |
| 6 | Harvard | ECAC | 15–14–4 | Tournament champion | 17th | 1994 | 6 | Colorado College | WCHA | 26–12–3 | At-large bid | 15th | 2001 |
Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

## Bracket
### Frozen Four

| National semifinals April 4 | National semifinals April 4 | National semifinals April 4 | National championship April 6 | National championship April 6 | National championship April 6 |
| E1 | New Hampshire | 2 | | | |
| E3 | Maine | 7 | | | |
| E3 | Maine | 7 | E3 | Maine | 3 |
| | | | W2 | Minnesota | 4* |
| W4 | Michigan | 2 | W2 | Minnesota | 4* |
| W2 | Minnesota | 3 | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Frozen Four
### National semifinal
#### (W2) Minnesota vs. (W4) Michigan
### National Championship
#### (W2) Minnesota vs. (E3) Maine

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | MIN | Keith Ballard (10) – PP | Riddle and Angell | 7:18 | 1–0 MIN |
| 2nd | Maine | Michael Schutte (12) – PP | Metcalf and Dimitrakos | 24:47 | 1–1 |
| 2nd | MIN | John Pohl (27) | Anthony and Angell | 25:38 | 2–1 MIN |
| 3rd | Maine | Michael Schutte (13) | Ryan and Jackson | 46:18 | 2–2 |
| 3rd | Maine | Róbert Liščák (17) | Dimitrakos | 55:27 | 3–2 Maine |
| 3rd | MIN | Matt Koalska (10) – EA | Riddle and Pohl | 59:07 | 3–3 |
| 1st Overtime | MIN | Grant Potulny (15) – GW PP | Pohl and Leopold | 76:58 | 4–3 MIN |
| Penalty summary ||||||
| Period | Team | Player | Penalty | Time | PIM |
| 1st | Maine | Cliff Loya | Holding | 5:40 | 2:00 |
| 1st | Maine | Ben Murphy | Goaltender Interference | 9:20 | 2:00 |
| 1st | Maine | Cliff Loya | Cross-Checking | 10:08 | 2:00 |
| 1st | MIN | Grant Potulny | Holding the Stick | 13:18 | 2:00 |
| 1st | Maine | Ben Murphy | High-Sticking | 16:34 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | MIN | Grant Potulny | Interference | 23:47 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | MIN | Keith Ballard | Obstruction Holding | 29:37 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | Maine | Gray Shaneberger | Tripping | 33:02 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | MIN | Jeff Taffe | Boarding | 49:15 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | Maine | Lucas Lawson | Hitting after the Whistle | 59:19 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | MIN | Matt DeMarchi | Hitting after the Whistle | 59:19 | 2:00 |
| 1st Overtime | Maine | Michael Schutte | Tripping | 75:58 | 2:00 |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
| Maine | 11 | 13 | 16 | 5 | 45 |
| Minnesota | 11 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 35 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| Maine | Matthew Yeats | 31 | 4 | 76:58 |
| MIN | Adam Hauser | 42 | 3 | 76:52 |

## All-Tournament team

* G: Adam Hauser (Minnesota)
* D: Peter Metcalf (Maine)
* D: Michael Schutte (Maine)
* F: Róbert Liščák (Maine)
* F: John Pohl (Minnesota)
* F: Grant Potulny* (Minnesota)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)

## Record by conference

| Conference | # of Bids | Record | Win % | Regional semifinals | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions |
| WCHA | 4 | 4-3 | .571 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Hockey East | 3 | 4-3 | .571 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - |
| CCHA | 2 | 2-2 | .500 | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| ECAC | 2 | 1-2 | .333 | 1 | - | - | - |
| MAAC | 1 | 0-1 | .000 | - | - | - | - |