# 1972 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey tournament

The 1972 NCAA Men's University Division Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1971–72 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey season, the 25th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 16 and 18, 1972, and concluded with Boston University defeating Cornell 4–0. All games were played at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

## Qualifying teams

Four teams qualified for the tournament, two each from the eastern and western regions. The ECAC tournament champion and the two WCHA tournament co-champions received automatic bids into the tournament. An at-large bid was offered to a second eastern team based upon both their ECAC tournament finish as well as their regular season record.
| East | East | East | East | East | East | East | West | West | West | West | West | West | West |
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Boston University | ECAC Hockey | 24–4–1 | Tournament champion | 8th | 1971 | 1 | Denver | WCHA | 27–9–0 | Tournament co-champion | 10th | 1971 |
| 2 | Cornell | ECAC Hockey | 22–5–0 | At-Large | 5th | 1970 | 2 | Wisconsin | WCHA | 26–9–1 | Tournament co-champion | 2nd | 1970 |

## Format

The ECAC champion was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA co-champion with the better regular season record was given the top western seed. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. All games were played at the Boston Garden. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game.

## Tournament bracket

| Semifinals March 16–17 | Semifinals March 16–17 | Semifinals March 16–17 | National championship March 18 | National championship March 18 | National championship March 18 |
| E1 | Boston University | 4 | | | |
| W2 | Wisconsin | 1 | | | |
| W2 | Wisconsin | 1 | E1 | Boston University | 4 |
| | | | E2 | Cornell | 0 |
| W1 | Denver | 2 | E2 | Cornell | 0 |
| E2 | Cornell | 7 | Third-place game | Third-place game | Third-place game |
| | | | W1 | Denver | 2 |
| | | | W2 | Wisconsin | 5 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

### National Championship
#### (E1) Boston University vs. (E2) Cornell

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | BU | Ron Anderson - GW PP | Brown and Jordan | 10:42 | 1–0 BU |
| 2nd | BU | Ric Jordan - PP | Brown | 30:51 | 2–0 BU |
| 3rd | BU | Ron Anderson | Cahoon | 41:39 | 3–0 BU |
| 3rd | BU | Ric Jordan | Cahoon and Anderson | 53:13 | 4–0 BU |
| Penalty summary ||||||
| Period | Team | Player | Penalty | Time | PIM |
| 1st | COR | Gordon McCormick | | 8:52 | 2:00 |
| 1st | BU | Mike LaGarde | | 18:13 | 2:00 |
| 1st | COR | Larry Fullan | | 18:13 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | COR | Dave Elenbaas | | 29:13 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | BU | Ron Anderson | | 29:44 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | COR | Larry Fullan | | 29:44 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | BU | Peter Thornton | | 43:24 | 2:00 |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
| Cornell | 14 | 12 | 13 | 39 |
| Boston University | 8 | 11 | 13 | 32 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| COR | Dave Elenbaas | 28 | 4 | 60:00 |
| BU | Tim Regan | 39 | 0 | 60:00 |

## All-Tournament team

* G: Tim Regan* (Boston University)
* D: Bob Brown (Boston University)
* D: Ric Jordan (Boston University)
* F: John Danby (Boston University)
* F: Dave Westner (Cornell)
* F: Gary Winchester (Wisconsin)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)