# 1996 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1996 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 12 schools playing in single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey. It began on March 22, 1996, and ended with the championship game on March 30. A total of 11 games were played. The top two seeds in each region received a bye into the tournament quarterfinals.
In the regional semifinals, Michigan's Mike Legg scored a high wraparound goal that, in the U.S., is now known as a Michigan goal.
The University of Michigan, coached by Red Berenson, won the national championship with a 3–2 victory over Colorado College in overtime in front of 12,957 fans.

## Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced after the conference tournaments concluded. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, the ECAC and Hockey East each had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, while the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) had two berths.
| East Regional – Albany | East Regional – Albany | East Regional – Albany | East Regional – Albany | East Regional – Albany | East Regional – Albany | East Regional – Albany | West Regional – East Lansing | West Regional – East Lansing | West Regional – East Lansing | West Regional – East Lansing | West Regional – East Lansing | West Regional – East Lansing | West Regional – East Lansing |
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Boston University | Hockey East | 29–6–3 | At-large bid | 22nd | 1995 | 1 | Colorado College | WCHA | 31–4–4 | At-large bid | 10th | 1995 |
| 2 | Vermont | ECAC | 26–6–4 | At-large bid | 2nd | 1988 | 2 | Michigan | CCHA | 30–7–2 | Tournament champion | 19th | 1995 |
| 3 | Lake Superior State | CCHA | 29–7–2 | At-large bid | 10th | 1995 | 3 | Minnesota | WCHA | 29–9–2 | Tournament champion | 23rd | 1995 |
| 4 | Western Michigan | CCHA | 27–10–3 | At-large bid | 3rd | 1994 | 4 | Massachusetts-Lowell | Hockey East | 25–9–4 | At-large bid | 3rd | 1994 |
| 5 | Clarkson | ECAC | 24–9–3 | At-large bid | 15th | 1995 | 5 | Michigan State | CCHA | 28–12–1 | At-large bid | 16th | 1995 |
| 6 | Providence | Hockey East | 21–14–3 | Tournament champion | 8th | 1991 | 6 | Cornell | ECAC | 21–8–4 | Tournament champion | 11th | 1991 |

## Game locations

* East Regional – Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY
* West Regional – Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI
* Frozen Four – Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH

## Tournament bracket

| Regional Quarterfinals March 22–23 | Regional Quarterfinals March 22–23 | Regional Quarterfinals March 22–23 | Regional semifinals March 23–24 | Regional semifinals March 23–24 | Regional semifinals March 23–24 | Frozen Four March 28 | Frozen Four March 28 | Frozen Four March 28 | National championship March 30 | National championship March 30 | National championship March 30 |
| | | | E1 | Boston University | 3 | | | | | | |
| | | | E5 | Clarkson | 2 | | | | | | |
| E4 | Western Michigan | 1 | E5 | Clarkson | 2 | | | | | | |
| E5 | Clarkson | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| E5 | Clarkson | 6 | | | | E1 | Boston University | 0 | | | |
| | | | | | | W2 | Michigan | 4 | | | |
| | | | W2 | Michigan | 4 | | | | | | |
| | | | W3 | Minnesota | 3 | | | | | | |
| W3 | Minnesota | 5 | W3 | Minnesota | 3 | | | | | | |
| W6 | Providence | 1 | | | | | | | | | |
| W6 | Providence | 1 | | | | | | | W2 | Michigan | 3* |
| | | | | | | | | | W1 | Colorado College | 2 |
| | | | E2 | Vermont | 2 | | | | | | |
| | | | E3 | Lake Superior State | 1 | | | | | | |
| E3 | Lake Superior State | 5 | E3 | Lake Superior State | 1 | | | | | | |
| E6 | Cornell | 4 | | | | | | | | | |
| E6 | Cornell | 4 | | | | E2 | Vermont | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | | W1 | Colorado College | 4** | | | |
| | | | W1 | Colorado College | 5 | | | | | | |
| | | | W4 | Massachusetts-Lowell | 3 | | | | | | |
| W4 | Massachusetts-Lowell | 6 | W4 | Massachusetts-Lowell | 3 | | | | | | |
| W5 | Michigan State | 2 | | | | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Frozen Four
### National semifinal
#### (E2) Vermont vs. (W1) Colorado College
### National Championship
#### (W2) Michigan vs. (W1) Colorado College

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | UM | Bill Muckalt | Morrison | 11:33 | 1–0 UM |
| 2nd | CC | Peter Geronazzo – PP | Schmidt and Rud | 23:52 | 1–1 |
| 2nd | CC | Colin Schmidt | Geronazzo and Remackel | 25:37 | 2–1 CC |
| 3rd | UM | Mike Legg – PP | Halko and Schock | 46:54 | 2–2 |
| 1st Overtime | UM | Brendan Morrison – GW | Muckalt and Crozier | 63:35 | 3–2 UM |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
| Michigan | 3 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 19 |
| Colorado College | 5 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 23 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| UM | Marty Turco | 21 | 2 | |
| CC | Ryan Bach | 16 | 3 | |

## All-Tournament team

* G: Marty Turco (Michigan)
* D: Steven Halko (Michigan)
* D: Scott Swanson (Colorado College)
* F: Peter Geronazzo (Colorado College)
* F: Brendan Morrison* (Michigan)
* F: Martin St. Louis (Vermont)
* Most Outstanding Player(s)

## Record by conference

| Conference | # of Bids | Record | Win % | Regional semifinals | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions |
| CCHA | 4 | 4-3 | .571 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ECAC | 3 | 2-3 | .400 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| Hockey East | 3 | 2-3 | .400 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| WCHA | 2 | 3-2 | .600 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - |