# 1973 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey tournament

The 1973 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1972–73 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 26th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 15 and 17, 1973, and concluded with Wisconsin defeating Denver 4–2. All games were played at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
After the tournament Denver's participation was vacated as a result of NCAA recruiting violations.

## 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 | Cornell | ECAC Hockey | 23–3–1 | Tournament champion | 6th | 1972 | 1 | Denver | WCHA | 28–8–1 | Tournament co-champion | 11th (vacated) | 1972 |
| 2 | Boston College | ECAC Hockey | 21–6–1 | At-Large | 10th | 1968 | 2 | Wisconsin | WCHA | 27–9–2 | Tournament co-champion | 3rd | 1972 |

## 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 15–16 | Semifinals March 15–16 | Semifinals March 15–16 | National Championship March 17 | National Championship March 17 | National Championship March 17 |
| E1 | Cornell | 5 | | | |
| W2 | Wisconsin | 6* | | | |
| W2 | Wisconsin | 6* | W2 | Wisconsin | 4 |
| | | | W1 | Denver† | 2 |
| W1 | Denver† | 10 | W1 | Denver† | 2 |
| E2 | Boston College | 4 | Third place game | Third place game | Third place game |
| | | | E1 | Cornell | 1 |
| | | | E2 | Boston College | 3 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s) Note: † Denver's participation was later vacated due to NCAA violations

### National Championship
#### (W1) Denver vs. (W2) Wisconsin

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | WIS | Dave Pay | Johnston and Eaves | 3:05 | 1–0 WIS |
| 1st | DEN | Jim Miller | McNab and Pearson | 3:55 | 1–1 |
| 2nd | DEN | John Pearson – PP | McNab | :54 | 2–1 DEN |
| 2nd | WIS | Tim Dool – PP | Cherrey and Bentley | 4:17 | 2–2 |
| 2nd | WIS | Dean Talafous – GW | Lundeen and Deprez | 8:30 | 3–2 WIS |
| 3rd | WIS | Jim Johnston | Winchester and Pay | 2:34 | 4–2 WIS |
| Penalty summary ||||||
| Period | Team | Player | Penalty | Time | PIM |
| 1st | WIS | Jim Johnston | Tripping | 19:32 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | DEN | Bob Young | Interference | 4:01 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | WIS | Peter McNab | High–Sticking | 13:07 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | WIS | Dave Pay | Tripping | 17:59 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | WIS | Dave Pay | High–Sticking | 14:18 | 2:00 |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
| Wisconsin | 12 | 9 | 8 | 29 |
| Denver | 14 | 11 | 9 | 34 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| WIS | Jim Makey | 32 | 2 | |
| DEN | Ron Grahame | 25 | 4 | |

## All-Tournament Team

* G: Jim Makey (Wisconsin)
* D: vacated†
* D: John Taft (Wisconsin)
* F: Stan Hinkley (Wisconsin)
* F: vacated†
* F: Dean Talafous* (Wisconsin)
* Most Outstanding Player(s) † Recognition of Denver's D: Bruce Affleck and F: Peter McNab was vacated when Denver's participation in the tournament was vacated