The 2017 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the national championship tournament for men's college ice hockey in the United States, held from March 24 - April 8, 2017. The tournament involved 16 teams in single-elimination play to determine the national champion at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the highest level of competition in college hockey. The tournament's Frozen Four – the semifinals and finals – was hosted by the University of Notre Dame and the Chicago Sports Commission at the United Center in Chicago.
Denver defeated Minnesota-Duluth 3–2 to win the program's 8th NCAA title.
Tournament procedure
The tournament is composed of four groups of four teams in regional brackets. The four regionals are officially named after their geographic areas. The following were the sites for the 2017 regionals: March 24–25 East Regional, Dunkin' Donuts Center – Providence, Rhode Island (Host: Brown University) West Regional, Scheels Arena – Fargo, North Dakota (Host: University of North Dakota) March 25–26 Northeast Regional, SNHU Arena – Manchester, New Hampshire (Host: University of New Hampshire) Midwest Regional, US Bank Arena – Cincinnati, Ohio (Host: Miami University)
The winner of each regional advanced to the Frozen Four: April 6–8 United Center – Chicago, Illinois (Host: University of Notre Dame)
Qualifying teams The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 19. Hockey East had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, NCHC had four teams receive a berth, ECAC Hockey had three teams receive a berth, Big Ten Conference had three teams receive a berth, and one team from the Atlantic Hockey, and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) received a berth.
East Regional – Providence West Regional – FargoSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type AppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type AppearanceLast bid1Harvard (3)ECAC 26–5–2Tournament champion24th20161Minnesota-Duluth (2)NCHC 25–6–7Tournament champion11th20162Western MichiganNCHC 22–12–5At-large bid6th20122Boston UniversityHockey East 23–11–3At-large bid35th20163Air ForceAtlantic Hockey 26–9–5Tournament champion6th20123North DakotaNCHC 21–15–3At-large bid32nd20164ProvidenceHockey East 22–11–5At-large bid13th20164Ohio StateBig Ten 21–11–6At-large bid7th2009 Northeast Regional – Manchester Midwest Regional – CincinnatiSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type AppearanceLast bid1Minnesota (4)Big Ten 23–11–3At-large bid37th20151Denver (1)NCHC 29–7–4At-large bid27th20162 UMass LowellHockey East 26–10–3Tournament champion8th20162UnionECAC 25–9–3At-large bid5th20143CornellECAC 19–8–4At-large bid20th20123Penn StateBig Ten 24–11–2Tournament champion1stNever4Notre DameHockey East 21–11–5At-large bid9th20164Michigan TechWCHA 23–14–7Tournament champion12th2015
Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.
Tournament bracket
Note: * denotes overtime period
Results
Midwest Region – Cincinnati, Ohio
Regional semifinal
Regional Final
West Region – Fargo, North Dakota
Regional semifinal
Regional Final
East Region – Providence, Rhode Island
Regional semifinal
Regional Final
Northeast Region – Manchester, New Hampshire
Regional semifinal
Regional Final
Frozen Four – Chicago, Illinois
National semifinal
National Championship
(MW1) Denver vs. (W1) Minnesota–Duluth
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st None 2nd DENJarid Lukosevicius (14)Davies and Hillman 24:44 1–0 DU DENJarid Lukosevicius (15)Terry and Davies 5:00 2–0 DU UMDAlex Iafallo (21) – PPAnderson and Pionk 27:16 2–1 DU DENJarid Lukosevicius (16) – GWGambrell and Terry 32:23 3–1 DU 3rd UMDRiley Tufte (9)Peterson and Kotyk 54:39 3–2 DU Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st UMDDan MolenaarElbowing 17:32 2:00 2nd DEN Matt Marcinew Hooking 6:44 2:00 UMDWillie RascobIndirect contact to the head; Elbowing 7:34 2:00
Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Minnesota–Duluth 10 13 17 40 Denver 13 13 3 28
Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice UMD Hunter Miska 25 3 58:16 DEN Tanner Jaillet 38 2 59:56
All-Tournament team
Frozen Four G: Tanner Jaillet (Denver) D: Will Butcher (Denver) D: Neal Pionk (Minnesota-Duluth) F: Alex Iafallo (Minnesota-Duluth) F: Jarid Lukosevicius* (Denver) F: Troy Terry (Denver) * Most Outstanding Player(s)
Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Regional FinalsFrozen FourChampionship GameChampions NCHC 4 7–3 2 2 2 1 Hockey East 4 4–4 3 1 - - ECAC Hockey 3 2–3 1 1 - - Big Ten 3 1–3 1 - - - Atlantic Hockey 1 1–1 1 - - - WCHA 1 0–1 - - - -
Media
Television ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament for the thirteenth consecutive year. ESPN aired every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, or ESPN3 and streamed them online via WatchESPN.
In Canada, the tournament was broadcast by TSN and streamed on TSN Go.
Broadcast assignments Regionals East Regional: John Buccigross, Barry Melrose and Quint Kessenich – Providence, Rhode Island West Regional: Clay Matvick and Sean Ritchlin – Fargo, North Dakota Northeast Regional: Allen Bestwick and Billy Jaffe – Manchester, New Hampshire Midwest Regional: Kevin Brown and Colby Cohen – Cincinnati, Ohio
Frozen Four John Buccigross, Barry Melrose and Quint Kessenich – Chicago, Illinois
Radio Westwood One has exclusive radio rights to the Frozen Four and will air both the semifinals and the championship. Alex Faust, Colby Cohen, & Shireen Saski
References