2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the national championship tournament for men's college ice hockey in the United States. It took place between March 26 and April 10, 2021. 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 Robert Morris University at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh from April 8 to 10.

The SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, was selected to host the Northeast Region, but pulled out on January 26, 2021, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. The Times Union Center in Albany, New York, was selected as a replacement site.

This year's tournament featured, as of 2024, the longest game in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament history, when the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defeated the North Dakota Fighting Hawks by a score of 3–2 in five overtimes, totaling 142:13 minutes of play, in the West Regional Final.

This tournament's Frozen Four teams were also notable for a number of reasons. First, it was just the second time in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament history in which three of the final four teams came from one state. This first occurred in 1992, when the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, and Lake Superior State Lakers, all from Michigan, made the Frozen Four. In this year's tournament, three teams came from Minnesota, these teams being the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, St. Cloud State Huskies, and Minnesota State Mavericks. Also, this year's tournament was only the third time since 1992, when Regional Tournaments were first conducted, that no teams ranked no. 1 in their respective Regional Tournament advanced to the Frozen Four. This also occurred in the 1998 and 2007 tournaments.

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.

Regional semifinals and finals March 26–27 East Regional, Webster Bank Arena – Bridgeport, Connecticut (Hosts: Sacred Heart and Yale) Midwest Regional, Scheels Arena – Fargo, North Dakota (Host: North Dakota) March 27–28 Northeast Regional, Times Union Center – Albany, New York (Hosts: ECAC) West Regional, Budweiser Events Center – Loveland, Colorado (Host: Denver)

National semifinals and championship (Frozen Four and championship) April 8 and April 10 PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: Robert Morris University)

Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 21, 2021.

Typically, teams are seeded according to their PairWise rankings (PWR); however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing a severe lack of inter-conference games among the league, using the PWR would not be a reliable representation of overall NCAA standings. As a result, the NCAA Selection Committee awarded seeds manually based on varying factors, including perceived strength of conference and performance against the best teams in conference. Once seeds were determined, matchups were adjusted to prevent teams from the same conference meeting in the first round, as well as minimize the amount of traveling required due to the pandemic.

The NCHC and Big Ten each had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, Hockey East and WCHA each had three teams receive a berth, and one team from Atlantic Hockey and the ECAC each received a berth.

ECAC Tournament champions St. Lawrence earned an autobid but were forced to withdraw from the tournament as a result of a positive COVID-19 test among the team's coaching staff. Quinnipiac was selected to replace St. Lawrence as ECAC's autobid.

On March 25, it was announced that Notre Dame would be forced to withdraw from the tournament due to COVID protocols. As a result, their matchup with Boston College was ruled a no-contest and the Eagles automatically advanced to the Northeast Regional Final. Similarly, on March 26, the NCAA announced Michigan was forced to withdraw as well due to COVID protocols. As a result, Minnesota–Duluth automatically advanced to the Midwest Regional Final.

Midwest Regional – FargoEast Regional – BridgeportSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bid1North Dakota (1)NCHC21–5–1Tournament champion33rd20171Wisconsin (4)Big Ten20–9–1At-Large bid26th20142MichiganBig Ten15–10–1At-Large bid38th20182MassachusettsHockey East16–5–4Tournament champion3rd20193Minnesota DuluthNCHC14–10–2At-Large bid14th20193Lake Superior StateWCHA19–6–3Tournament champion11th19964American InternationalAtlantic Hockey15–3–0Tournament champion2nd20194Bemidji StateWCHA15–9–3At-Large bid5th2010West Regional – LovelandNortheast Regional – AlbanySeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bidSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bid1Minnesota (3)Big Ten23–6–0Tournament champion38th20171Boston College (2)Hockey East17–5–1At-Large bid36th20162Minnesota StateWCHA20–4–1At-Large bid7th20192St. Cloud StateNCHC17–10–0At-Large bid15th20193QuinnipiacECAC17–7–4Replacement Autobid7th20193Boston UniversityHockey East10–4–1At-Large bid37th20184OmahaNCHC14–10–1At-Large bid4th20154Notre DameBig Ten14–13–2At-Large bid12th2019

Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

Tournament bracket

* denotes overtime period† Michigan and Notre Dame were removed from the tournament due to positive COVID-19 test results.

Results

Midwest Region – Fargo, North Dakota

Regional semifinals

Regional Final

Northeast Region – Albany, New York

Regional semifinals

Regional Final

West Region – Loveland, Colorado

Regional semifinals

Regional Final

East Region – Bridgeport, Connecticut

Regional semifinals

Regional Final

Frozen Four – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

National semifinal

2021 National Championship

(E2) Massachusetts vs. (NE2) St. Cloud State

Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st UMAAaron Bohlinger (1) – GWSullivan and Farmer 7:26 1–0 UMA UMAReed Lebster (2)Kiefiuk 18:56 2–0 UMA 2nd UMAPhilip Lagunov (6) – SHunassisted 25:10 3–0 UMA UMAMatthew Kessel (10) – PPChau and Gaudet 33:45 4–0 UMA 3rd UMABobby Trivigno (11)Lebster 46:00 5–0 UMA Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st UMAAnthony Del GaizoSlashing 15:27 2:00 2nd STCSeamus DonohueTripping 20:24 2:00 UMARyan SullivanTripping 23:57 2:00 UMAJake GaudetElbowing 30:31 2:00 STCBench (served by Zach Okabe)Too many men on the ice 32:35 2:00 3rd None

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T St. Cloud State 3 12 10 25 Massachusetts 7 6 9 22

Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice STC Dávid Hrenák 17 5 60:00 UMA Filip Lindberg 25 0 60:00

All-Tournament team G: Filip Lindberg (Massachusetts) D: Zac Jones (Massachusetts) D: Matthew Kessel (Massachusetts) F: Nathan Smith (Minnesota State) F: Bobby Trivigno* (Massachusetts) F: Nolan Walker (St. Cloud State) * Most Outstanding Player(s)

Record by conference

ConferenceBidsRecordWin %Regional FinalsFrozen FourChampionship GameChampions NCHC 4 5–4 3 2 1 – Big Ten 4 1–2 1 – – – Hockey East 3 4–2 2 1 1 1 WCHA 3 3–3 2 1 – – Atlantic Hockey 1 0–1 – – – – ECAC Hockey 1 0–1 – – – – Note: Two regional semifinal games were declared 'No Contest' and the four teams involved were not credited with a win or a loss in those games.

Media

Television ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament for the sixteenth consecutive year. ESPN aired every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, and ESPN3, which were streamed online via WatchESPN.

Broadcast assignments Regionals East Regional: John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, and Colby Cohen – Bridgeport, Connecticut Midwest Regional: Leah Hextall and Dave Starman – Fargo, North Dakota Northeast Regional: Kevin Brown and Sean Ritchlin – Albany, New York West Regional: Ben Holden and Fred Pletsch – Loveland, Colorado

Frozen Four John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, Colby Cohen, and Quint Kessenich – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Radio Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the Frozen Four and broadcast both the semifinals and the championship. Brian Tripp and Dave Starman

References