Teams 12 Runner-Up Maine (4th title game) | Champions Minnesota (4th title) Winning coach Don Lucia (1st title) | |
Finals Site Xcel Energy Center
St. Paul, Minnesota Semifinalists Michigan (21st Frozen Four)
New Hampshire (7th Frozen Four) | ||
The 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament involved 12 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey.
Contents
The final event was played at Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota. The University of Minnesota, coached by Don Lucia, won its first NCAA title since 1979 by defeating the University of Maine, coached by Tim Whitehead, 4-3, in overtime on April 6. Matt Koalska tied the game with 53 seconds remaining in regulation with Minnesota goaltender Adam Hauser pulled for an extra attacker. Grant Potulny then won it on his power-play goal at 16:58 of the extra session, giving the Golden Gophers their fourth NCAA championship (6th overall). Minnesota senior forward John Pohl assisted on both the tying and winning goals in his final game in a Gophers uniform.
Minnesota advanced to the finals with a 3-2 semifinal win over Michigan on April 4, after Maine had bested Hockey East rival New Hampshire by a 7-2 score in the other semifinal.
Qualifying teams
The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced after the conference tournaments concluded on March 17, 2002. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, Hockey East had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), and the ECAC each had two berths, while the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) received a single bid for its tournament champion.
Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.
Game locations
Frozen Four
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
All-Tournament Team
* Most Outstanding Player(s)