Teams 16 Champions Denver (6th title) | Finals Site FleetCenter
Boston Runner-Up Maine (5th title game) | |
Semifinalists Boston College (18th Frozen Four)
Minnesota-Duluth (3rd Frozen Four) Winning coach George Gwozdecky (1st title) | ||
The 2004 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. It began on March 26, 2004, and ended with the championship game on April 10. A total of 15 games were played. This was the first season in which the Atlantic Hockey sent a representative to the tournament. Atlantic Hockey assumed possession of the automatic bid that had been the possession of the MAAC after it collapsed and all remaining ice hockey programs formed the new conference.
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The University of Denver, coached by George Gwozdecky, won its sixth national title with a 1-0 victory in the final game over the University of Maine, coached by Tim Whitehead before a record crowd of over 18,000 people at Boston's FleetCenter (now known as the TD Garden). While Denver's Gabe Gauthier scored the game's only goal, the game is best remembered for Denver surviving Maine's six skaters to three skaters advantage in the final 90 seconds of the contest.
Denver goaltender Adam Berkhoel was named the tournament Most Outstanding Player.
Qualifying teams
The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament was announced on March 21, 2004. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) each had five teams receive a berth in the tournament, Hockey East had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, while Atlantic Hockey, College Hockey America (CHA) and the ECAC each received a single bid for their tournament champions.
Number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.
First round and regional finals
Frozen Four
Frozen Four
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
All-Tournament Team
* Most Outstanding Player(s)