1972 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey tournament
The 1972 NCAA Men's University Division Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1971–72 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey season, the 25th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 16 and 18, 1972, and concluded with Boston University defeating Cornell 4–0. All games were played at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
| Teams | 4 |
|---|---|
| Finals site | |
| Champions | Boston University Terriers (2nd title) |
| Runner-up | Cornell Big Red (4th title game) |
| Semifinalists |
|
| Winning coach | Jack Kelley (2nd title) |
| MOP | Tim Regan (Boston University) |
| Attendance | 30,566 |
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 | West | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | Appearance | Last bid |
| 1 | Boston University | ECAC Hockey | 24–4–1 | Tournament champion | 8th | 1971 | 1 | Denver | WCHA | 27–9–0 | Tournament co-champion | 10th | 1971 |
| 2 | Cornell | ECAC Hockey | 22–5–0 | At-Large | 5th | 1970 | 2 | Wisconsin | WCHA | 26–9–1 | Tournament co-champion | 2nd | 1970 |
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 16–17 | National championship March 18 | ||||||||
| E1 | Boston University | 4 | |||||||
| W2 | Wisconsin | 1 | |||||||
| E1 | Boston University | 4 | |||||||
| E2 | Cornell | 0 | |||||||
| W1 | Denver | 2 | |||||||
| E2 | Cornell | 7 | Third-place game | ||||||
| W1 | Denver | 2 | |||||||
| W2 | Wisconsin | 5 | |||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Semifinals
(E1) Boston University vs. (W2) Wisconsin
| March 16 | Boston University | 4 – 1 | Wisconsin | Boston Garden | ||||
(W1) Denver vs. (E2) Cornell
| March 17 | Denver | 2 – 7 | Cornell | Boston Garden | ||||
| No Scoring | First period | 01:08 - Larry Fullan (Ugolini, Hanson) 07:15 - Dave Westner (Higgs) 17:51 - GW - Gord McCormick (Stewart, Dunsmuir) | ||||||
| (Morenz) Bob Krieger - 13:57 (Christy, Preston) Brian Morenz - 14:49 | Second period | 18:53 - Dave Westner (Fumio, Fullan) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 09:12 - Dave Westner (Fumio) 12:51 - Dave Westner (Fullan) 19:40 - Doug Marrett (Brush, Murray) | ||||||
| ( 28 saves / 35 shots ) Ron Grahame | Goalie stats | Dave Elenbaas ( 32 saves / 34 shots ) | ||||||
Consolation Game
(W1) Denver vs. (W2) Wisconsin
| March 18 | Denver | 2 – 5 | Wisconsin | Boston Garden | ||||
National Championship
(E1) Boston University vs. (E2) Cornell
| March 18[3] | Boston University | 4 – 0 | Cornell | Boston Garden | ||||
| Scoring summary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | BU | Ron Anderson - GW PP | Brown and Jordan | 10:42 | 1–0 BU |
| 2nd | BU | Ric Jordan - PP | Brown | 30:51 | 2–0 BU |
| 3rd | BU | Ron Anderson | Cahoon | 41:39 | 3–0 BU |
| BU | Ric Jordan | Cahoon and Anderson | 53:13 | 4–0 BU | |
| Penalty summary | |||||
| Period | Team | Player | Penalty | Time | PIM |
| 1st | COR | Gordon McCormick | 8:52 | 2:00 | |
| BU | Mike LaGarde | 18:13 | 2:00 | ||
| COR | Larry Fullan | 18:13 | 2:00 | ||
| 2nd | COR | Dave Elenbaas | 29:13 | 2:00 | |
| BU | Ron Anderson | 29:44 | 2:00 | ||
| COR | Larry Fullan | 29:44 | 2:00 | ||
| 3rd | BU | Peter Thornton | 43:24 | 2:00 | |
| Goaltenders | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| COR | Dave Elenbaas | 28 | 4 | 60:00 |
| BU | Tim Regan | 39 | 0 | 60:00 |
All-Tournament team
- G: Tim Regan* (Boston University)
- D: Bob Brown (Boston University)
- D: Ric Jordan (Boston University)
- F: John Danby (Boston University)
- F: Dave Westner (Cornell)
- F: Gary Winchester (Wisconsin)