2009 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Infobox NCAA Tournament yearly The 2009 NCAA Division I men's 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 as the culmination of the 2008–09 season. The tournament began on March 27, 2009, and ended with the championship game on April 11.^[1]

Boston University, coached by Jack Parker, won its fifth national title (and first since 1995) with a 4–3 overtime victory in the championship game over Miami University, coached by Enrico Blasi.^[2] The game marked the thirteenth time the NCAA championship game has gone to overtime and the first since Minnesota's win over Maine in 2002.

Colby Cohen, sophomore defenseman for Boston University, scored the championship-winning goal in overtime and was named the Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player.^[3]

This year’s Frozen Four featured multiple teams, Bemidji State and Miami, making their first appearance. This last occurred in 1988, when Lake Superior State and Maine both made their first Frozen Four appearances.

Tournament procedure

Script error: No such module "Location map/multi". The 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship was a single-elimination tournament featuring 16 teams representing all six Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 16 within four regionals of 4 teams. The winners of the six Division I conference championships received automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship.

In setting up the tournament, the Championship Committee sought to ensure "competitive equity, financial success and likelihood of playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site." A team serving as the host of a regional was placed within that regional. The top four teams were assigned overall seeds and placed within the bracket such that the national semifinals would feature the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed had the top four teams have won their respective regional finals. Number 1 seeds were also placed as close to their home site as possible, with the No. 1 seed receiving first preference. Conference matchups were avoided in the first round; should five or more teams from one conference have made the tournament, this guideline may have been disregarded in favor of preserving the bracket's integrity.^[4]

The four regionals were officially named after their geographic areas. The following were the sites for the 2009 regionals:^[1]

March 27 and 28: East Regional, Arena at Harbor Yard – Bridgeport, Connecticut (Hosts: Yale University and Fairfield University); West Regional, Mariucci Arena – Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)

March 28 and 29: Midwest Regional, Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, Michigan (Hosts: Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Western Michigan University); Northeast Regional, Verizon Wireless Arena – Manchester, New Hampshire (Host: University of New Hampshire)

Each regional winner advanced to the Frozen Four:^[1]

April 9 and 11: Verizon Center – Washington, D.C. (Hosts: United States Naval Academy and the Greater Washington Sports Alliance)

Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 22, 2009.^[5] The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and Hockey East each had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, while ECAC Hockey and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) each had three teams receive a berth, and Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America (CHA) each had one team receive a berth.

East Regional – Bridgeport					Northeast Regional – Manchester
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type
1	Michigan (4)	CCHA	29–11–0	At-large bid	1	Boston University (1)	Hockey East	31–6–4	Tournament champion
2	Yale	ECAC Hockey	24–7–2	Tournament champion	2	North Dakota	WCHA	24–14–4	At-large bid
3	Vermont	Hockey East	20–11–5	At-large bid	3	New Hampshire	Hockey East	19–12–5	At-large bid
4	Air Force	Atlantic Hockey	27–10–2	Tournament champion	4	Ohio State	CCHA	23–14–4	At-large bid
West Regional – Minneapolis					Midwest Regional – Grand Rapids
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type
1	Denver (3)	WCHA	23–11–5	At-large bid	1	Notre Dame (2)	CCHA	31–5–3	Tournament champion
2	Minnesota-Duluth	WCHA	21–12–8	Tournament champion	2	Northeastern	Hockey East	25–11–4	At-large bid
3	Princeton	ECAC Hockey	22–11–1	At-large bid	3	Cornell	ECAC Hockey	21–9–4	At-large bid
4	Miami	CCHA	20–12–5	At-large bid	4	Bemidji State	CHA	18–15–1	Tournament champion

Preliminary rounds

The number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.
(*) denotes overtime period(s).

East Regional – Bridgeport, Connecticut

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Regional semifinals

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