1996 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1996 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 12 schools playing in single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey. It began on March 22, 1996, and ended with the championship game on March 30. A total of 11 games were played. The top two seeds in each region received a bye into the tournament quarterfinals.

In the regional semifinals, Michigan's Mike Legg scored a high wraparound goal that, in the U.S., is now known as a Michigan goal.^[1]

The University of Michigan, coached by Red Berenson, won the national championship with a 3–2 victory over Colorado College in overtime in front of 12,957 fans.^[2]

Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced after the conference tournaments concluded. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, the ECAC and Hockey East each had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, while the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) had two berths.

East Regional – Albany							West Regional – East Lansing
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Boston University	Hockey East	29–6–3	At-large bid	22nd	1995	1	Colorado College	WCHA	31–4–4	At-large bid	10th	1995
2	Vermont	ECAC	26–6–4	At-large bid	2nd	1988	2	Michigan	CCHA	30–7–2	Tournament champion	19th	1995
3	Lake Superior State	CCHA	29–7–2	At-large bid	10th	1995	3	Minnesota	WCHA	29–9–2	Tournament champion	23rd	1995
4	Western Michigan	CCHA	27–10–3	At-large bid	3rd	1994	4	Massachusetts-Lowell	Hockey East	25–9–4	At-large bid	3rd	1994
5	Clarkson	ECAC	24–9–3	At-large bid	15th	1995	5	Michigan State	CCHA	28–12–1	At-large bid	16th	1995
6	Providence	Hockey East	21–14–3	Tournament champion	8th	1991	6	Cornell	ECAC	21–8–4	Tournament champion	11th	1991

^[3]

Game locations

• East Regional – Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY
• West Regional – Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI
• Frozen Four – Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH

Tournament bracket

Regional Quarterfinals March 22–23

Regional semifinals March 23–24

Frozen Four March 28

National championship March 30

E1

Boston University

3

E5

Clarkson

2

E4

Western Michigan

1

E5

Clarkson

6

E1

Boston University

0

W2

Michigan

4

W2

Michigan

4

W3

Minnesota

3

W3

Minnesota

5

W6

Providence

1

W2

Michigan

3*

W1

Colorado College

2

E2

Vermont

2

E3

Lake Superior State

1

E3

Lake Superior State

5

E6

Cornell

4

E2

Vermont

3

W1

Colorado College

4**

W1

Colorado College

5

W4

Massachusetts-Lowell

3

W4

Massachusetts-Lowell

6

W5

Michigan State

2

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Regional Quarterfinals

East Regional

(3) Lake Superior State vs. (6) Cornell

March 22

Lake Superior State

5 – 4

Cornell

Knickerbocker Arena

(4) Western Michigan vs. (5) Clarkson

March 22

Western Michigan

1 – 6

Clarkson

Knickerbocker Arena

West Regional

(3) Minnesota vs. (6) Providence

March 23

Minnesota

5 – 1

Providence

Munn Ice Arena

(4) Massachusetts-Lowell vs. (5) Michigan State

March 23[4]	Massachusetts-Lowell		6 – 2		Michigan State	Munn Ice Arena
(Donovan, Sbrocca) Jeff Daw – 07:12 (Concannon, Donovan) David Barrozino – 16:57		First period			No scoring
(Dartsch) Marc Salsman – GW – 06:52 (Sbrocca) Brendan Concannon – 11:30		Second period			18:52 – Sean Berens (York, Watt)
(Concannon) David Barrozino – 00:34 (Mahoney, Sandholm) David Barrozino – 17:42		Third period			06:42 – Mark Loeding (Adams, Ford)

Regional semifinals

East Regional

(1) Boston University vs. (5) Clarkson

March 23

Boston University

3 – 2

Clarkson

Knickerbocker Arena

(2) Vermont vs. (3) Lake Superior State

March 23

Vermont

2 – 1

Lake Superior State

Knickerbocker Arena

West Regional

(1) Colorado College vs. (4) Massachusetts-Lowell

March 24

Colorado College

5 – 3

Massachusetts-Lowell

Munn Ice Arena

(2) Michigan vs. (3) Minnesota

March 24

Michigan

4 – 3

Minnesota

Munn Ice Arena

Frozen Four

National semifinal

(E1) Boston University vs. (W2) Michigan

March 28

Boston University

0 – 4

Michigan

Riverfront Coliseum

(E2) Vermont vs. (W1) Colorado College

March 28

Vermont

3 – 4

2OT

Colorado College

Riverfront Coliseum

National Championship

(W2) Michigan vs. (W1) Colorado College

March 30

Michigan

3 – 2

OT

Colorado College

Riverfront Coliseum

Scoring summary[5]
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	UM	Bill Muckalt	Morrison	11:33	1–0 UM
2nd	CC	Peter Geronazzo – PP	Schmidt and Rud	23:52	1–1
	CC	Colin Schmidt	Geronazzo and Remackel	25:37	2–1 CC
3rd	UM	Mike Legg – PP	Halko and Schock	46:54	2–2
1st Overtime	UM	Brendan Morrison – GW	Muckalt and Crozier	63:35	3–2 UM

All-Tournament team

• G: Marty Turco (Michigan)
• D: Steven Halko (Michigan)
• D: Scott Swanson (Colorado College)
• F: Peter Geronazzo (Colorado College)
• F: Brendan Morrison* (Michigan)
• F: Martin St. Louis (Vermont)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[6]

^[7]

Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	Regional semifinals	Frozen Four	Championship Game	Champions
CCHA	4	4-3	.571	2	1	1	1
ECAC	3	2-3	.400	2	1	-	-
Hockey East	3	2-3	.400	2	1	-	-
WCHA	2	3-2	.600	2	1	1	-

References