2002 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

2002 NCAA Division III men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams9
Finals site
ChampionsWisconsin–Superior Yellowjackets (1st title)
Runner-upNorwich Cadets (2nd title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachDan Stauber (1st title)
Attendance19,202

The 2002 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2001–02 season, the 19th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Wisconsin-Superior defeating Norwich in the championship game 3-2 in overtime. All First Round and Quarterfinal matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Middlebury, Vermont.

Qualifying teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament. Automatic bids were offered to the conference tournament champion of seven different conferences with one at-large bid for the best remaining team from each region.

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
1 Middlebury (1) NESCAC 24–1–1 Tournament Champion 8th 2001 1 St. Norbert (3) NCHA 23–4–2 At-Large 4th 1999
2 RIT (2) ECAC West 23–2–0 Tournament Champion 12th 2001 2 Wisconsin–Superior NCHA 20–5–4 Tournament Champion 10th 2001
3 Norwich (4) ECAC East 24–4–0 Tournament Champion 5th 2000 3 St. Thomas MIAC 22–5–0 Tournament Champion 10th 2000
4 Bowdoin ECAC East 18–4–3 At-Large 2nd 1996
5 Plattsburgh State SUNYAC 20–8–2 Tournament Champion 11th 2001
6 Wentworth ECAC Northeast 18–7–2 Tournament Champion 2nd 2000

Format

The tournament featured four rounds of play. In the Quarterfinals, teams played a two-game series where the first team to reach 3 points was declared a winner (2 points for winning a game, 1 point each for tying). If both teams ended up with 2 points after the first two games a 20-minute mini-game was played to determine a winner. Mini-game scores are in italics. All other rounds were Single-game elimination. For the three eastern Quarterfinals, the teams were seeded according to their rankings with the top three teams serving as hosts. For the western quarterfinal, the top-ranked team awaited the winner of a play-in game between the lower-ranked teams. The quarterfinal brackets were arranged so that were all higher-seeded teams to advance, the first overall seed would play the fourth overall seed in the semifinals.

The third place game ceased to be held with this tournament.

Tournament bracket

First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals National Championship
W1 St. Norbert (3) 4* 2 -
W2 Wisconsin–Superior 2 W2 Wisconsin–Superior 4 4 -
W3 St. Thomas 1 W2 Wisconsin–Superior 5
E5 Plattsburgh State 0
E2 RIT (2) 4* 2* 0
E5 Plattsburgh State 4 2 1
W2 Wisconsin–Superior 3*
E3 Norwich (4) 2
E1 Middlebury (1) 6 9 -
E6 Wentworth 0 1 -
E1 Middlebury (1) 2
E3 Norwich (4) 5
E3 Norwich (4) 3 7 -
E4 Bowdoin 0 0 -

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Note: Mini-games in italics

First round

(W2) Wisconsin–Superior vs. (W3) St. Thomas

March Wisconsin–Superior 2 – 1 St. Thomas Wessman Arena  
06:18 – pp – Dale Lupul (4) First period Eric Wenkus (15) – 00:44
12:45 – Reed Larson (8) Second period No scoring
No scoring Third period No scoring
Nathan Ziemski (23 saves / 24 shots) Goalie stats Bob Tallarico (37 saves / 39 shots)

Quarterfinals

(W1) St. Norbert vs. (W2) Wisconsin–Superior

March 9 St. Norbert 4 – 4 OT Wisconsin–Superior Cornerstone Community Center  
No scoring First period Milan Tomaska (3) – 3:18
5:27 – Jim Underwood (7)
9:40 – Andy Trann (17)
Second period Josh Liebenow (12) – pp – 11:39
Josh Liebenow (13) – pp – 13:46
3:18 – Jason Deitsch (13)
16:59 – Faron Duthie (17)
Third period Colin Kendall (16) – 17:44
No scoring First overtime period No scoring
Ryan Gill (30 saves / 34 shots) Goalie stats Nathan Ziemski (37 saves / 41 shots)
March 10 St. Norbert 2 – 4 Wisconsin–Superior Cornerstone Community Center  
No scoring First period Kyle Nosan (10) – 13:14
No scoring Second period Randy Currie (4) – 4:30
Reed Larson (9) – 12:56
Josh Liebenow (14) – 19:46
4:59 – Ryan Tew (2)
6:49 – Māris Ziediņš (21)
Third period No scoring
Ryan Gill (24 saves / 26 shots)
Chancy Colquhoun (11 saves / 13 shots)
Goalie stats Nathan Ziemski (27 saves / 29 shots)
Wisconsin–Superior won series on total points 3–1

(E2) RIT vs. (E5) Plattsburgh State

March 8 RIT 4 – 4 OT Plattsburgh State Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena  
No scoring First period Peter Ollari (9) – 1:21
Brendon Hodge (9) – sh – 14:58
6:23 – Brian Armes (7)
14:27 – Jason Chafe (11)
17:06 – pp – Shawn Wilkins (5)
Second period James Coleman (3) – 10:57
17:04 – David Bagley (18) Third period Adam Richards (12) – pp – 11:26
No scoring First overtime period No scoring
Tyler Euverman (24 saves / 28 shots) Goalie stats Niklas Sundberg (42 saves / 46 shots)
March 9 RIT 2 – 2 OT Plattsburgh State Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena  
5:16 – Shawn Wilkins (6) First period Brendon Hodge (10) – 18:52
No scoring Second period No scoring
11:39 – Sam Hill (12) Third period Jeff Marshall (5) – 17:22
No scoring First overtime period No scoring
Tyler Euverman (27 saves / 29 shots) Goalie stats Niklas Sundberg (29 saves / 31 shots)
March 9 (mini game) RIT 0 – 1 Plattsburgh State Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena
Plattsburgh State won series on total points 3–2

(E1) Middlebury vs. (E6) Wentworth

March 8 Middlebury 6 – 0 Wentworth Kenyon Arena  
No scoring First period No scoring
10:33 – Kevin Cooper (27)
15:09 – Jack Kennedy (1)
18:30 – John Dawson (13)
Second period No scoring
10:07 – John Dawson (14)
17:28 – Adam Foote (13)
18:06 – Andy Campbell (8)
Third period No scoring
Christian Carlsson (10 saves / 10 shots) Goalie stats Raj Bhangoo (49 saves / 55 shots)
March 9 Middlebury 9 – 1 Wentworth Kenyon Arena  
4:02 – Robert Chisholm (9) First period No scoring
1:20 – Patrick Nugent (3)
8:12 – J.F. Duchesne (6)
17:46 – pp – Ryan Constantine (7)
Second period No scoring
0:26 – Matt Dunn (13)
2:01 – Mike Kennedy (4)
13:29 – Mike Kennedy (5)
13:56 – Mike Kennedy (6)
15:21 – Kevin Cooper (28)
Third period Ben Pierce (7) – pp – 8:59
Christian Carlsson (9 saves / 10 shots) Goalie stats Jamie Vanek (38 saves / 47 shots)
Bryce McFadden (2 saves / 2 shots)
Middlebury won series on total points 4–0

(E3) Norwich vs. (E4) Bowdoin

March 8 Norwich 3 – 0 Bowdoin Kreitzberg Arena  
11:17 – Vadim Beliaev (12) First period No scoring
No scoring Second period No scoring
13:53 – Phil Aucoin (15)
19:59 – en – Keith Maurice (6)
Third period No scoring
Kevin Schieve (22 saves / 22 shots) Goalie stats Mike Healey (27 saves / 29 shots)
March 9 Norwich 7 – 0 Bowdoin Kreitzberg Arena  
3:59 – Vadim Beliaev (13)
13:42 – Vadim Beliaev (14)
15:50 – Matt Schmidt (21)
19:47 – Ed Boudreau (12)
First period No scoring
18:40 – Timmy Kyrkostas (6) Second period No scoring
0:49 – Phil Aucoin (16)
14:35 – Peter Catalano (8)
Third period No scoring
Kevin Schieve (24 saves / 24 shots)
Ziga Ivanic (3 saves / 3 shots)
Goalie stats Mike Healey (22 saves / 28 shots)
Pascal Chiasson (3 saves / 4 shots)
Norwich won series on total points 4–0

Semifinals

(W2) Wisconsin–Superior vs. (E5) Plattsburgh State

March 15 Wisconsin–Superior 5 – 0 Plattsburgh State Kenyon Arena  
13:36 – Rob Whidden (9)
16:09 – Yann Poirier (20)
First period No scoring
6:24 – Reed Larson (10)
19:18 – Ryan Kalbrener (12)
Second period No scoring
0:48 – pp – Dale Lupul (5) Third period No scoring
Nathan Ziemski (16 saves / 16 shots) Goalie stats Niklas Sundberg (18 saves / 23 shots)
Tony Seariac (0 saves / 0 shots)

(E1) Middlebury vs. (E3) Norwich

March 15 Middlebury 2 – 5 Norwich Wessman Arena  
No scoring First period Ed Boudreau (13) – 0:31
Phil Aucoin (17) – pp – 8:07
No scoring Second period Matt Schmidt (22) – pp – 8:37
Ed Boudreau (14) – pp – 13:34
0:13 – Robert Chisholm (10)
10:41 – Andrew Helming (6)
Third period Mario Chinelli (7) – en – 19:42
Christian Carlsson (15 saves / 19 shots) Goalie stats Kevin Schieve (18 saves / 20 shots)

National Championship

(W2) Wisconsin–Superior vs. (E3) Norwich

March 16 Wisconsin–Superior 3 – 2 OT Norwich Kenyon Arena  
14:25 – Randy Currie (5) First period Kurtis McLean (28) – pp – 13:38
No scoring Second period Matt Schmidt (23) – 5:31
18:34 – Colin Kendall (17) Third period No scoring
0:23 – Colin Kendall (18) First overtime period No scoring
Nathan Ziemski (26 saves / 28 shots) Goalie stats Kevin Schieve (16 saves / 19 shots)

Record by conference

Conference # of Bids Record Win % Frozen Four Championship Game Champions
NCHA 2 4–1–2 .714 1 1 1
ECAC East 2 3–3–0 .500 1 1 -
NESCAC 1 2–1–0 .667 1 - -
ECAC West 1 0–0–2 .500 - - -
SUNYAC 1 0–1–2 .333 1 - -
ECAC Northeast 1 0–2–0 .000 - - -
MIAC 1 0–1–0 .000 - - -

References

  • "Division III Men's Ice Hockey Record Book" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved March 4, 2019.