1973 NCAA University Division men's ice hockey tournament

The 1973 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1972–73 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 26th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 15 and 17, 1973, and concluded with Wisconsin defeating Denver 4–2. All games were played at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

After the tournament Denver's participation was vacated as a result of NCAA recruiting violations.^[1]

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	Cornell	ECAC Hockey	23–3–1	Tournament champion	6th	1972	1	Denver	WCHA	28–8–1	Tournament co-champion	11th (vacated)	1972
2	Boston College	ECAC Hockey	21–6–1	At-Large	10th	1968	2	Wisconsin	WCHA	27–9–2	Tournament co-champion	3rd	1972

^[2]

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

^[3]

	Semifinals March 15–16					National Championship March 17
	E1	Cornell	5
	W2	Wisconsin	6*
						W2	Wisconsin	4
						W1	Denver†	2
	W1	Denver†	10
	E2	Boston College	4			Third place game
						E1	Cornell	1
						E2	Boston College	3

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Note: † Denver's participation was later vacated due to NCAA violations

Semifinals

(W1) Denver vs. (E2) Boston College

March 15

Denver

10 – 4

Boston College

Boston Garden

(E1) Cornell vs. (W2) Wisconsin

March 16	Cornell		5 – 6	OT	Wisconsin	Boston Garden
(Kuzmicz, Bo. Murray) Doug Marrett - 00:40 (Ceci) Paul Perras - 08:52		First period			No scoring
(Bi. Murray, Bo. Murray) George Kuzmicz - 00:31 (Skillins, Peace) Mike McGuire - 04:39		Second period			12:03 - PP - Norm Cherrey (Bentley, Talafous) 18:28 - Dennis Olmstead (Hinkley)
(unassisted) Bill Murray - 00:40		Third period			08:16 - Gary Winchester (Pay, Hinkley) 16:49 - Jim Johnston (Winchester, Taft) 19:55 - EA - Dean Talafous (Hinkley, Olmstead)
No scoring		First overtime period			09:27 - GW - Dean Talafous (Olmstead, Alley)
( 35 saves / 36 shots ) Dave Elenbaas		Goalie stats			Dick Perkins ( 24 saves / 27 shots )

Consolation Game

(E1) Cornell vs. (E2) Boston College

March 17	Cornell		1 – 3		Boston College	Boston Garden
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			00:22 - Bob Reardon (Mellor) 12:25 - Ed Kenty (unassisted)
(Ugolini) Doug Marrett - 08:42		Third period			19:59 - EN - Jim Doyle (Smith, Reardon)
( 26 saves / 28 shots ) Dave Elenbaas		Goalie stats			Neil Higgins ( 46 saves / 47 shots )

National Championship

(W1) Denver vs. (W2) Wisconsin

March 17[4][5]

Denver

2 – 4

Wisconsin

Boston Garden

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	WIS	Dave Pay	Johnston and Eaves	3:05	1–0 WIS
	DEN	Jim Miller	McNab and Pearson	3:55	1–1
2nd	DEN	John Pearson – PP	McNab	:54	2–1 DEN
	WIS	Tim Dool – PP	Cherrey and Bentley	4:17	2–2
	WIS	Dean Talafous – GW	Lundeen and Deprez	8:30	3–2 WIS
3rd	WIS	Jim Johnston	Winchester and Pay	2:34	4–2 WIS
Penalty summary
Period	Team	Player	Penalty	Time	PIM
1st	WIS	Jim Johnston	Tripping	19:32	2:00
2nd	DEN	Bob Young	Interference	4:01	2:00
	WIS	Peter McNab	High–Sticking	13:07	2:00
	WIS	Dave Pay	Tripping	17:59	2:00
3rd	WIS	Dave Pay	High–Sticking	14:18	2:00

All-Tournament Team

• G: Jim Makey (Wisconsin)
• D: vacated†
• D: John Taft (Wisconsin)
• F: Stan Hinkley (Wisconsin)
• F: vacated†
• F: Dean Talafous* (Wisconsin)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[6]
† Recognition of Denver's D: Bruce Affleck and F: Peter McNab was vacated when Denver's participation in the tournament was vacated^[1]

^[7]

References