1990 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1990 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1989–90 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 43rd such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 16 and April 1, 1990, and concluded with Wisconsin defeating Colgate 7-3. All First Round and Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues with the 'Frozen Four' games being played at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

This was the first year in which the consolation game was not played since the tournament's premier in 1948.^[1]

Boston University's 30 goals scored during the tournament is the highest ever for a single team. The Terriers also played the most NCAA tournament games in one year (7).

Qualifying teams

The NCAA permitted 12 teams to qualify for the tournament and divided its qualifiers into two regions (East and West). Each of the tournament champions from the four Division I conferences (CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East and WCHA) received automatic invitations into the tournament with At-large bids making up the remaining 8 teams. The NCAA permitted one Independent team to participate in the tournament and placed it in the East Regional with the intent to insert an additional independent in the West Regional the following season. As a result, the two western conferences (CCHA and WCHA) would split four open spots as opposed to the East's three.

East							West
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Boston College	Hockey East	26–11–1	Tournament champion	17th	1989	1	Michigan State	CCHA	36–5–3	Tournament champion	12th	1989
2	Colgate	ECAC Hockey	28–5–1	Tournament champion	2nd	1981	2	Wisconsin	WCHA	32–9–1	Tournament champion	11th	1989
3	Maine	Hockey East	31–9–2	At-large bid	4th	1989	3	Lake Superior State	CCHA	31–8–3	At-large bid	4th	1989
4	Boston University	Hockey East	21–14–2	At-large bid	16th	1986	4	Minnesota	WCHA	25–14–2	At-large bid	17th	1989
5	Clarkson	ECAC Hockey	21–9–3	At-large bid	10th	1984	5	North Dakota	WCHA	27–11–4	At-large bid	12th	1987
6	Alaska-Anchorage	Independent	21–9–2	At-large bid	1st	Never	6	Bowling Green	CCHA	25–15–2	At-large bid	9th	1989

^[2]

Format

The tournament featured four rounds of play. The three odd-number ranked teams from one region were placed into a bracket with the three even-number ranked teams of the other region. The teams were then seeded according to their ranking with the top two teams in each bracket receiving byes into the quarterfinals. In the first round the third and sixth seeds and the fourth and fifth seeds played best-of-three series to determine which school advanced to the Quarterfinals with the winners of the 4 vs. 5 series playing the first seed and the winner of the 3 vs. 6 series playing the second seed. In the Quarterfinals the matches were best-of-three series once more with the victors advancing to the National Semifinals. Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the Joe Louis Arena and all series became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game.

Tournament Bracket

	First Round March 16–18							Quarterfinals March 23–25							Frozen Four March 30					National Championship April 1
								E1	Boston College	4	1	6
	W4	Minnesota	6	5	–			W4	Minnesota	2	2	1
	E5	Clarkson	1	1	–										E1	Boston College	1
															W2	Wisconsin	2
								W2	Wisconsin	7	4*	–
	E3	Maine	8	5	–			E3	Maine	3	3	–
	W6	Bowling Green	4	2	–															W2	Wisconsin	7
																				E2	Colgate	3
								W1	Michigan State	6	3	3
	E4	Boston University	5	5	5			E4	Boston University	3	5	5
	W5	North Dakota	8	3	0										E4	Boston University	2
															E2	Colgate	3
								E2	Colgate	3	2	–
	W3	Lake Superior State	6	10	–			W3	Lake Superior State	2	1	–
	E6	Alaska-Anchorage	2	3	–

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

First round

(E3) Maine vs. (W6) Bowling Green

March 16

Maine

8 – 5

Bowling Green

Alfond Arena

March 17

Maine

5 – 2

Bowling Green

Alfond Arena

Maine won series 2–0

(E4) Boston University vs. (W5) North Dakota

March 16

Boston University

5 – 8

North Dakota

Walter Brown Arena

March 17

Boston University

5 – 3

North Dakota

Walter Brown Arena

March 18

Boston University

5 – 0

North Dakota

Walter Brown Arena

Boston University won series 2–1

(W3) Lake Superior State vs. (E6) Alaska-Anchorage

March 16

Lake Superior State

6 – 2

Alaska-Anchorage

Norris Center

March 17

Lake Superior State

10 – 3

Alaska-Anchorage

Norris Center

Lake Superior State won series 2–0

(W4) Minnesota vs. (E5) Clarkson

March 16

Minnesota

6 – 1

Clarkson

Mariucci Arena

March 17

Minnesota

5 – 1

Clarkson

Mariucci Arena

Minnesota won series 2–0

Quarterfinals

(E1) Boston College vs. (W4) Minnesota

March 23

Boston College

4 – 2

Minnesota

Conte Forum

March 24

Boston College

1 – 2

Minnesota

Conte Forum

March 25

Boston College

6 – 1

Minnesota

Conte Forum

Boston College won series 2–1

(E2) Colgate vs. (W3) Lake Superior State

March 23

Colgate

3 – 2

Lake Superior State

Starr Arena

March 24

Colgate

2 – 1

Lake Superior State

Starr Arena

Colgate won series 2–0

(W1) Michigan State vs. (E4) Boston University

March 23[3]	Michigan State		6 – 3		Boston University	Munn Ice Arena
(Smolinski, Norris) Shawn Heaphy – 09:03 (Beadle, Miller) Pat Murray – 11:46		First period			05:09 – Shawn McEachern (Sacco, Krys) 10:51 – Dave Tomlinson (Koskimaki)
(Miller) Pat Murray – 10:04 (Miller, Murray) Jim Cummins – GW – 13:31 (Cummins, Murray) Kip Miller – 14:18		Second period			No scoring
(Murray, McCauley) Kip Miller – 03:58		Third period			06:42 – Tony Amonte (McEachern)

March 24[3]	Michigan State		3 – 5		Boston University	Munn Ice Arena
(White) Bryan Smolinski – 01:02		First period			No scoring
(Woolley, Muzzatti) Shawn Heaphy – 14:00		Second period			00:23 – Phil von Stefenelli (Legault, Amonte) 11:46 – Ed Ronan (Legault, von Stefenelli) 19:30 – Shawn McEachern (Amonte)
(Murray, White) Steve Beadle – 10:54		Third period			06:42 – GW – Mike Sullivan (McEachern, Amonte) 15:38 – Tony Amonte (Legault, McEachern)

March 25[3]	Michigan State		3 – 5		Boston University	Munn Ice Arena
(Murray, Miller) Steve Beadle – PP – 19:17		First period			11:14 – Mark Bavis (Ahola, Mi. Bavis)
(Miller, Russell) Jason Woolley – PP – 02:58 (Woolley, Miller) Pat Murray – 07:28		Second period			00:23 – Petteri Koskimaki (Ronan) 11:33
(Murray, White) Steve Beadle – 10:54		Third period			06:42 – Ed Ronan (Sacco, Ahola) 07:02 – GW PP – Tony Amonte (Cashman) 18:03 – Robert Regan (Sullivan, von Stefenelli)

Boston University won series 2–1

(W2) Wisconsin vs. (E3) Maine

March 23

Wisconsin

7 – 3

Maine

Dane County Coliseum

March 24

Wisconsin

4 – 3

Maine

Dane County Coliseum

Wisconsin won series 2–0

Frozen Four

National Semifinal

(E1) Boston College vs. (W2) Wisconsin

March 30

Boston College

1 – 2

Wisconsin

Joe Louis Arena

(E2) Colgate vs. (E4) Boston University

March 30

Colgate

3 – 2

Boston University

Joe Louis Arena

National Championship

(W2) Wisconsin vs. (E2) Colgate

April 1

Wisconsin

7 – 3

Colgate

Joe Louis Arena

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	WIS	John Byce – PP	Hill and Andringa	1:30	1–0 WIS
	WIS	John Byce – SH	Mendel	3:23	2–0 WIS
	CGT	Joel Gardner – PP	Dupere and Spott	4:58	2–1 WIS
	WIS	Chris Tancill – PP	Andringa and Hill	7:33	3–1 WIS
	WIS	Rob Andringa – PP GW	Hill and MacDonald	14:53	4–1 WIS
2nd	WIS	Dennis Snedden	Kurtz and Osiecki	25:03	5–1 WIS
	CGT	Steve Poapst – PP	Gardner	29:42	5–2 WIS
	WIS	Gary Shuchuk – PP	Richter and Rohlik	33:09	6–2 WIS
3rd	CGT	Jamie Cooke – PP	Woodcroft and Lille	49:36	6–3 WIS
	WIS	John Byce – EN	unassisted	59:18	7–3 WIS

All-Tournament Team

• G: Duane Derksen (Wisconsin)
• D: Rob Andringa (Wisconsin)
• D: Mark Osiecki (Wisconsin)
• F: John Byce (Wisconsin)
• F: Joel Gardner (Colgate)
• F: Chris Tancill* (Wisconsin)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[4]

^[5]

References