1992 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1992 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 12 schools competing to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. Beginning with the 1992 tournament the format was changed to single-elimination play for all rounds of the tournament. First and quarterfinal rounds were played at two predetermined sites as the East and West Regionals.^[2] The tournament began on March 26, 1992, and ended with the championship game on April 4 in which Lake Superior State defeated the University of Wisconsin 5-3. A total of 11 games were played. Wisconsin's participation in the tournament was later vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.^[1]

Alaska-Anchorage's 1992 participation was the last time an independent team was selected to the tournament, until Arizona State in 2019.

The 1992 championship game is most remembered for the controversial penalty calls that gave Lake Superior State 11 power plays in the game. Wisconsin staff and players were so incensed at the calls that referee Tim McConaghy was accosted after the match which led to two Wisconsin players being suspended for the Badgers' next NCAA Tournament game while assistant coach Bill Zito was barred from any affiliation with Wisconsin for the program's next two NCAA appearances.^[3][4]

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), Hockey East and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) all had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, the ECAC had two berths, and there was one independent Division I bid.

East Regional – Providence							West Regional – Detroit
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid	Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Maine	Hockey East	31–3–2*	Tournament champion	6th	1991	1	Michigan	CCHA	31–8–3	At-large bid	15th	1991
2	St. Lawrence	ECAC	22–9–2	Tournament champion	12th	1989	2	Minnesota	WCHA	33–10–0	At-large bid	19th	1991
3	New Hampshire	Hockey East	22–12–2^	At-large bid	5th	1983	3	Lake Superior State	CCHA	26–9–4	Tournament champion	6th	1991
4	Boston University	Hockey East	22–8–4^	At-large bid	18th	1991	4	Northern Michigan	WCHA	24–13–3	Tournament champion	5th	1991
5	Michigan State	CCHA	23–10–8^	At-large bid	13th	1990	5	Clarkson	ECAC	22–9–1	At-large bid	12th	1991
6	Wisconsin (vacated)[1]	WCHA	24–13–2	At-large bid	(vacated)[1]	1991	6	Alaska-Anchorage	Independent	27–7–1	At-large bid	3rd	1991

* Maine was required to forfeit 13 victories after the season concluded, their total here was their record at the time of the start of the tournament.

^ These teams records reflect the losses they had against Maine at the time that were later overturned.

^[5]

Game locations

• East Regional – Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island
• West Regional – Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
• Frozen Four – Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, New York

Tournament bracket

Wisconsin's participation in the 1992 tournament was later vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

Regional Quarterfinals March 26–27

Regional semifinals March 28–29

Frozen Four April 2

National championship April 4

E1

Maine

2

E5

Michigan State

3

E4

Boston University

2

E5

Michigan State

4

E5

Michigan State

2

W3

Lake Superior State

4

W2

Minnesota

3

W3

Lake Superior State

8

W3

Lake Superior State

7

W6

Alaska Anchorage

3

W3

Lake Superior State

5

E6

Wisconsin (vacated)[1]

3

E2

St. Lawrence

2

E6

Wisconsin

5

E3

New Hampshire

2

E6

Wisconsin

4

E6

Wisconsin

4

W1

Michigan

2

W1

Michigan

7

W4

Northern Michigan

6

W4

Northern Michigan

8

W5

Clarkson

4

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Regional Quarterfinals

East Regional

(3) New Hampshire vs. (6) Wisconsin

March 26

New Hampshire

2 – 4

Wisconsin

Providence Civic Center

(4) Boston University vs. (5) Michigan State

March 26[6]	Boston University		2 – 4		Michigan State	Providence Civic Center
No scoring		First period			No scoring
(Ma. Bavis, Sacco) Mike Prendergast – 05:50 (Mi. Bavis) David Sacco – 19:04		Second period			05:18 – Rem Murray (Smolinski, Thompson)
No scoring		Third period			01:39 – Bart Turner (Woodward, Worden) 07:25 – GW – Dwayne Norris (unassisted) 12:55 – Bryan Smolinski (Murray, Messier)

West Regional

(3) Lake Superior State vs. (6) Alaska-Anchorage

March 27

Lake Superior State

7 – 3

Alaska-Anchorage

Joe Louis Arena

(4) Northern Michigan vs. (5) Clarkson

March 27

Northern Michigan

8 – 4

Clarkson

Joe Louis Arena

Regional semifinals

East Regional

(1) Maine vs. (5) Michigan State

March 28[6]	Maine		2 – 3		Michigan State	Providence Civic Center
(Tardiff) Jim Montgomery – 05:39		First period			09:53 – Dwayne Norris (White)
(Tardiff, Montgomery) Chris Imes – 17:12		Second period			01:54 – Dwayne Norris (White, Suk) 11:22 – GW – Bryan Smolinski (Norris, Suk)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring

(2) St. Lawrence vs. (6) Wisconsin

March 28

St. Lawrence

2 – 5

Wisconsin

Providence Civic Center

West Regional

(1) Michigan vs. (4) Northern Michigan

March 29

Michigan

7 – 6

Northern Michigan

Joe Louis Arena

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

March 29

Minnesota

3 – 8

Lake Superior State

Joe Louis Arena

Frozen Four

National semifinal

(W3) Lake Superior State vs. (E5) Michigan State

April 2[6]	Lake Superior State		4 – 2		Michigan State	Knickerbocker Arena
(Smith, Hanley) Paul Constantin – 01:27		First period			05:28 – Nicholas Perreault (Harper, Garbarz)
(Hanley, Hendry) Paul Constantin – 06:32		Second period			17:22 – Dwayne Norris (Smolinski, Murray)
(Hendry, Hulett) Mark Astley – GW – 10:58 (Strachan, Faucher) Sandy Moger – 12:22		Third period			No scoring

(W1) Michiganvs. (E6) Wisconsin

April 2

Michigan

2 – 4

Wisconsin

Knickerbocker Arena

National Championship

(W3) Lake Superior State vs. (E6) Wisconsin

April 4

Lake Superior State

5 – 3

Wisconsin

Knickerbocker Arena

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	WIS	Jason Zent			1–0 WIS
	WIS	Jason Zent – PP			2–0 WIS
2nd	LSSU	Paul Constantin – PP			2–1 WIS
	LSSU	Tim Hanley		39:54	2–2
3rd	LSSU	Michael Smith		44:16	3–2 LSSU
	WIS	Jason Zent – PP			3–3
	LSSU	Brian Rolston – GW		55:08	4–3 LSSU
	LSSU	Jay Ness – PP EN		59:58	5–3 LSSU

Goaltenders
Team	Name	Saves	Goals against	Time on ice
WIS	Duane Derksen		4
LSSU	Darrin Madeley	24	3

All-Tournament team

• G: Darrin Madeley (Lake Superior State)
• D: Mark Astley (Lake Superior State)
• D: vacated†
• F: Paul Constantin* (Lake Superior State)
• F: Brian Rolston (Lake Superior State)
• F: vacated†

* Most Outstanding Player(s)^[7]
† Participation of D: Barry Richter and F: Jason Zent vacated when Wisconsin's participation in the tournament was later vacated^[1]

^[8]

Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	Regional semifinals	Frozen Four	Championship Game	Champions
CCHA	3	7-2	.778	3	3	1	1
Hockey East	3	0-3	.000	1	-	-	-
WCHA	3	4-3	.571	3	1 (vacated)	1 (vacated)	-
ECAC	2	0-2	.000	1	-	-	-
Independent	1	0-1	.000	-	-	-	-

References