2023 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

Minnesota kept the puck in the Canisius end for most of the early part of the second, however, Matthew Vermaeten found himself alone in the slot. While his shot was stopped, Canisius began to fight back afterwards and went on the attack. Nick Bowman got the puck in the right circle, stickhandled through Colin Schmidt and then fired the puck through Close's 6-hole. The Gophers resumed their assault, getting several good looks at the cage and were finally able to get the equalizer from the high slot in spite of Barczewski's stellar play. However, after scoring the goal, Aaron Huglen took a tripping call behind the Canisius net and gave the Griffins their third consecutive man-advantage. Both teams had scoring chances on the Canisius power play but the score remained unchanged. Minnesota increased the pressure as the period wore on and, with just a couple minutes remaining, Connor Kurth fired the puck through Barczewski's legs off of a Mike Koster pass from behind the goal line.

At the start of the third period, Stefano Bottini hit Jackson LaCombe in the corner and received a match penalty. While his night was over, the rest of the Griffins had to kill off a major penalty. Jimmy Snuggerud scored before a minute of power play time had expired and the route was on. By the time the penalty expired, Canisius had less than 15 minutes left to score 3 goals or their season would be over. Pressing for a goal, the Griffins allowed Minnesota to get a 3-on-1 rush and Bryce Brodzinski scored what appeared to be Minnesota's 6th goal. However, video review showed that the puck had hit both posts but never crossed the line. The reprieve was short-lived as Brodzinski was able to get Minnesota's 6th a few minutes later. A third Canisius penalty resulted in yet another Minnesota goal and effectively ended the game. Two more Gopher goals didn't chance the complexion of the game as Canisius couldn't overcome Minnesota's superior special teams play.^[7]

Harvard was able to get some offense going early in the second when Zakary Karpa got a clean shot at Dobeš but the Czech netminder gloved the puck. After trading odd-man rushes, Gustaf Westlund stole the puck and then finished off a passing play for another Buckeye goal. Off of the ensuing faceoff, Cam Thiesing took advantage of yet another Harvard mishandle and backhanded the puck past a Gibson for a 4–0 Ohio State lead. Harvard finally got their chance on the power play a few minutes later but they were facing the nation top penalty kill. After their chance went for naught, Harvard couldn't keep the Buckeyes back and Ohio State quickly generated a 5th goal off of the skate of Mason Lohrei. Cam Thiesing nearly got his hat-trick when he hit the post behind Gibson but the Buckeyes were still in full command. Harvard was forced to play more aggressively in order to get back into the game and Alex Laferriere ended up taking a minor penalty in the offensive zone. Harvard managed to kill off the disadvantage but Ohio State remained in complete control. Harvard took two more penalties but, more importantly, they allowed two more goals to the Buckeyes and after 40 minutes the game was a run away for Ohio State.

Derek Mullahy was in goal for Harvard at the start of the third but the switch didn't change much as Ohio State got their 8th goal just over a minute in. After that the Buckeyes settled in, knowing that they were going to win the game. The only thing left to decide was whether or not the Buckeyes would record the biggest shutout victory in NCAA history, as the record was 7–0. They somehow managed to keep the puck out of the goal in the middle of the period but, shortly after Gibson was returned to the net for his final game, the puck fluttered over Dobeš' shoulder off of John Farinacci's skate. The lost shoutout was about the only thing that did not go in Ohio State's favor as they advanced with a dominating performance.^[8]

Colgate came out skating at the start of the second and tried to match Michigan but the Raiders could only get a single shot on goal in the first 4 minutes. A bad pass to the point by Michigan turned into a pair of chances for the Raiders but Portillo kept the puck out of the goal. Continued pressure from Michigan forced a holding penalty by Reid Irwin and Eric Ciccolini made the Raiders pay with a rebound goal. Shortly afterwards, Adam Fantilli skated end-to-end and fired a quick shot through Gylander's legs. Colgate tried to fight back with some pressure in the offensive zone but the Wolverines just bided their time and Frank Nazar whacked another rebound into the goal. After the ensuing faceoff, Michigan got another goal after Luke Hughes shot was deflected through Gylander's legs by Mark Estapa. The Wolverines scored a third goal in less than 100 seconds on a shot from Rutger McGroarty that found the top corner of the net. Don Vaughan called a timeone to try and settle his team down but by then the damage had been done. The game slowed down a bit but Michigan's offense continued to generate chances. After Gavin Brindley scored, Adam Fantilli took his second penalty of the game and gave Colgate a chance to erase their goose egg. Instead, Luke Hughes broke in on a rush fired a puck and had it deflected past Gylander's shoulder by a Raider stick. Vaughan replaced Gylander after the 8th goal but the Wolverines didn't seem to notice. Andrew Takacs was forced to make three saves before the end of the period but managed to keep the puck out despite coming into the game having not seen any game action since November.

The Raiders began the third on the power play but Michigan ended up with the better of the chances once more. After the penalty expired, Colgate finally got on the board when Nic Belpedio fired a laser from the blueline. After the goal Colgate kept trying to score but Michigan was content with just playing out the string. Near the middle of the period, Mackie Samoskevich received a butt end from Alex Young and the Colgate forward received a match penalty. Angered by the penalty, Michigan went back on the attack and quickly got a pair of goals to punish the Raiders. Gylander, in his final collegiate game, was put back into the net after a third Michigan power play goal and stopped the bleeding. Up by double-digits, Michigan halted their assault after the major penalty expired and allowed the rest of the time on the clock to tick away.^[9]

The play was more even at the start of the second. The teams traded opportunities early and then played a quiet stretch until Jarod Crespo used Chris Lipe as a screen to fire the puck over Blake Pietila left shoulder for the second goal. Tech upped its offensive game afterwards and got some shots on Soulière but Penn State counterattacked. Near the middle of the period, Michigan Tech turned the puck over in front of their own net but somehow stopped the Nittany Lions from netting a third marker. The near miss seemed to spur the Huskies and Tech was finally able to string a couple of chances together. MTU got several high-quality shots on the Penn State cage but Soulière still refused to let anything get past him. Penn State managed to get two players behind the Tech defense at about the 5-minute mark and Ashton Calder deked the puck past a sprawled-out Pietila for goal #3. Penn State's defense continued to stifle Tech and a quick pass ahead led to a 2-on-1 with about a minute left in the second. Christian Berger finished off the play with another goal for the Nittany Lions' and PSU entered the third with a near-insurmountable lead.

Both teams were skating early in the third and around the 3-minute mark, Pietila stopped two PSU scoring opportunities. However, on the ensuing faceoff, the Nittany Lions won the draw and fired a shot far-side into the net. With Tech's lack of offense in general, the Huskies had little chance at overcoming the deficit but that didn't stop Tech from trying to break through. Unforunately for Michigan Tech, Chase McLane fired a puck from the goal line on the wall that somehow had a perfect angle and went into the top corner of the net. Penn State added a pair of 4-on-4 goal several minutes later and the Nittany Lions gave the Big Ten its third overpowering victory of the first round.

Penn State set a new record by winning the largest shutout victory in NCAA tournament history, surpassing the previous record of 7–0 by St. Lawrence in 1988.^[10]

The game settled down a bit in the second and the two teams started counterpunching. BU got a great chance near the middle of the period when the puck got to Jamie Armstrong in front of the goal but Rowe was able to stop the quick shot. WMU got a chance to score with another rush after the ensuing faceoff but Chad Hillebrand missed the net with his shot. Shortly thereafter, BU got a 3-on-1 after a hit from Luke Tuch jarred the puck free and Domenick Fensore found the stick of a streaking Quinn Hutson for the second marker. With the Terriers on the attack, Rowe stopped a partial break from Matt Brown but the rubber stayed with BU and Brown fired a one-timer off the post and into the net for a 3–0 lead. Boston University's assault continued but Rowe stood strong, stopping several more chances. After Brown missed a half-open cage, the Broncos were finally able to get a goal of their own when Polin deflected a Ryan McAllister shot past Commesso. With chances coming fast and furious, both teams were looking for the next goal. BU ended up getting their 4th when Wilmer Skoog got the puck at the faceoff dot. He was so open that he had time to measure up the WMU cage and fire the puck past Rowe. On the ensuing faceoff, Quinn Hutson took a tripping penalty and gave the Broncos the first power play of the game. Unable to score on the man-advantage, Western Michigan ended the period down by 3 and needed a dramatic reversal to save their season.

Western began the third searching for a goal and about a minute in Luke Grainger fired the puck on goal. Commesso stopped the shot, however, the puck bounced loose to the goalie's right. Because his body blocked out the sight of the puck, the referee blew the whistle. Simultaneously with the stoppage, Grainger went after the puck and ended up running over Commesso. He received a penalty for the play and gave BU their first power play. After accomplishing very little over the first minute, Aidan Fulp slashed the stick out of Brown's hand and gave the Terriers a 5-on-3 for 54 seconds. WMU held firm and didn't give the Terriers much to shoot at, killing off both penalties. During a 4-on-4 in the middle of the frame, Sasson was nearly able to cut into the lead with a wrap-around attempt but Commesso was equal to the task. WMU continued to press towards the BU cage but the Terriers were mostly contest to play defense with a 3-goal advantage. A second power play for Western resulted in several chances but no goals for the Broncos. As time ticked away, Western became increasingly desperate and were forced to pull Rowe with about four and half minutes remaining. Nothing they tried worked, however, and Ethan Phillips was able to salt away the game with an empty-net goal.^[11]