1988 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 1988 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 41st such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 18 and April 2, 1988, and concluded with Lake Superior State defeating St. Lawrence 4-3 in overtime. All first-round and quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues with the 'Frozen Four' games being played at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York.

1988 NCAA Division I men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams12
Finals site
ChampionsLake Superior State Lakers (1st title)
Runner-upSt. Lawrence Saints (2nd title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachFrank Anzalone (1st title)
MOPBruce Hoffort (Lake Superior State)
Attendance27,582

For the first time the NCAA tournament was expanded to 12 teams (four more than the previous seven years) partially as a result of an increasing number of programs as well as two additional conferences being created in the interim.

This was the first tournament to include an independent school since 1960, more than a year before the ECAC was founded.

The championship game is remembered for a missed infraction towards the end of regulation that should have given St. Lawrence a penalty shot but resulted in no call from the official.[1]

Qualifying teams

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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 western bracket with the intention to place an additional independent in the eastern regional in 1989. As a result, the two western conferences (WCHA and CCHA) would split only three open spots as opposed to the East's four open spots.

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth type Appearance Last bid Seed School Conference Record Berth type Appearance Last bid
1 Maine Hockey East 31–7–2 At-large bid 2nd 1987 1 Minnesota WCHA 32–8–0 At-large bid 15th 1987
2 St. Lawrence ECAC Hockey 27–7–0 Tournament champion 10th 1987 2 Lake Superior State CCHA 30–6–6 At-large bid 2nd 1985
3 Northeastern Hockey East 20–12–4 Tournament champion 2nd 1982 3 Wisconsin WCHA 27–12–2 Tournament champion 9th 1983
4 Harvard ECAC Hockey 21–9–0 At-large bid 13th 1987 4 Bowling Green CCHA 28–11–2 Tournament champion 7th 1987
5 Vermont ECAC Hockey 21–9–3 At-large bid 1st Never 5 Michigan State CCHA 25–14–3 At-large bid 10th 1987
6 Lowell Hockey East 20–15–2 At-large bid 1st Never 6 Merrimack Independent 32–4–0 At-large bid 1st Never

[2]

Format

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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 two-game aggregate 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 two-game aggregates once more with the victors advancing to the National Semifinals. Beginning with the Semifinals all games were played at the St. Paul Civic Center and all series became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game.

Tournament Bracket

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[3]

First round
March 18–20
Quarterfinals
March 25–27
Frozen Four
March 31-April 1
National Championship
April 2
E1 Maine 5 4 9
W4 Bowling Green 5 5 10 W4 Bowling Green 1 3 4
E5 Vermont 1 1 2 E1 Maine 3
W2 Lake Superior State 6
W2 Lake Superior State 3 5 8
E3 Northeastern 5 3 8 W6 Merrimack 4 1 5
W6 Merrimack 3 7 10 W2 Lake Superior State 4*
E2 St. Lawrence 3
W1 Minnesota 4 4 8
E4 Harvard 5 3 8 W5 Michigan State 2 3 5
W5 Michigan State 6 5 11 W1 Minnesota 2 Third-place game
E2 St. Lawrence 3
E2 St. Lawrence 7 3 10 E1 Maine 5
W3 Wisconsin 7 4 11 W3 Wisconsin 0 4 4 W1 Minnesota 2
E6 Lowell 3 2 5

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

First round

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(E3) Northeastern vs. (W6) Merrimack

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March 18 Northeastern 5 – 3 Merrimack Matthews Arena
March 19 Northeastern 3 – 7 Merrimack Matthews Arena
Merrimack won series 10–8


(E4) Harvard vs. (W5) Michigan State

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March 18[4] Harvard 5 – 6 Michigan State Bright Hockey Center  
(Armstrong, Sweeney) Andy Janfanza – 04:43 First period 00:57 – Brian McReynolds (Gibson)
01:26 – Kevin Miller (Marshall, Ki. Miller)
07:54 – Bobby Reynolds (Tilley, Cole)
14:45 – Jeff Harding (Cole, Beadle)
(Hartje, Sweeney) Andy Janfanza – 11:35
(Weisbrod, Murphy) Mike Vukonich – 18:08
Second period 00:40 – Tom Tilley (unassisted)
(Donato, Armstrong) Jerry Pawlowski – 17:23
(unassisted) Peter Ciavaglia – 19:20
Third period 09:56 – GWKevin Miller (Luongo, Hamilton)
March 19[4] Harvard 3 – 5 Michigan State Bright Hockey Center  
No scoring First period 03:33 – Danton Cole (Murray, Reynolds)
15:46 – Mike O'Toole (Cole, Reynolds)
(Vukonich, Pawlowski) John Weisbrod – 05:08 Second period 06:03 – Bruce Rendall (Luongo, McReynolds)
(Hartje) Jerry Pawlowski – 09:39
(unassisted) Josh Caplan – 18:18
Third period 00:19 – GWKevin Miller (Luongo, Hamilton)
19:56 – Mike O'Toole (unassisted)
Michigan State won series 11–8


(W3) Wisconsin vs. (E6) Lowell

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March 19 Wisconsin 7 – 3 Lowell Dane County Coliseum
March 20 Wisconsin 4 – 2 Lowell Dane County Coliseum
Wisconsin won series 11–5


(W4) Bowling Green vs. (E5) Vermont

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March 18 Bowling Green 5 – 1 Vermont BGSU Ice Arena
March 19 Bowling Green 5 – 1 Vermont BGSU Ice Arena
Bowling Green won series 10–2


Quarterfinals

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(E1) Maine vs. (W4) Bowling Green

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March 25 Maine 5 – 1 Bowling Green Alfond Arena
March 26 Maine 4 – 3 Bowling Green Alfond Arena
Maine won series 9–4


(E2) St. Lawrence vs. (W3) Wisconsin

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March 26 St. Lawrence 7 – 0 Wisconsin Appleton Arena
March 27 St. Lawrence 3 – 4 Wisconsin Appleton Arena
St. Lawrence won series 10–4


(W1) Minnesota vs. (W5) Michigan State

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March 25[4] Minnesota 4 – 2 Michigan State Mariucci Arena  
(Miller) Paul Broten – 07:03
(Broten, Grannis) Todd Richards – 19:42
First period 03:15 – Bobby Reynolds (Russell, Cole)
(Hankinson, Orth) Scott BloomGW – 10:54 Second period No scoring
(Broten) David Grannis – 18:38 Third period 14:12 – Bruce Rendall (unassisted)
March 26[4] Minnesota 4 – 3 Michigan State Mariucci Arena  
No scoring First period 05:42 – Kip Miller (Murray, Beadle)
(Werness, Skarda) Jay Cates – 17:14 Second period 10:02 – Kip Miller (Murray, Beadle)
15:35 – Kip Miller (Kv. Miller, Hamilton)
(Cates) Grant Bischoff – 07:44
(unassisted) Todd Richards – 13:10
(Skarda) Jason MillerGW – 19:56
Third period No scoring
Minnesota won series 8–5


(W2) Lake Superior State vs. (W6) Merrimack

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March 25 Lake Superior State 3 – 4 Merrimack Norris Center
March 26 Lake Superior State 5 – 1 Merrimack Norris Center
Lake Superior State won series 8–5


Frozen Four

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National Semifinal

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(E1) Maine vs. (W2) Lake Superior State

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March 31 Maine 3 – 6 Lake Superior State Olympic Center


(W1) Minnesota vs. (E2) St. Lawrence

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April 1 Minnesota 2 – 3 St. Lawrence Olympic Center


Third-place game

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(E1) Maine vs. (W1) Minnesota

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April 2 Maine 5 – 2 Minnesota Olympic Center


National Championship

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(W2) Lake Superior State vs. (E2) St. Lawrence

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April 2 Lake Superior State 4 – 3 OT St. Lawrence Olympic Center


Scoring summary
Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score
1st LSSU Tim Harris 1–0 LSSU
LSSU Kord Cernich 2–0 LSSU
2nd SLU Doug Murray McColgan and Lappin 21:57 2–1 LSSU
SLU Russ Mann 2–2
LSSU Kord Cernich 3–0 LSSU
SLU Brian McColgan Baker and Lappin 3–3
3rd None
1st Overtime LSSU Mark Vermette 64:36 4–3 LSSU
Goaltenders
Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice
SLU Paul Cohen 4
LSSU Bruce Hoffort 49 3

* Most Outstanding Player(s)[5]

[6]

References

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  1. ^ "SLU-LSSU national championship controversy". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  2. ^ "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  3. ^ "NCAA Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d "Michigan State 2013-14 Hockey History" (PDF). Michigan State Spartans. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 22, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  5. ^ "NCAA Division I Awards". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  6. ^ "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2013.