| Teams | 12 |
|---|---|
| Finals site | |
| Champions | Lake Superior State Lakers (2nd title) |
| Runner-up | none (Wisconsin Badgers vacated)[1] (- title game) |
| Semifinalists |
|
| Winning coach | Jeff Jackson (1st title) |
| MOP | Paul Constantin (Lake Superior State) |
| Attendance | 67,363 |
The1992 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 12 schools competing to determine the national champion of men'sNCAA Division Icollegeice hockey. Beginning with the 1992 tournament the format was changed tosingle-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 whichLake Superior State defeatedthe University of Wisconsin 5-3. A total of 11 games were played. Wisconsin's participation in the tournament was later vacated by theNCAA Committee on Infractions.[1]
Alaska-Anchorage's 1992 participation was the last time an independent team was selected to the tournament, untilArizona State in2019.
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 coachBill Zito was barred from any affiliation with Wisconsin for the program's next two NCAA appearances.[3][4]
The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced after the conference tournaments concluded. TheCentral Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA),Hockey East andWestern Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) all had three teams receive a berth in the tournament, theECAC had two berths, and there was one independentDivision 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.
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)
| March 26 | New Hampshire | 2 – 4 | Wisconsin | Providence Civic Center | ||||
| 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) | ||||||
| March 27 | Lake Superior State | 7 – 3 | Alaska-Anchorage | Joe Louis Arena | ||||
| March 27 | Northern Michigan | 8 – 4 | Clarkson | Joe Louis Arena | ||||
| 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 | ||||||
| March 28 | St. Lawrence | 2 – 5 | Wisconsin | Providence Civic Center | ||||
| March 29 | Michigan | 7 – 6 | Northern Michigan | Joe Louis Arena | ||||
| March 29 | Minnesota | 3 – 8 | Lake Superior State | Joe Louis Arena | ||||
| 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 | ||||||
| April 2 | Michigan | 2 – 4 | Wisconsin | Knickerbocker Arena | ||||
| 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 | |
*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]
| 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 | - | - | - | - |