| Year: | 2008 |
| Gender: | men's |
| Division: | Division I |
| Teams: | 16 |
| Frozenfourarena: | Pepsi Center |
| Frozenfourcity: | Denver, Colorado |
| Champions: | Boston College Eagles |
| Titlecount: | 3rd |
| Champgamecount: | 9th |
| Champffcount: | 21st |
| Runnerup: | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Runnerffcount: | 1st |
| Semifinal1: | Michigan Wolverines |
| Frozenfourcount: | 23rd |
| Semifinal2: | North Dakota Fighting Sioux |
| Frozenfourcount2: | 18th |
| Coach: | Jerry York |
| Coachcount: | 3rd |
| Mop: | Nathan Gerbe |
| Mopteam: | Boston College |
| Attendance: | 89,204 |
The 2008 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament involved 16 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. The tournament began on March 28, 2008, and ended with the championship game on April 12.[1]
Boston College, coached by Jerry York, won its third national title with a 4–1 victory in the championship game over Notre Dame, coached by Jeff Jackson.[2]
Nathan Gerbe, junior forward for Boston College, scored five goals in the final two games and was named the Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player.[3]
This was the first tournament in 47 years to have two teams from the same conference play in the opening round. This occurred due to the glut of WCHA teams that received 2nd- and 3rd-seeds in the regional divisions.
The NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship is a single-elimination tournament featuring 16 teams representing all six Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeds the entire field from 1 to 16 within four regionals of 4 teams. The winners of the six Division I conference championships receive automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship.
In setting up the tournament, the Championship Committee seeks to ensure "competitive equity, financial success and likelihood of playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site." A team serving as the host of a regional is placed within that regional. The top four teams are assigned overall seeds and placed within the bracket such that the national semifinals will feature the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed should the top four teams win their respective regional finals. Number 1 seeds are also placed as close to their home site as possible, with the No. 1 seed receiving first preference. Conference matchups are avoided in the first round; should five or more teams from one conference make the tournament, this guideline may be disregarded in favor of preserving the bracket's integrity.[4]
The four regionals are officially named after their geographic areas. The following were the sites for the 2008 regionals:[1]
Each regional winner advanced to the Frozen Four:[1]
The at-large bids, along with the seeding for each team in the tournament, were announced on Sunday, March 23.[5] Six teams from the WCHA qualified for the tournament, a record for the number of teams from one conference.[6]
| East Regional – Albany | Northeast Regional – Worcester | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type |
| 1 | Michigan (1) | CCHA | 31–5–4 | Tournament champion | 1 | Miami (2) | CCHA | 32–7–1 | At-Large Bid |
| 2 | St. Cloud State | WCHA | 19–15–5 | At-Large Bid | 2 | Boston College | Hockey East | 21–11–8 | Tournament Champion |
| 3 | Clarkson | ECAC | 21–12–4 | At-Large Bid | 3 | Minnesota | WCHA | 19–16–9 | At-Large Bid |
| 4 | Niagara | CHA | 22–10–4 | Tournament champion | 4 | Air Force | Atlantic Hockey | 21–11–6 | Tournament Champion |
| West Regional – Colorado Springs | Midwest Regional – Madison | ||||||||
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type |
| 1 | New Hampshire (4) | Hockey East | 25–9–3 | At-Large Bid | 1 | North Dakota (3) | WCHA | 26–10–4 | At-Large Bid |
| 2 | Colorado College | WCHA | 28–11–1 | At-Large Bid | 2 | Denver | WCHA | 26–13–1 | Tournament champion |
| 3 | Michigan State | CCHA | 24–11–5 | At-Large Bid | 3 | Wisconsin | WCHA | 15–16–7 | At-Large Bid |
| 4 | Notre Dame | CCHA | 24–15–4 | At-Large Bid | 4 | Princeton | ECAC | 21–13–0 | Tournament champion |
The number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.
(*) denotes overtime period(s).
| Scoring summary | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score | |||
| 1st | None | |||||||
| 2nd | align=center style=";" | BC | Nathan Gerbe (34) | Gibbons and Smith | align=center | 22:23 | align=center | 1–0 BC |
| align=center style=";" | BC | Nathan Gerbe (35) – GW PP | Smith and Bertram | align=center | 25:37 | align=center | 2–0 BC | |
| align=center style=";" | BC | Joe Whitney (11) – PP | Gerbe and Ferriero | align=center | 28:11 | align=center | 3–0 BC | |
| align=center style=";" | ND | Kevin Deeth (11) | Lawson and Cole | align=center | 29:07 | align=center | 3–1 BC | |
| 3rd | align=center style=";" | BC | Ben Smith (25) | Gerbe and Gibbons | align=center | 45:31 | align=center | 4–1 BC |
| Penalty summary | ||||||||
| Period | Team | Player | Penalty | Time | PIM | |||
| 1st | align=center style=";" | BC | Kyle Kucharski | Holding the Stick | align=center | 08:41 | align=center | 2:00 |
| align=center style=";" | BC | Matt Greene | Cross-Checking | align=center | 14:33 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| align=center style=";" | ND | Brock Sheahan | Roughing | align=center | 17:02 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| align=center style=";" | BC | Anthony Aiello | Tripping | align=center | 18:24 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| 2nd | align=center style=";" | BC | Andrew Orpik | Slashing | align=center | 22:51 | align=center | 2:00 |
| align=center style=";" | ND | Ryan Thang | Interference | align=center | 24:58 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| align=center style=";" | ND | Dan VeNard | Cross-Checking | align=center | 26:29 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| align=center style=";" | ND | Dan Kissel | Hooking | align=center | 27:27 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| align=center style=";" | BC | Kyle Kucharski | Holding | align=center | 27:32 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| align=center style=";" | ND | Dan VeNard | High-Sticking | align=center | 36:49 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| 3rd | align=center style=";" | BC | Nick Petrecki | Elbowing | align=center | 40:08 | align=center | 2:00 |
| align=center style=";" | BC | Matt Price | Obstruction Tripping | align=center | 48:05 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| align=center style=";" | BC | Matt Greene | Hooking | align=center | 49:54 | align=center | 2:00 | |
| Shots by period | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | ||||||
| align=center style=";" | Notre Dame | align=center | 5 | align=center | 8 | align=center | 8 | align=center | 21 | |
| align=center style=";" | Boston College | align=center | 7 | align=center | 11 | align=center | 5 | align=center | 23 | |
| Goaltenders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice | |||||
| align=center style=";" | ND | align=center | 19 | align=center | 4 | align=center | 58:31 | ||
| align=center style=";" | BC | align=center | 20 | align=center | 1 | align=center | 60:00 | ||
| Conference |
| Record | Win % | Regional Finals | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WCHA | 6 | 3–6 | .333 | 2 | 1 | - | - | |
| CCHA | 4 | 7–4 | .636 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | |
| ECAC Hockey | 2 | 1–2 | .333 | 1 | - | - | - | |
| Hockey East | 2 | 4–1 | .800 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Atlantic Hockey | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - | - | |
| CHA | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - | - |
* Most Outstanding Player(s)[8]