2009 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

The 2009 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 as the culmination of the 2008–09 [NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season|2008–09 season]. The tournament began on March 27, 2009, and ended with the championship game on April 11.
Boston University, coached by Jack Parker, won its fifth national title with a 4–3 overtime victory in the championship game over Miami University, coached by Enrico Blasi. The game marked the thirteenth time the NCAA championship game has gone to overtime and the first since Minnesota's win over Maine in 2002 [NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament|2002].
Colby Cohen, sophomore defenseman for Boston University, scored the championship-winning goal in overtime and was named the Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player.
This year’s Frozen Four featured multiple teams, Bemidji State and Miami, making their first appearance. This last occurred in Division I [men's ice hockey">Division I (NCAA)">Division I [men's ice hockey tournament|1988], when Lake Superior State and Maine both made their first Frozen Four appearances.

Tournament procedure

The 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship was a single-elimination tournament featuring 16 teams representing all six Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 16 within four regionals of 4 teams. The winners of the six Division I conference championships received automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship.
In setting up the tournament, the Championship Committee sought 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 was placed within that regional. The top four teams were assigned overall seeds and placed within the bracket such that the national semifinals would feature the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed had the top four teams have won their respective regional finals. Number 1 seeds were also placed as close to their home site as possible, with the No. 1 seed receiving first preference. Conference matchups were avoided in the first round; should five or more teams from one conference have made the tournament, this guideline may have been disregarded in favor of preserving the bracket's integrity.
The four regionals were officially named after their geographic areas. The following were the sites for the 2009 regionals:
;March 27 and 28
;March 28 and 29
Each regional winner advanced to the NCAA Division I men's [ice hockey tournament|Frozen Four]:
;April 9 and 11

Qualifying teams

The at-large bids and seeding for each team in the tournament were announced on March 22, 2009. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Hockey East each had four teams receive a berth in the tournament, while ECAC Hockey and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association each had three teams receive a berth, and Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America each had one team receive a berth.

Preliminary rounds

The number in parentheses denotes overall seed in the tournament.

denotes overtime period.

Media

Television

ESPN had US television rights to all games during the tournament. For the fifth consecutive year ESPN aired every game, beginning with the regionals, on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN360.