2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 5th and final championship in the history of the conference. It was played between March 15 and March 23, 2003. Quarterfinal games were played at home team campus sites, while the final four games were played at the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, the home venue of the Army Black Knights. By winning the tournament Mercyhurst received MAAC's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.

2003 MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Dates	March 15–23, 2003
Teams	8
Finals site	Tate Rink West Point, New York
Champions	Mercyhurst (2nd title)
Winning coach	Rick Gotkin[1] (2nd title)
MVP	David Wrigley (Mercyhurst)
MAAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2002

After the 2003 season, both the Fairfield Stags and Iona Gaels discontinued their hockey programs. The remaining 9 teams in the conference then formed Atlantic Hockey which began play in 2003-04.

Format

The tournament featured three rounds of play with each round being single-elimination. The teams that finish below eighth in the standings are ineligible for tournament play. In the first round, the first and eighth seeds, the second and seventh seeds, the third seed and sixth seeds, and the fourth seed and fifth seeds played with the winner advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the highest and lowest seeds and second highest and second lowest seeds play with the winner advancing to the championship game. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.

Conference Standings

Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against

2002–03 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Mercyhurst†*	26	19	5	2	40	105	73		37	22	13	2	135	129
Quinnipiac	26	18	7	1	37	109	72		36	22	13	1	139	98
Holy Cross	26	14	11	1	29	81	67		36	17	18	1	109	105
Sacred Heart	26	13	10	3	29	79	62		35	14	15	6	95	86
Bentley	26	13	13	0	26	77	80		34	15	19	0	94	122
Army	26	13	13	0	26	67	72		34	18	16	0	93	92
Canisius	26	11	13	2	24	66	71		37	12	21	4	85	126
Iona	26	11	14	1	23	80	80		35	11	22	2	91	122
American International	26	9	16	1	19	66	105		32	10	20	2	83	137
Connecticut	26	7	16	3	17	74	102		34	8	23	3	91	148
Fairfield	26	7	17	2	16	67	87		33	8	23	2	86	121
Championship: Mercyhurst † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll Top 15 Poll

Bracket

[2] Teams are reseeded after the quarterfinals

	Quarterfinals[3] March 15					Semifinals[4] March 21					Championship March 23
	1	Mercyhurst	5
	8	Iona	3
						1	Mercyhurst	10
						5	Bentley	2
	4	Sacred Heart	0
	5	Bentley	2
											1	Mercyhurst	4
											2	Quinnipiac	3
	2	Quinnipiac	3
	7	Canisius	2
						2	Quinnipiac	3
						3	Holy Cross	0
	3	Holy Cross	3
	6	Army	2

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

(1) Mercyhurst vs. (8) Iona

March 15[5]	Mercyhurst		5 – 4		Iona	Mercyhurst Ice Center	Recap
(Wrigley, Rivers) Dave Borrelli - 02:26 (Rivers, Muldoon) Dave Borrelli - 11:36 (Muldoon, Borrelli) David Wrigley - 15:04		First period			08:54 - PP - Mark Hallam (Carroll, Swanson) 11:12 - PP - Tim Krueckl (Hallam, Carroll)
(Hansen, Tackaberry) T. J. Kemp - PP - 07:58 (Hansen, Wrigley) Peter Rynshoven - GW PP - 12:02		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			06:30 - Neil Clark (Kakepetum, Williams) 11:23 - Brent Williams (Clark, Bararuk)
Andy Franck ( 43 saves / 47 shots )		Goalie stats			Ian Vigier ( 26 saves / 31 shots )

(2) Quinnipiac vs. (7) Canisius

March 15[6]	Quinnipiac		3 – 2		Canisius	Northford Ice Pavilion	Recap
No Scoring		First period			04:30 - Robert Carroll (Ovcjak, Dawe) 13:40 - Jeff Street (Martin, Bouffard)
(Ennis, Falite) John Kelly - 06:09		Second period			No scoring
(Bordieri, Kelly) Craig Falite - 05:52 (Morrison, White) Aaron Ludwig - GW - 12:58		Third period			No scoring
Justin Eddy ( 24 saves / 26 shots )		Goalie stats			Bryan Worosz ( 26 saves / 29 shots )

(3) Holy Cross vs. (6) Army

March 15[7]	Holy Cross		3 – 2		Army	Hart Center	Recap
(Bianchi, Coskren) Andrew McKay - 15:23		First period			15:55 - Mike McLean (Quinlan, MacLeod)
(Coskren, Doria) Jeff Dams - PP - 06:44		Second period			No scoring
(Doria, Kealey) Tyler McGregor - GW - 18:06		Third period			15:58 - Nic Serre (Hines, Dudek)
Tony Quesada ( 21 saves / 23 shots )		Goalie stats			Brad Roberts ( 21 saves / 24 shots )

(4) Sacred Heart vs. (5) Bentley

March 15[8]	Sacred Heart		0 – 2		Bentley	Milford Ice Pavilion
No Scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			04:55 - GW PP - Joe Lovell (Markarian, Mayhew) 11:43 - Ryan Lessnau (Plattner, Peters)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Eddy Ferhi ( 26 saves / 28 shots )		Goalie stats			Simon St. Pierre ( 34 saves / 37 shots )

(1) Mercyhurst vs. (5) Bentley

March 21[9]	Mercyhurst		10 – 2		Bentley	Tate Rink	Recap
(Wrigley, Rivers) Dave Borrelli - 19:13		First period			No scoring
(Wrigley, Rivers) Dave Borrelli - 01:11 (Reynolds, Carter) Erik Johnson - GW - 01:56 (Rivers, Wrigley) Dave Borrelli - PP - 03:40 (Muldoon) Adam Tackaberry - 06:06 David Wrigley - 07:35 (Rivers) Marty Rychley - 13:27		Second period			No scoring
Marty Rychley - PP - 04:08 (Tackaberry, Kemp) P.J. Hiscock - 16:01 (Brown, Chambers) Peter Rynshoven - 16:01		Third period			09:24 - Troy Wiebler (Calabro, Chase) 10:49 - PP - Ryan Lessnau (Chase, Goodwin)
Andy Franck ( 38 saves / 40 shots )		Goalie stats			Simon St. Pierre ( 16 saves / 22 shots ) / Geordan Murphy ( 14 saves / 18 shots )

(2) Quinnipiac vs. (3) Holy Cross

March 21[10]	Quinnipiac		3 – 0		Holy Cross	Tate Rink	Recap
(Kelly) Michael Bordieri - GW - 03:39 (Craig, Testa) Matt Froehlich - 11:07 (Froehlich, Winkler) Matt Craig - 16:57		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Jamie Holden ( 30 saves / 30 shots )		Goalie stats			Tony Quesada ( 7 saves / 10 shots ) / Ben Conway ( 11 saves / 11 shots )

(1) Mercyhurst vs. (2) Quinnipiac

March 23[11]	Mercyhurst		4 – 3		Quinnipiac	Tate Rink	Recap
(Chambers) Rich Hansen - 08:19		First period			06:18 - John Kelly (Ennis, Rossi) 13:26 - Chris White (Morrison, Ludwig)
(Muldoon) David Wrigley - 01:11 (Reynolds, King) Mike Carter - 13:56		Second period			No scoring
(Wrigley, Tackaberry) T. J. Kemp - GW PP - 08:45		Third period			04:10 - Tim Morrison (Ludwig, White)
Andy Franck ( 27 saves / 30 shots )		Goalie stats			Jamie Holden ( 30 saves / 34 shots )

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

• F Matt Craig (Quinnipiac)
• F David Wrigley* (Mercyhurst)
• F Dave Borrelli (Mercyhurst)
• D Mike Muldoon (Mercyhurst)
• D T. J. Kemp (Mercyhurst)
• G Andy Franck (Mercyhurst)

* Most Valuable Player(s)

[12]

References

1. "Mercyhurst Men's Team History". Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
2. "MAAC Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archive. Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
3. "MAAC men's 2002-03 Results Week 25". Retrieved 2013-06-18.
4. "MAAC men's 2002-03 Results Week 26". Retrieved 2013-06-18.
5. "Mercyhurst 5, Iona 4". USCHO.com. 2003-03-15. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
6. "Quinnipiac 3, Canisius 2". USCHO.com. 2003-03-15. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
7. "Holy Cross 3, Army 2". USCHO.com. 2003-03-15. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
8. "Sacred Heart 3, Canisius 2". USCHO.com. 2003-03-15. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
9. "Mercyhurst 10, Bentley 2". USCHO.com. 2003-03-21. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
10. "Quinnipiac 3, Holy Cross 0". USCHO.com. 2003-03-21. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
11. "Mercyhurst 4, Quinnipiac 3". USCHO.com. 2003-03-23. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
12. "2003 MAAC Championship". Inside College Hockey. 2003-03-23. Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved 2013-06-18.