List of NCAA Division III men's ice hockey seasons

Last updated

Nebulous Beginning [1]

In 1973 the NCAA changed its classification system to a numerical method. Schools were reclassified in three separate divisions with Division III being the lowest. The former College Division teams were mostly slotted into Division II despite a majority coming from D-III schools. Because the NCAA did not hold a national tournament for either D-II or D-III at the time there was no need to have a formal delineation between the two lower divisions, however, ECAC 3 had already been formed out of schools from ECAC 2 in order to allow them to participate in a more balanced conference. While there was no formal classification of ECAC 3 as a D-III conference until much later, the teams in ECAC 3 and the independents who later joined the conference are sometimes regarded as NCAA Division III programs during the first decade of play.

Contents

No.SeasonTournamentStartFinish
1 1973–74 NoneNovemberMarch
2 1974–75 NoneNovemberMarch
3 1975–76 NoneNovemberMarch
4 1976–77 NoneNovemberMarch
5 1977–78 NoneNovemberMarch
6 1978–79 NoneNovemberMarch
7 1979–80 NoneNovemberMarch
8 1980–81 NoneNovemberMarch
9 1981–82 NoneNovemberMarch
10 1982–83 NoneNovemberMarch

    Tournament Play Begins

    In 1983 the NCAA announced they would hold an NCAA Division III Championship for the upcoming season. While most of the teams that were eligible for tournament continued to play at the Division II level, they submitted bids for the new championship at the end of the season. Due to the level of interest the tournament was founded as an 8-team championship with no automatic bids being offered. Prior to the tournament, because no conference championships were yet held for western teams, an 8-team qualifying tournament was held instead to determine which teams would receive bids to the national tournament. The regional tournament was discontinued after 1985 when the western conferences began their league playoffs.

    Because the Division III level was skewed towards eastern teams, that region received more bids than the western teams for the first three years. Afterwards, both the eastern and western regions received 4 bids each.

    No.SeasonTournamentNo. of teams
    in tournament    		StartFinishNCAA Champion
    (number)    		Champion
    Conference    		Champion
    Record    		Championship Site
    11 1983–84 1984 8NovemberMarch 18 Babson ECAC 2 (27–5–1) Rochester, New York
    12 1984–85 1985 8NovemberMarch 23 RIT ECAC West (26–6–1) Schenectady, New York
    13 1985–86 1986 8NovemberMarch 22 Bemidji State NCHA (34–9–2) Bemidji, Minnesota
    14 1986–87 1987 8NovemberMarch 21Vacated [b 1] —— Elmira, New York
    15 1987–88 1988 8OctoberMarch 25 Wisconsin–River Falls NCHA (31–6–1) Elmira, New York
    16 1988–89 1989 8OctoberMarch 25 Wisconsin–Stevens Point NCHA (34–5–2) Rochester, New York
    17 1989–90 1990 8OctoberMarch 24 Wisconsin–Stevens Point (2) NCHA (28–4–6) Stevens Point, Wisconsin
    18 1990–91 1991 8OctoberMarch 16 Wisconsin–Stevens Point (3) NCHA (27–9–0) Elmira, New York
    19 1991–92 1992 8OctoberMarch 21 Plattsburgh State ECAC West (32–2–2) Plattsburgh, New York
    20 1992–93 1993 8OctoberMarch 27 Wisconsin–Stevens Point (4) NCHA (25–5–2) Maplewood, Minnesota
    1. ↑ Plattsburg State's participation in the 1987 tournament was later vacated due to recruiting violations. As a result there is no champion for 1987 [2]

    Increased Participation

    In 1994 the NESCAC, the primary conference for several eastern teams, announced that they were rescinding their policy barring member schools from participating in national tournaments. Their new policy, however, restricted members to only one postseason tournament. Because of that, some ECAC East schools had to decide whether or not they would participate in their conference tournament or sit out and hope that the selection committee would choose to offer them a bid. Williams was the first teams to take the gamble in 1994, but they did not receive a bid. The following year Middlebury sat out the ECAC East Tournament and received a bid. This began a five-year run for the Panthers as NCAA champions, the longest unbroken streak for a champion at any level of college hockey.

    No.SeasonTournamentNo. of teams
    in tournament    		StartFinishNCAA Champion
    (number)    		Champion
    Conference    		Champion
    Record    		Championship Site
    21 1993–94 1994 8OctoberMarch 19 Wisconsin–River Falls (2) NCHA (21–8–4) Superior, Wisconsin
    22 1994–95 1995 8OctoberMarch 25 Middlebury ECAC East (22–2–2) Middlebury, Vermont
    23 1995–96 1996 8OctoberMarch 16 Middlebury (2) ECAC East (26–2–0) River Falls, Wisconsin
    24 1996–97 1997 8OctoberMarch 22 Middlebury (3) ECAC East (22–3–2) Middlebury, Vermont
    25 1997–98 1998 8OctoberMarch 21 Middlebury (4) ECAC East (24–2–2) Plattsburgh, New York
    26 1998–99 1999 8OctoberMarch 20 Middlebury (5) ECAC East (21–5–1) Norwich, Vermont

      Tournament Expansion and Exclusion

      In 1999 the NCAA announced a plan to begin offering automatic bids for the Division III NCAA tournament. As part of this new policy, they would only offer bids to conference tournament champions of eligible Division III leagues. To qualify, none of the postseason participants could be ranked above Division III and the conference must have at least 7 members playing during the season. This caused several changes to college hockey, including the NESCAC sponsoring ice hockey as a sport for the first time and the termination of its policy restricting member teams to only one postseason tournament.

      Due to five eastern conferences and two western conferences qualifying, the NCAA also abandoned its policy of having an equal number of eastern and western teams participate in the tournament. One at-large bid would be offered to the non-league champion with the best record but, after two years, the tournament was expanded to 9 teams with a second at-large bid included so that each region could provide an additional team. A further at-large bid was added in 2006 which could go to either region. The tournament was expanded to 11 teams in 2009 with an additional at-large bid which was converted into an automatic qualifier once the MCHA met NCAA regulations in 2010.

      No.SeasonTournamentNo. of teams
      in tournament      		StartFinishNCAA Champion
      (number)      		Champion
      Conference      		Champion
      Record      		Championship Site
      27 1999–00 2000 8October 22March 18 Norwich ECAC East (29–2–1) Superior, Wisconsin
      28 2000–01 2001 8October 20March 17 Plattsburgh State (2) SUNYAC (29–5–0) Rochester, New York
      29 2001–02 2002 9October 19March 16 Wisconsin–Superior NCHA (24–5–5) Middlebury, Vermont
      30 2002–03 2003 9October 18March 22 Norwich (2) ECAC East (27–3–0) Norwich, Vermont
      31 2003–04 2004 9October 18March 20 Middlebury (6) NESCAC (27–3–0) Norwich, Vermont
      32 2004–05 2005 9October 15March 19 Middlebury (7) NESCAC (23–4–3) Middlebury, Vermont
      33 2005–06 2006 10October 15March 19 Middlebury (8) NESCAC (26–2–2) Elmira, New York
      34 2006–07 2007 10October 15March 19 Oswego State SUNYAC (23–3–3) Superior, Wisconsin
      35 2007–08 2008 10October 19March 23 St. Norbert NCHA (27–1–4) Lake Placid, New York
      36 2008–09 2009 11October 17March 21 Neumann ECAC West (21–9–2) Lake Placid, New York

        Conference realignment and dissolution

        In 2009 the MASCAC began sponsoring ice hockey for the first time. The 5 member schools, along with 2 associate members, formed the league's new ice hockey division but despite meeting the NCAA's requirements for an automatic bid, the conference didn't receive one until 2012. The following year, 2013, the WIAC began sponsoring ice hockey for the first time. As a result all 5 member schools that fielded teams left the NCHA. The NCHA responded by absorbing all members of the MCHA in order to retain its automatic qualifier. Due to the WIAC not having enough members the conference champion did not receive an automatic qualifier, bringing the number of at-large bids back to 4 since the MCHA no longer existed.

        In 2017 the NCAA increased the number of tournament participants to 12 and offered the additional bid to one conference tournament champion whose league did not meet the minimum NCAA membership requirement. This bid was later given to the UCHC champion.

        No.SeasonTournamentNo. of teams
        in tournament        		StartFinishNCAA Champion
        (number)        		Champion
        Conference        		Champion
        Record        		Championship Site
        37 2009–10 2010 11 [e 1] October 23March 20 Norwich (3) ECAC East (26–1–4) Lake Placid, New York
        38 2010–11 2011 11October 22March 26 St. Norbert (2) NCHA (25–4–1) Minneapolis, Minnesota
        39 2011–12 2012 11October 21March 17 St. Norbert (3) NCHA (21–5–5) Tampa, Florida
        40 2012–13 2013 11October 18March 16 Wisconsin–Eau Claire NCHA (24–5–2) Lake Placid, New York
        41 2013–14 2014 11October 26March 22 St. Norbert (4) NCHA (28–3–1) Lewiston, Maine
        42 2014–15 2015 11October 31March 28 Trinity NESCAC (25–3–1) Minneapolis, Minnesota
        43 2015–16 2016 11October 30March 26 Wisconsin–Stevens Point (5) WIAC (24–5–2) Lake Placid, New York
        44 2016–17 2017 12October 28March 25 Norwich (4) NEHC (27–1–3) Utica, New York
        45 2017–18 2018 12October 21March 24 St. Norbert (5) NCHC (27–4–1) Lake Placid, New York
        46 2018–19 2019 12October 13March 23 Wisconsin–Stevens Point (6) WIAC (29–0–2) Stevens Point, Wisconsin
        47 2019–20 2020 12November 1March 8Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic [3] Buffalo, New York
        48 2020–21 ——October 30April 5Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic [4]
        49 2021–22 2022 12October 16March 26 Adrian NCHA (31–1–0) Lake Placid, New York
        50 2022–23 2023 12October 19March 25 Hobart NEHC (29–2–0) Beverly, Massachusetts
        1. ↑ The MCHA received an automatic bid for the first time

        Conference timeline

        See also

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        References

        1. ↑ "Division III Men's Ice Hockey Record Book" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
        2. ↑ "Plattsburgh Gets Probation". New York Times. March 30, 1990. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
        3. ↑ Solari, Chris. "NCAA cancels March Madness, Frozen Four, all other championships; Big Ten halts all sports". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
        4. ↑ Solari, Chris. "NCAA cancels March Madness, Frozen Four, all other championships; Big Ten halts all sports". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
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