1997 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 1997 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1996–97 season, the 14th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Middlebury defeating Wisconsin-Superior in the championship game 3-2. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Middlebury, Vermont.
| Teams | 8 |
|---|---|
| Finals site |
|
| Champions | Middlebury Panthers (3rd title) |
| Runner-up | Wisconsin–Superior Yellowjackets (2nd title game) |
| Semifinalists |
|
| Winning coach | Bill Beaney (3rd title) |
| MOP | , |
| Attendance | 16,850 |
The championship marked the third in a row for Middlebury.
Qualifying teams
The following teams qualified for the tournament. There were no automatic bids, however, conference tournament champions were given preferential consideration. No formal seeding was used while quarterfinal matches were arranged so that the road teams would have the shortest possible travel distances.
| East | West | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid |
| Elmira | ECAC West | 15–8–4 | At-Large | 8th | 1994 | Saint John's | MIAC | 24–5–0 | Tournament Champion | 2nd | 1996 |
| Middlebury | ECAC East | 18–3–2 | At-Large | 3rd | 1996 | St. Norbert | NCHA | 20–8–1 | At-Large | 1st | Never |
| Norwich | ECAC East | 20–4–2 | At-Large | 2nd | 1987 | Wisconsin–Superior | NCHA | 21–7–2 | Tournament Champion | 6th | 1996 |
| Plattsburgh State | SUNYAC | 22–5–2 | Tournament Champion | 6th | 1995 | ||||||
| RIT | ECAC West | 21–5–2 | Tournament Champion | 7th | 1996 | ||||||
Format
The tournament featured three rounds of play. In the Quarterfinals, teams played a two-game series where the first team to reach 3 points was declared a winner (2 points for winning a game, 1 point each for tying). If both teams ended up with 2 points after the first two games a 20-minute mini-game used to determine a winner. Mini-game scores are in italics. Beginning with the Semifinals all games became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game with the losers playing in a Third Place game. The teams were seeded according to geographic proximity in the quarterfinals so the visiting team would have the shortest feasible distance to travel.
Tournament Bracket
| Quarterfinals March 14–15 |
Semifinals March 21 |
National Championship March 22 | ||||||||||||||
| Norwich | 3 | 5 | - | |||||||||||||
| Plattsburgh State | 3 | 2 | - | |||||||||||||
| Norwich | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin–Superior | 2** | |||||||||||||||
| St. Nobert | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Wisconsin–Superior | 0 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Wisconsin–Superior | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Middlebury | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| Saint John's | 2 | 4 | - | |||||||||||||
| Elmira | 2 | 2 | - | |||||||||||||
| Saint John's | 1 | Third Place Game | ||||||||||||||
| Middlebury | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| Middlebury | 6 | 6 | - | Norwich | 3 | |||||||||||
| RIT | 4 | 3 | - | Saint John's | 4 | |||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Note: Mini-games in italics
Record by conference
| Conference | # of Bids | Record | Win % | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECAC East | 2 | 5–2–1 | .688 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| NCHA | 2 | 3–3–0 | .500 | 1 | 1 | - |
| ECAC West | 2 | 0–3–1 | .125 | - | - | - |
| MIAC | 1 | 2–1–1 | .625 | 1 | - | - |
| SUNYAC | 1 | 0–1–1 | .250 | - | - | - |