List of NCAA Division III men's ice hockey seasons

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.

No. Season Tournament Start Finish
11973–74NoneNovemberMarch
21974–75NoneNovemberMarch
31975–76NoneNovemberMarch
41976–77NoneNovemberMarch
51977–78NoneNovemberMarch
61978–79NoneNovemberMarch
71979–80NoneNovemberMarch
81980–81NoneNovemberMarch
91981–82NoneNovemberMarch
101982–83NoneNovemberMarch

    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 conference 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. Season Tournament No. of teams
    in tournament
    Start Finish NCAA Champion
    (number)
    Champion
    Conference
    Champion
    Record
    Championship Site
    111983–8419848NovemberMarch 18BabsonECAC 2(27–5–1)Rochester, New York
    121984–8519858NovemberMarch 23RITECAC West(26–6–1)Schenectady, New York
    131985–8619868NovemberMarch 22Bemidji StateNCHA(34–9–2)Bemidji, Minnesota
    141986–8719878NovemberMarch 21Vacated[b 1]Elmira, New York
    151987–8819888OctoberMarch 25Wisconsin–River FallsNCHA(31–6–1)Elmira, New York
    161988–8919898OctoberMarch 25Wisconsin–Stevens PointNCHA(34–5–2)Rochester, New York
    171989–9019908OctoberMarch 24Wisconsin–Stevens Point (2)NCHA(28–4–6)Stevens Point, Wisconsin
    181990–9119918OctoberMarch 16Wisconsin–Stevens Point (3)NCHA(27–9–0)Elmira, New York
    191991–9219928OctoberMarch 21Plattsburgh StateECAC West(32–2–2)Plattsburgh, New York
    201992–9319938OctoberMarch 27Wisconsin–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. Season Tournament No. of teams
    in tournament
    Start Finish NCAA Champion
    (number)
    Champion
    Conference
    Champion
    Record
    Championship Site
    211993–9419948OctoberMarch 19Wisconsin–River Falls (2)NCHA(21–8–4)Superior, Wisconsin
    221994–9519958OctoberMarch 25MiddleburyECAC East(22–2–2)Middlebury, Vermont
    231995–9619968OctoberMarch 16Middlebury (2)ECAC East(26–2–0)River Falls, Wisconsin
    241996–9719978OctoberMarch 22Middlebury (3)ECAC East(22–3–2)Middlebury, Vermont
    251997–9819988OctoberMarch 21Middlebury (4)ECAC East(24–2–2)Plattsburgh, New York
    261998–9919998OctoberMarch 20Middlebury (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. Season Tournament No. of teams
      in tournament
      Start Finish NCAA Champion
      (number)
      Champion
      Conference
      Champion
      Record
      Championship Site
      271999–0020008October 22March 18NorwichECAC East(29–2–1)Superior, Wisconsin
      282000–0120018October 20March 17Plattsburgh State (2)SUNYAC(29–5–0)Rochester, New York
      292001–0220029October 19March 16Wisconsin–SuperiorNCHA(24–5–5)Middlebury, Vermont
      302002–0320039October 18March 22Norwich (2)ECAC East(27–3–0)Norwich, Vermont
      312003–0420049October 18March 20Middlebury (6)NESCAC(27–3–0)Norwich, Vermont
      322004–0520059October 15March 19Middlebury (7)NESCAC(23–4–3)Middlebury, Vermont
      332005–06200610October 15March 19Middlebury (8)NESCAC(26–2–2)Elmira, New York
      342006–07200710October 15March 19Oswego StateSUNYAC(23–3–3)Superior, Wisconsin
      352007–08200810October 19March 23St. NorbertNCHA(27–1–4)Lake Placid, New York
      362008–09200911October 17March 21NeumannECAC 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. Season Tournament No. of teams
        in tournament
        Start Finish NCAA Champion
        (number)
        Champion
        Conference
        Champion
        Record
        Championship Site
        372009–10201011[e 1]October 23March 20Norwich (3)ECAC East(26–1–4)Lake Placid, New York
        382010–11201111October 22March 26St. Norbert (2)NCHA(25–4–1)Minneapolis, Minnesota
        392011–12201211October 21March 17St. Norbert (3)NCHA(21–5–5)Tampa, Florida
        402012–13201311October 18March 16Wisconsin–Eau ClaireNCHA(24–5–2)Lake Placid, New York
        412013–14201411October 26March 22St. Norbert (4)NCHA(28–3–1)Lewiston, Maine
        422014–15201511October 31March 28TrinityNESCAC(25–3–1)Minneapolis, Minnesota
        432015–16201611October 30March 26Wisconsin–Stevens Point (5)WIAC(24–5–2)Lake Placid, New York
        442016–17201712October 28March 25Norwich (4)NEHC(27–1–3)Utica, New York
        452017–18201812October 21March 24St. Norbert (5)NCHC(27–4–1)Lake Placid, New York
        462018–19201912October 13March 23Wisconsin–Stevens Point (5)WIAC(29–0–2)Stevens Point, Wisconsin
        472019–20202012November 1March 8Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[3] Buffalo, New York
        1. The MCHA received an automatic bid for the first time

        See also

        References

        1. "Division III Men's Ice Hockey Record Book" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved Aug 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 2020-03-25.
        This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.