The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
tournament held in the United States by the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
(NCAA) to determine the top men's
team in
Division I.
Like other Division I championships, it is the highest level of
NCAA men's hockey competition. This tournament is somewhat unique among NCAA sports as many schools which otherwise compete in Division II or Division III compete in Division I for hockey.
Since 1999, the semi-finals and championship game of the tournament have been branded as the "Frozen Four"—a reference to the NCAA's long-time branding of its basketball semi-finals as the "
Final Four".
History
The NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship is a
single elimination
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
competition that has determined the collegiate national champion since the inaugural
1948 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament. The tournament features 16 teams representing all six Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeds the entire field from 1 to 16 within four regionals of 4 teams. The winners of the six Division I conference championships receive automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship. The tournament begins with initial games played at four regional sites culminating with the semi-finals and finals played at a single site.
[
In setting up the tournament, the Championship Committee seeks 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 is placed within that regional. The top four teams are assigned overall seeds and placed within the bracket such that the national semifinals will feature the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed should the top four teams win their respective regional finals. Number 1 seeds are also placed as close to their home site as possible, with the No. 1 seed receiving first preference. Conference matchups are avoided in the first round; should five or more teams from one conference make the tournament, this guideline may be disregarded in favor of preserving the bracket's integrity.
Broadmoor Ice Palace in ]Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
hosted the tournament for the first ten years and has hosted eleven times overall, the most of any venue. Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
and Denver Pioneers had won the most tournaments with nine, while Vic Heyliger
Victor Heyliger (September 26, 1912 – October 4, 2006) was a National Hockey League center and the head coach of the University of Michigan ice hockey team.
Career
Born in Concord, Massachusetts, he attended the Lawrence Academy in Groton, Ma ...
has coached the most championship teams, winning six times with Michigan between 1948 and 1956.
The 2020 championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Tournament format history
;1948–1976
: 4 teams (1 game series)
;1977–1980
: 5–6 teams (1 game series)
;1981–1987
: 8 teams (2 game, total goals first round at higher seed)
;1988
: 12 teams (2 game, total goals first two rounds at higher seed)
;1989–1991
: 12 teams (best of 3 games first two rounds series at higher seed)
;1992–2002
: 12 teams (divided into 2 regionals, East Regional and West Regional; 6 teams each)
;2003–present
: 16 teams (divided into 4 regionals: Northeast, East, Midwest, and West Regionals: 4 teams each)
Results
Participation in the tournament vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.
Team titles
Performance by team
1948–1976
From 1948 through 1976, the NCAA Tournament included 4 teams, two from the Eastern Region and two from the Western Region.
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
* Frozen Four
* National Runner-up
* National Champion
1977–2002
In 1977, changed the format to allow up to 4 additional teams as it saw fit. The NCAA selected 5 teams for the 1977, 1979, and 1980 tournaments, and 6 teams for the 1978 tournament. Starting in 1981, the NCAA selected 8 teams for the tournament every year, until 1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
, when the field expanded to 12.
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
* Round of 12 (starting in 1988)
* Quarterfinals (5 or 6 teams through 1980, 8 teams afterward)
* Frozen Four
* National Runner-up
* National Champion
2003–present
The field expanded to its current format of 16 teams in 2003. Note that the 2020 tournament was canceled due the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
before the announcement of the field.
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
* First round
* Quarterfinals
* Frozen Four
* National Runner-up
* National Champion
Additionally, the 4 teams seeded No. 1 in the regions are shown with .
Records
Points in a Championship Game
Points in Multiple Championships
Championship Hat Tricks
* Was not a member of the winning team.
† Natural hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
.
‡ Tournament participation later vacated.
Tournament Winning Percentage
Minimum 2 tournaments
Tournament Droughts
The following is a list of teams that have not made an NCAA tournament anytime in the last 10 seasons.
† Alaska's only appearance in 2010 was later vacated due to NCAA rules violations.
‡ St. Lawrence received an automatic bid in 2021, however, the team had to decline the invitation due to a positive COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
test from their head coach.
Awards
At the conclusion of each tournament both an all-tournament team and 'Most Outstanding Player in Tournament' is named. Both achievements have been in effect since the inaugural championship in 1948
See also
*NCAA Division II Men's Ice Hockey Championship
The NCAA Division II Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was an annual tournament to determine the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division II from 1978 until 1984 and then again from 1993 until 1999. The Division II Championship was suspended followi ...
*NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship
The NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament is an annual tournament to determine the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division III. The Division III championship was contested from 1984 through 2019, but then suspended due to COVID-19. Th ...
*NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament
The annual NCAA women's ice hockey tournament—officially known as the National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship—is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determin ...
(National Collegiate division; de facto equivalent to Division I)
References
{{National Collegiate Athletic Association