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Tournament play begins

Though U.S. colleges had been fielding men's ice hockey teams since 1895,[1] the NCAA did not have a formal tournament in place to decide a champion until after World War II.[2] Starting with the 1947-48 season, the NCAA tournament invited the four top-ranked teams to Colorado Springs, Colorado to compete for the NCAA Championship.

No. Season Tournament No. of teams
in tournament
Start Finish NCAA Champion
(number)
Champion
Conference
Champion
Record
Championship Site
1 1947–48 1948 4[a 1] March 20 Michigan (1) None (20–2–1) Colorado Springs, Colorado
2 1948–49 1949 4[a 2] March 19 Boston College (1) None (21–1–0) Colorado Springs, Colorado
3 1949–50 1950 4 March 18 Colorado College (1) None (18–5–1) Colorado Springs, Colorado
4 1950–51 1951 4[a 3] March 17 Michigan (2) None (22–4–1) Colorado Springs, Colorado
5 1951–52 1952 4 March 15 Michigan (3) MCHL (22–4–0) Colorado Springs, Colorado
6 1952–53 1953 4 March 14 Michigan (4) MCHL (22–4–0) Colorado Springs, Colorado
7 1953–54 1954 4 March 13 Rensselaer (1) Tri-State League (18–5–0) Colorado Springs, Colorado
8 1954–55 1955 4 March 12 Michigan (5) WIHL (18–5–1) Colorado Springs, Colorado
9 1955–56 1956 4 March 17 Michigan (6) WIHL (20–2–1) Colorado Springs, Colorado
10 1956–57 1957 4 March 16 Colorado College (2) WIHL (25–5–0) Colorado Springs, Colorado
  1. Tournament play begins with 4 independent Division I teams invited to participate. No formal conferences existed at this time.
  2. A third-place game was instituted.
  3. Ice hockey conferences begin to form, beginning with the Tri-State League[3] and followed the next year by the Midwest Collegiate Hockey League (precursor to the WCHA).[4]

Rotating tournaments

After spending 10 years at one location, the NCAA began to move the Division I ice hockey tournament to different sites. Over the next 14 years, the tournament was held in 11 different venues and, more importantly to the northeast teams, was held in New England eight times. While the rotations stopped briefly in 1972, they resumed after 1974 and the tournament has not been held in the same city for consecutive years since.

No. Season Tournament No. of teams
in tournament
Start Finish NCAA Champion
(number)
Champion
Conference
Champion
Record
Championship Site
11 1957–58 1958 4 March 15 Denver (1) WIHL (25–10–2) Minneapolis, Minnesota
12 1958–59 1959 4 March 14 North Dakota (1) None (20–10–1) Troy, New York
13 1959–60 1960 4 [b 1] March 19 Denver (2) WCHA (27–4–3) Boston, Massachusetts
14 1960–61 1961 4 March 18 Denver (3) WCHA (30–1–1) Denver, Colorado
15 1961–62 1962 4 March 17 Michigan Tech (1) WCHA (29–3–0) Utica, New York
16 1962–63 1963 4 March 16 North Dakota (2) WCHA (22–7–3) Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
17 1963–64 1964 4 March 21 Michigan (7) WCHA (24–4–1) Denver, Colorado
18 1964–65 1965 4 March 20 Michigan Tech (2) WCHA (24–5–2) Providence, Rhode Island
19 1965–66 1966 4 March 19 Michigan State (1) WCHA (16–13–0) Minneapolis, Minnesota
20 1966–67 1967 4 March 18 Cornell (1) ECAC (27–1–1) Syracuse, New York
21 1967–68 1968 4 March 16 Denver (4) WCHA (28–5–1) Duluth, Minnesota
22 1968–69 1969 4 March 15 Denver (5) WCHA (26–6–0) Colorado Springs, Colorado
23 1969–70 1970 4 March 21 Cornell (2) ECAC (29–0–0)[b 2] Lake Placid, New York
24 1970–71 1971 4 March 20 Boston University (1) ECAC (28–2–1) Syracuse, New York
25 1971–72 1972 4 March 18 Boston University (2) ECAC (26–4–1) Boston, Massachusetts
26 1972–73 1973 4[b 3] March 17 Wisconsin (1) WCHA (29–9–2) Boston, Massachusetts
27 1973–74 1974 4 March 16 Minnesota (1) WCHA (22–11–6) Boston, Massachusetts
28 1974–75 1975 4 March 15 Michigan Tech (3) WCHA (32–10–0) St. Louis, Missouri
29 1975–76 1976 4 March 27 Minnesota (2) WCHA (28–14–2) Denver, Colorado
  1. Two games were played between eastern teams to determine tournament participants. Neither game is considered as part of the NCAA or ECAC tournaments.]
  2. The 1969–70 Cornell Big Red are thus far the only NCAA Division I men's ice hockey champion to complete a perfect season since tournament play began.
  3. The University of Denver's participation in the 1973 tournament was later vacated by the NCAA committee on infractions.[5]

Quarterfinals expansion

For the 30th season of the tournament, which had become the de facto possession of the WCHA and ECAC, the NCAA instituted a First Round game where the CCHA champion would play. The first round system stayed in place, with one or two games being played, until 1981 when a full quarterfinal round was adopted. Between 1981 and 1987 the quarterfinals consisted of two games where the team that scored the most goals in the two games would advance to the "Frozen Four". Between 1977 and 1987 Detroit, Michigan and Providence, Rhode Island would each host the tournament 4 separate times.

No. Season Tournament No. of teams
in tournament
Start Finish NCAA Champion
(number)
Champion
Conference
Champion
Record
Championship Site
30 1976–77 1977 5 March 26 Wisconsin (2) WCHA (37–7–1) Detroit, Michigan
31 1977–78 1978 6 March 25 Boston University (3) ECAC (30–2–0) Providence, Rhode Island
32 1978–79 1979 5 March 24 Minnesota (3) WCHA (32–11–1) Detroit, Michigan
33 1979–80 1980 5 March 29 North Dakota (3) WCHA (31–8–1) Providence, Rhode Island
34 1980–81 1981 8 March 28 Wisconsin (3) WCHA (27–14–1) Duluth, Minnesota
35 1981–82

[c 1]||1982||8||||March 27||North Dakota (4) ||WCHA||(35–12–0)||Providence, Rhode Island

36 1982–83 1983 8 March 26 Wisconsin (4) WCHA (33–10–4) Grand Forks, North Dakota
37 1983–84 1984 8 March 24 Bowling Green (1) CCHA (34–8–2) Lake Placid, New York
38 1984–85

[c 2]||1985|| 8 || || March 30||Rensselaer (2) ||ECAC||(35–2–1)||Detroit, Michigan

39 1985–86 1986 8 March 29 Michigan State (2) CCHA (34–9–2) Providence, Rhode Island
40 1986–87 1987 8 March 28 North Dakota (5) WCHA (40–8–0) Detroit, Michigan
  1. Four teams leave the WCHA and join the more geographically concentrated CCHA. Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Notre Dame (Michigan Tech would rejoin the WCHA 3 years later).
  2. Six teams leave the ECAC over disagreements about the length of the conference schedule. Boston College, Boston University, Maine, New Hampshire, Northeastern and Providence leave to form the Hockey East conference in 1984 and are joined by Division II Lowell (now known as UMass Lowell).

Additional expansion

With 4 major conferences and a myriad of independent programs competing at the Division I level, the tournament was expanded to 12 teams beginning with the 1987-88 season. The first round followed the same pattern as the quarterfinals with teams playing two games against a single opponent and the one with a higher goal total after the series advancing. The rest of the tournament retained the earlier format. One year later the goal-total format was abandoned and replaced by a best-of-three series for the opening round and quarterfinals. In 1992 the entire tournament was switched to a single-elimination format and divided into two regional locations that would feed into the "Frozen Four". For the first time, in 1999, the championship was held in a region without a local Division I program when the championship round was awarded to Anaheim, California.

No. Season Tournament No. of teams
in tournament
Start Finish NCAA Champion
(number)
Champion
Conference
Champion
Record
Championship Site
41 1987–88 1988 12 April 2 Lake Superior State (1) CCHA (33–7–6) Lake Placid, New York
42 1988–89 1989 12 April 1 Harvard (1) ECAC (31–3–0) St. Paul, Minnesota
43 1989–90 1990 12[d 1] April 1 Wisconsin (5) WCHA (36–9–1) Detroit, Michigan
44 1990–91 1991 12 March 30 Northern Michigan (1) WCHA (38–5–4) St. Paul, Minnesota
45 1991–92 1992 12[d 2] April 4 Lake Superior State (2) CCHA (30–9–4) Albany, New York
46 1992–93 1993 12 April 3 Maine (1) Hockey East (42–1–2) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
47 1993–94 1994 12 April 2 Lake Superior State (3) CCHA (31–10–4) St. Paul, Minnesota
48 1994–95 1995 12 April 1 Boston University (4) Hockey East (31–6–3) Providence, Rhode Island
49 1995–96 1996 12 March 30 Michigan (8) CCHA (34–7–2) Cincinnati, Ohio
50 1996–97 1997 12 March 29 North Dakota (6) WCHA (31–10–2) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
51 1997–98 1998 12 April 4 Michigan (9) CCHA (34–11–1) Boston, Massachusetts
52 1998–99 1999 12 October 3 April 3 Maine (2) Hockey East (31–6–4) Anaheim, California
53 1999–00 2000 12 October 1 April 8 North Dakota (7) WCHA (31–8–5) Providence, Rhode Island
54 2000–01 2001 12 October 6 April 7 Boston College (2) Hockey East (33–8–2) Albany, New York
55 2001–02 2002 12 October 5 April 6 Minnesota (4) WCHA (32–8–4) St. Paul, Minnesota
  1. The third-place game was discontinued.
  2. The University of Wisconsin's participation in the 1992 tournament was later vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

Further expansion and commercialization

After the addition of two more conferences around the turn of the century (MAAC and CHA, neither of which now sponsors men's hockey) bringing up the total number to 6, and with each receiving an at-large bid starting in 2001 and 2003 respectively, the tournament was again expanded by 4 teams. Two additional regional groups were added (Northeast and Midwest) and byes into the quarterfinals were eliminated. Additionally the "Frozen Four" was seen as a vehicle to increase both revenue and the popularity of college hockey, as such the apex of the tournament began to move around to non-traditional college hockey areas, usually in the buildings of NHL teams.

The first decade of the 21st century saw significant changes to hockey's conference landscape. After the 2002–03 season, the MAAC hockey programs split from the league to form Atlantic Hockey. CHA stopped sponsoring men's hockey after the 2009–10 season, but still operates as a women's league.

No. Season Tournament No. of teams
in tournament
Start Finish NCAA Champion
(number)
Champion
Conference
Champion
Record
Championship Site
56 2002–03 2003 16 October 4 April 12 Minnesota (5) WCHA (28–8–9) Buffalo, New York
57 2003–04 2004 16[e 1] October 3 April 10 Denver (6) WCHA (27–12–5) Boston, Massachusetts
58 2004–05 2005 16 October 3 April 9 Denver (7) WCHA (32–9–2) Columbus, Ohio
59 2005–06 2006 16 October 7 April 8 Wisconsin (6) WCHA (30–10–3) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
60 2006–07 2007 16 October 6 April 7 Michigan State (3) CCHA (26–13–3) St. Louis, Missouri
61 2007–08 2008 16 October 7 April 12 Boston College (3) Hockey East (25–11–8) Denver, Colorado
62 2008–09 2009 16 October 10 April 11 Boston University (5) Hockey East (35–6–4) Washington, D.C.
63 2009–10 2010 16 October 8 April 10 Boston College (4) Hockey East (29–10–3) Detroit, Michigan

[e 2]

64 2010–11 2011 16[e 3] October 2 April 9 Minnesota-Duluth (1) WCHA (26–10–6) St. Paul, Minnesota
65 2011–12 2012 16 October 1 April 7 Boston College (5) Hockey East (33–10–1) Tampa, Florida
66 2012–13 2013 16 October 6 April 13 Yale (1) ECAC (22–12–3) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  1. The MAAC's hockey programs break away to form Atlantic Hockey.
  2. The Frozen Four was held at Ford Field in Detroit. This was the first championship in NCAA ice hockey history held at a venue designed for field sports.
  3. College Hockey America ceases sponsoring men's hockey after all of its four remaining programs either joined other conferences or went independent. The conference remains in operation to this day as a women's-only league.

Conference realignment and dissolution

In 2010, Terrence Pegula, an alumnus of Pennsylvania State University, donated $102 million to his alma mater for the express purpose of building a brand-new hockey arena and to fund the upgrade of both the men's and women's ice hockey programs from club level to Division I.[6] This began a chain of events that caused a massive amount of conference realignment, the founding of two new conferences, and the ending of one of the oldest conferences in the NCAA. Penn State's rise to the D-I ranks gave the Big Ten its sixth university that sponsored varsity men's ice hockey, a number significant for two reasons. First, Big Ten bylaws dictate that the conference can only sponsor a sport if it has at least six participating members. More significantly, NCAA rules on conference formation dictate that at least six teams must be present for a conference to receive an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. In short order the other five teams announced their intention to leave their current conferences (WCHA and CCHA). In response several members of the WCHA, including traditional powerhouses Denver and North Dakota, split to form a new conference, the NCHC. The NCHC quickly grew to 8 member teams, leaving the WCHA with only 4 remaining schools and the CCHA with 6. Five of the remaining CCHA schools then proceeded to join the WCHA, along with the Independent Alabama-Huntsville, bringing the WCHA up to 10 member schools. The remaining CCHA team, Notre Dame, joined Hockey East. In essence all of the universities that changed conferences were not significantly harmed by the changes because no team was left without a conference by the start of the 2013–14 season, but the shift did create one more automatic qualifier for the tournament, reducing the chance to receive an at-large bid for all schools across the nation.[7]

No. Season Tournament No. of teams
in tournament
Start Finish NCAA Champion
(number)
Champion
Conference
Champion
Record
Championship Site
67 2013–14 2014 16[f 1] October 4 April 12 Union (1) ECAC (30–6–4) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
68 2014–15 2015 16 October 4 April 13 Providence (1) Hockey East (26–13–2) Boston, Massachusetts
69 2015–16 2016 16 October 3 April 9 North Dakota (8) NCHC (34–6–4) Tampa, Florida
70 2016–17 2017 16 October 1 April 8 Denver (8) NCHC (33–7–4) Chicago, Illinois
71 2017–18 2018 16 October 1 April 7 Minnesota–Duluth (2) NCHC (25–16–3) St. Paul, Minnesota
  1. Major conference realignment shook the Division I men's hockey landscape, with the following changes:
    • The Big Ten became the first Division I all-sports conference to sponsor men's ice hockey since the MAAC ceased sponsorship of the sport in 2003. Before 2013–14, the six Big Ten hockey schools consisted of three WCHA members, two CCHA members, and one independent.
    • Five WCHA members and one CCHA member announced in 2011 that they would form the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, with play to start in 2013–14. Several months after the NCHC was formed, two more schools joined, one from the CCHA and one from the WCHA.
    • The CCHA folded at the end of the 2012–13 season. In addition to the previously mentioned conference moves, one school (Notre Dame) joined Hockey East (becoming that conference's first non-New England member) and five either joined or rejoined the WCHA.
    • In addition to the five former CCHA members, the WCHA added former independent Alabama–Huntsville.

See also

References

  1. "Yale Men's Hockey Team History", USCHO.com. Retrieved on 2013-05-18. 
  2. "NCAA Division I Tournament", College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved on 2013-05-18. 
  3. "History of the Tri-State League", College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved on 2013-05-18. 
  4. "History of the WCHA", College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved on 2013-05-18. 
  5. "NCAA Puts Denver on Two Year Probation", St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved on 2013-05-18. 
  6. "Penn State Makes it Official: Varsity Programs on the Way", USCHO.com, 2010-09-17. Retrieved on 2014-04-30. 
  7. "The CCHA is going away, but its history will have a final resting place", USCHO.com, 2013-03-06. Retrieved on 2013-07-23. 

External links


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at List of NCAA Division I men's ice hockey seasons. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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