NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship

The annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division I and Division III.

The semi-finals and finals of the Division I Championship are branded as the Frozen Four, a passing nod to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known as the Final Four in its final rounds. The tournament was first referred to as the Frozen Four in 1999.

The NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship is a single elimination 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.

The NCAA started a Women's Frozen Four beginning with the 2000-01 season.

The Hobey Baker Award ceremony, Hockey Humanitarian Award ceremony, and USCHO.com Town Hall Meeting take place annually during Frozen Four weekend.

Division I

Rankings by most championships

Teams are listed first in order of championships won, and then by most recent championship.

Rank	School	#
1	Michigan	9
2	Denver	7
	North Dakota	7
4	Wisconsin	6
5	Boston University	5
	Minnesota	5
7	Boston College	4
8	Michigan State	3
	Lake Superior State	3
	Michigan Tech	3
11	Maine	2
	Rensselaer	2
	Cornell	2
	Colorado College	2
15	Northern Michigan	1
	Harvard	1
	Bowling Green	1
	Union College	1

Rankings by state

The following list is of championships won ranked by state.

Rank	State	School	#
1	Michigan	Michigan (9) Lake Superior State (3) Michigan State (3) Michigan Tech (3) Northern Michigan (1)	19
2	Massachusetts	Boston University (5) Boston College (4) Harvard (1)	10
3	Colorado	Denver (7) Colorado College (2)	9
4	North Dakota	North Dakota (7)	7
5	Wisconsin	Wisconsin (6)	6
6	Minnesota	Minnesota (5)	5
7	New York	Cornell (2) Rensselaer (2) Union (1)	5
8	Maine	Maine (2)	2
9	Ohio	Bowling Green (1)	1

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 up into 2 regionals, East Regional and West Regional; 6 Teams each)

2003–present

16 teams (divided up into 4 regionals: Northeast, East, Midwest and West Regionals: 4 Teams each)

Division II

The Division II Championship was suspended following 1999, due to a lack of sponsoring schools. Most of the schools in Division II hockey became members of newly formed hockey conferences such as College Hockey America. The Northeast Ten Conference is the last remaining Division II conference that sponsors ice hockey.

Championship game results

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Notes
1978	Merrimack	12–2	Lake Forest
1979	Lowell	6–4	Mankato State
1980	Mankato State	5–2	Elmira
1981	Lowell	5–4	Plattsburgh State
1982	Lowell	6–1	Plattsburgh State
1983	RIT	4–2	Bemidji State
1984	Bemidji State	6–3, 8–1	Merrimack	Two-game, total-goal series
1985-1992	Not held
1993	Bemidji State	10–6, 5–0	Mercyhurst	Best-of-three series
1994	Bemidji State	3–5, 2–1, 2–1 (OT)	Ala.-Huntsville
1995	Bemidji State	6–2, 5–4	Mercyhurst
1996	Ala.-Huntsville	7–1, 3–0	Bemidji State
1997	Bemidji State	3–2, 4–2	Ala.-Huntsville
1998	Ala.-Huntsville	6–2, 5–2	Bemidji State
1999	St. Michael's	4–4, 8–5	New Hampshire College

Division III

Championship game results

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up
1984	Babson	8–0	Union (N.Y.)
1985	RIT	5–1	Bemidji State
1986	Bemidji State	8–5	#Plattsburgh State
1987	Plattsburgh State	8–3	Oswego State
1988	Wis.-River Falls	7–1, 3–5, 3–0	Elmira
1989	Wis.-Stevens Point	3–3, 3–2	RIT
1990	Wis.-Stevens Point	10–1, 3–6, 1–0	Plattsburgh State
1991	Wis.-Stevens Point	6–2	Mankato State
1992	Plattsburgh State	7–3	Wis.-Stevens Point
1993	Wis.-Stevens Point	4–3 (OT)	Wis.-River Falls
1994	Wis.-River Falls	6–4	Wis.-Superior
1995	Middlebury	1–0	Fredonia State
1996	Middlebury	3–2	RIT
1997	Middlebury	3–2	Wis.-Superior
1998	Middlebury	2–1	Wis.-Stevens Point
1999	Middlebury	5–0	Wis.-Superior
2000	Norwich	2–1	St. Thomas (Minn.)
2001	Plattsburgh State	6–2	RIT
2002	Wis.-Superior	3–2 (OT)	Norwich
2003	Norwich	2–1	Oswego State
2004	Middlebury	1–0 (OT)	St. Norbert
2005	Middlebury	5–0	St. Thomas (Minn)
2006	Middlebury	3–0	St. Norbert
2007	Oswego State	4–3 (OT)	Middlebury
2008	St. Norbert	2-0	Plattsburgh State
2009	Neumann College	4-1	Gustavus Adolphus
2010	Norwich	2-1 (2OT)	St. Norbert
2011	St. Norbert	4-3	Adrian
2012	St. Norbert	4-1	Oswego State
2013	Wisconsin-Eau Claire	5-3	Oswego State
2014	St. Norbert	3-1	UW-Stevens Point
2015	Trinity College	5-2	UW-Stevens Point
2016	Wisconsin-Stevens Point	5-1	St. Norbert Green Knights
2017	Norwich	4-1	Trinity College
2018	St. Norbert	3-2 (2ot)	Salve Regina
2019	UW-Stevens Point	3-2 (ot)	Norwich
2020	Tournament Cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
2021