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 offerin ...

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 ...

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 ...

(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 1948 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1947–48 NCAA men's ice hockey season, the 1st such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 18 and 20, 1948, and concluded with Michigan defeating Dartmouth 8-4. ...

. 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 t ...

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 Groto ...

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 identi ...

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 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

tournaments, and 6 teams for the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

tournament. Starting in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, 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 Bicenten ...

, 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 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. Note that the 2020 tournament was canceled due the

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 w ...

.
‡ 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 identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

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 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

References

{{National Collegiate Athletic Association