The annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top ice hockey team in the NCAA Division I and Division III. ^[1] The semi-finals and finals are branded as the Frozen Four, as a parallel to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known as the Final Four in later rounds - which was also previously used by the hockey championship.

This tournament 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 was first referred to as the Frozen Four in 1999. The term is derived from the term "final four." The tournament structure begins with four regional sites culminating to a single site, where the national semifinals and final game are played.^[1] The NCAA started a Women's Frozen Four beginning in the 2000-01 season.

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

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 Hobey Baker Award ceremony, Hockey Humanitarian Award ceremony, and USCHO.com Town Hall Meeting take place annually during Frozen Four weekend.^[2]

Contents 1 Division I 1.1 Championship game results 1.2 Rankings by most championships 1.3 Rankings by state 1.4 Tournament format history 2 Division II 2.1 Championship game results 3 Division III 3.1 Championship game results 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Division I

[edit] Championship game results

[edit] Rankings by most championships

If teams have equal amount of championships, most recently won is listed first.

Rank	School	#
1	Michigan	9
2	Denver	7
	North Dakota	7
4	Wisconsin	6
5	Boston University	5
	Minnesota	5
7	Boston College	3
	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

[edit] 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	Colorado	Denver (7) Colorado College (2)	9
	Massachusetts	Boston University (5) Boston College (3) Harvard (1)	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)	4
8	Maine	Maine (2)	2
9	Ohio	Bowling Green (1)	1

[edit] 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)

1988–1991

12 teams (best of 3 games first round 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)

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] Division III

[edit] 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

# - Participation in the tournament vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

[edit] See also

• NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Championship

[edit] References

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