2023 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament
| Teams | 12 |
|---|---|
| Finals site | |
| Champions | Hobart (1st title) |
| Runner-up | Adrian (3rd title game) |
| Semifinalists |
|
| Winning coach | Mark Taylor (1st title) |
| MOP | Damon Beaver (Hobart) |
| Attendance | 812 (final) |
The 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2022–23 season, the 38th such tournament in NCAA history. Hobart defeated defending champion Adrian 3–2 in overtime to win the program's first national championship.[1]
Qualifying teams[edit]
Before the season, the NCAA amended its bylaws, lowering the requirement for conferences to receive automatic qualifiers from seven conference members to six.[2] This meant that the WIAC champion would now be guaranteed a spot in the tournament field.
Twelve teams qualified for the tournament in the following ways: (Pool A) nine teams received bids as a result of being conference tournament champions from conferences that possessed an automatic bid, (Pool C) three additional teams received at-large bids based upon their records.[3]
| East | West | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid |
| 1 | Utica (1) | UCHC | 25–2–1 | Tournament Champion | 4th | 2022 | 1 | Adrian (4) | NCHA | 23–4–2 | Tournament Champion | 11th | 2022 |
| 2 | Endicott (2) | CCC | 22–2–2 | Tournament Champion | 3rd | 2020 | 2 | Wisconsin–Stevens Point | WIAC | 19–5–4 | Tournament Champion | 16th | 2019 |
| 3 | Hobart (3) | NEHC | 26–2–0 | Tournament Champion | 12th | 2022 | 3 | Augsburg | MIAC | 16–9–2 | Tournament Champion | 8th | 2022 |
| 4 | Curry | CCC | 21–5–1 | At-Large | 5th | 2011 | |||||||
| 5 | Plattsburgh State | SUNYAC | 20–5–2 | Tournament Champion | 20th | 2017 | |||||||
| 6 | Plymouth State | MASCAC | 23–3–1 | Tournament Champion | 6th | 2022 | |||||||
| 7 | University of New England | CCC | 19–6–2 | At-Large | 4th | 2022 | |||||||
| 8 | Norwich | NEHC | 19–6–2 | At-Large | 20th | 2020 | |||||||
| 9 | Bowdoin | NESCAC | 14–9–3 | Tournament Champion | 7th | 2014 | |||||||
Format[edit]
The tournament featured four rounds of play. All rounds were single-game elimination.
The top four rated teams received byes into the quarterfinal round and were arranged so that if they were to advance to the semifinals, the first seed would play the fourth seed and the second seed would play the third seed. Because there were three western teams and only one received a bye into the quarterfinals, all three were placed into the same bracket. Of the nine eastern teams, the six that did not receive byes were arranged so that the fourth eastern seed played the ninth eastern seed with the winner advancing to play the third eastern seed; the fifth eastern seed played the eighth eastern seed with the winner advancing to play the second eastern seed; and the sixth eastern seed played the seventh eastern seed with the winner advancing to play the first eastern seed. The higher-seeded team played host in all first round and quarterfinal matches.
Bracket[edit]
| First round March 11 | Quarterfinals March 18 | Semifinals March 24 | National Championship March 25 | ||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Utica (1) | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E6 | Plymouth | 0 | E7 | University of New England | 5* | ||||||||||||||
| E7 | University of New England | 2 | E7 | University of New England | 7 | ||||||||||||||
| W1 | Adrian (4) | 8* | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Adrian (4) | 3* | |||||||||||||||||
| W2 | Wisconsin–Stevens Point | 2**** | W2 | Wisconsin–Stevens Point | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| W3 | Augsburg | 1 | W1 | Adrian (4) | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| E3 | Hobart (3) | 3* | |||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Endicott (2) | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| E5 | Plattsburgh State | 1 | E8 | Norwich | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| E8 | Norwich | 2* | E2 | Endicott (2) | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| E3 | Hobart (3) | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| E3 | Hobart (3) | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| E4 | Curry | 1* | E4 | Curry | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| E9 | Bowdoin | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
All-Tournament Team[edit]
- G: Damon Beaver* (Hobart)
- D: Austin Mourar (Hobart)
- D: Jaden Shields (Adrian)
- F: Luke Aquaro (Hobart)
- F: Wil Crane (Hobart)
- F: Ty Enns (Adrian)
Record by conference[edit]
| Conference | # of Bids | Record | Win % | Quarterfinals | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCC | 3 | 4–3 | .571 | 3 | 2 | - | - |
| NEHC | 2 | 4–1 | .800 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MASCAC | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - | - |
| MIAC | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - | - |
| NCHA | 1 | 2–1 | .667 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
| NESCAC | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - | - |
| SUNYAC | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - | - |
| UCHC | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | 1 | - | - | - |
| WIAC | 1 | 1–1 | .500 | 1 | - | - | - |
References[edit]
- ^ "Statesmen win National Championship 3-2 in OT over Adrian". Hobart Statesmen/William Smith Herons. March 26, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
- ^ "Division III Legislation - Search Results". NCAA. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
- ^ "NCAA Division III men's hockey tournament". USCHO.com. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
- ^ "Crane's overtime goal lifts Hobart to first-ever national championship with 3-2 win over Adrian". USCHO.com. March 26, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
- "Division III Men's Ice Hockey Record Book" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved February 17, 2020.