1994 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament explained

Year:1994
Gender:men's
Division:Division III
Teams:8
Frozenfourarena:Wessman Arena
Frozenfourcity:Superior, Wisconsin
Champions:Wisconsin–River Falls Falcons
Titlecount:2nd
Champgamecount:3rd
Champffcount:3rd
Runnerup:Wisconsin–Superior
Gamecount:1st
Runnerffcount:2nd
Semifinal1:Salem State Vikings
Frozenfourcount:2nd
Semifinal2:Fredonia State Blue Devils
Frozenfourcount2:1st
Coach:Dean Talafous
Coachcount:1st
Mopteam:not awarded
Attendance:10,448

The 1994 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1993–94 season, the 11th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Wisconsin-River Falls defeating Wisconsin-Superior in the championship game 6-4. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Superior, Wisconsin.

The NESCAC allowed its teams to play in national tournament for the first time. However, as part of the conference rule changes, such teams could only play in one postseason tournament. As a result, Williams, who won the ECAC East championship, elected not to play in their conference tournament in the hope that they would receive a bid to the NCAA tournament. Williams would ultimately not be chosen for the tournament.

Qualifying teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament. There were no automatic bids, however, conference tournament champions were given preferential consideration. No formal seeding was used while quarterfinal matches were arranged so that the road teams would have the shortest possible travel distances.

EastWest
School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
ElmiraECAC West21–5–1At-Large7th1993St. ThomasMIAC19–4–4Tournament Champion7th1992
Fredonia StateSUNYAC23–0–3Tournament Champion1stNeverWisconsin–River FallsNCHA17–8–4At-Large4th1993
RITECAC West20–7–1Tournament Champion5th1989Wisconsin–Stevens PointNCHA17–7–3At-Large7th1993
Salem StateECAC East22–4–2Tournament Champion5th1993Wisconsin–SuperiorNCHA21–5–3Tournament Champion3rd1993

Format

The tournament featured three rounds of play. In the Quarterfinals, teams played a two-game series where the first team to reach 3 points was declared a winner (2 points for winning a game, 1 point each for tying). If both teams ended up with 2 points after the first two games a 20-minute mini-game used to determine a winner. Mini-game scores are in italics. Beginning with the Semifinals all games became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game with the losers playing in a Third Place game. The teams were seeded according to geographic proximity in the quarterfinals so the visiting team would have the shortest feasible distance to travel.

Bracket

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Note: Mini-games in italics

Record by conference

Conference
  1. of Bids
RecordWin %Frozen FourChampionship GameChampions
NCHA36–3–1221
ECAC East11–2–11--
ECAC West20–2–2---
SUNYAC12–1–11--
MIAC10–1–1---

References

External links