2022 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament explained

Year:2022
Gender:men's
Division:Division III
Teams:12
Frozenfourarena:Herb Brooks Arena
Frozenfourcity:Lake Placid, New York
Champions:Adrian
Titlecount:1st
Champgamecount:2nd
Champffcount:4th
Runnerup:Geneseo State
Gamecount:1st
Runnerffcount:4th
Semifinal1:Augsburg
Frozenfourcount:3rd
Semifinal2:University of New England
Frozenfourcount2:1st
Coach:Adam Krug
Coachcount:1st
Mop:Sam Ruffin
Mopteam:Adrian
Attendance:1,980 (final)
Different Previous:2020

The 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2021–22 season, the 37th such tournament in NCAA history. Because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, it was the first tournament held since 2019. The top ranked team in the nation, Adrian, won the program's first national championship.

Qualifying teams

Twelve teams qualified for the tournament in the following ways: (Pool A) eight teams received bids as a result of being conference tournament champions from conferences that possessed an automatic bid, (Pool C) four additional teams received at-large bids based upon their records.[1]

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
1Utica (2)UCHC25–2–1Tournament Champion3rd20201Adrian (1)NCHA28–1–0Tournament Champion10th2020
2Geneseo State (3)SUNYAC22–3–1Tournament Champion9th20202Augsburg (4)MIAC24–4–0At–Large7th2019
3BabsonNEHC19–5–2Tournament Champion16th20203St. NorbertNCHA23–6–0At–Large20th2019
4HobartNEHC19–5–2At–Large11th20204St. OlafMIAC11–14–3Tournament Champion2nd2006
5University of New EnglandCCC21–3–1Tournament Champion3rd2019
6ElmiraNEHC18–6–2At–Large16th2012
7Plymouth StateMASCAC19–5–2Tournament Champion5th2020
8TrinityNESCAC17–7–1Tournament Champion8th2019

Format

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 two western teams received byes, the two eastern schools that were furthest west geographically, and did not receive byes, were placed in the same quarterfinal bracket and set to play against the eastern-most of the two western teams to receive byes. This was done so that the travel distance for the victor would be as short as possible. The remaining two western teams were placed in the same quarterfinal bracket as the other western quarterfinalist.

The remaining four eastern teams were arranged so that the highest-ranked first round team would play the lowest-ranked first round team with the winner advancing to play the lower eastern quarterfinalist. The higher-ranked of the two eastern quarterfinalists would play the winner of the final first round game.

In the First Round and Quarterfinals the higher-seeded team served as host. Beginning with the semifinals, all games were held at the Herb Brooks Arena.

Tournament Bracket

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

All-Tournament Team

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

Record by conference

Conference
  1. of Bids
RecordWin %Frozen FourChampionship GameChampions
24–1111
21–21--
NEHC22–2---
UCHC20–2---
SUNYAC12–111-
CCC12–11--
NESCAC10–1---
MASCAC10–1---

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NCAA Division III men's hockey tournament . USCHO.com . September 18, 2019.