The annual NCAA Division III women's ice hockey tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the top women's team in the NCAA. The 2020 and 2021 championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]
| NCAA Division III women's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Sport | College ice hockey |
| Number of teams | 11 |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament |
| Current stadium | Hunt Arena |
| Current location | River Falls, Wisconsin |
| Played | 2002–present |
| Last contest | 2024 |
| Current champion | Wisconsin–River Falls (1) |
| Most championships | Plattsburgh State (7) |
| TV partner(s) | NCAA.com |
| Official website | https://www.ncaa.com/sports/icehockey-women/d3 |
Origins
editThe NCAA Division III championship of women's ice hockey began in 2002.
NCAA Division III women's ice hockey
editSeventy-one schools in the United States, ranging from the Midwest to the East Coast, sponsor varsity women's hockey at the Division III level. Eight conferences are currently recognized by the NCAA—Colonial Hockey Conference, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, New England Hockey Conference, New England Small College Athletic Conference, Northeast Women's Hockey League, Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, United Collegiate Hockey Conference, and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Format
editThis tournament is a single elimination competition of ten teams. The semi-finals and finals are called the "Women's Frozen Four." The winners of the semi-finals move on to the championship, where the losers play in the third place game.
History
edit| Year | Champion[2] | Coach | Score | Runner-up | Coach | City | Arena |
| 2002 | Elmira | Jamie Wood | 2–1 | Manhattanville | Nicole Kirnan | Elmira, New York | First Arena |
| 2003 | Elmira (2) | Jamie Wood | 5–1 | Manhattanville | Nicole Kirnan | Elmira, New York | First Arena |
| 2004 | Middlebury | Bill Mandigo | 2–1 | Wisconsin–Stevens Point | Brian Idalski | Middlebury, Vermont | Chip Kenyon Arena |
| 2005 | Middlebury (2) | Bill Mandigo | 4–3 | Elmira | Paul Nemetz-Carlson | Elmira, New York | First Arena |
| 2006 | Middlebury (3) | Bill Mandigo | 3–1 | Plattsburgh State | Kevin Houle | Plattsburgh, New York | Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena |
| 2007 | Plattsburgh State | Kevin Houle | 2–1 | Middlebury | Bill Mandigo | Plattsburgh, New York | Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena |
| 2008 | Plattsburgh State (2) | Kevin Houle | 3–2 | Manhattanville | Lauren McAuliffe | Plattsburgh, New York | Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena |
| 2009 | Amherst | Jim Plumer | 4–3 (ot) | Elmira | Greg Fargo | Middlebury, Vermont | Chip Kenyon Arena |
| 2010 | Amherst (2) | Jim Plumer | 7–2 | Norwich | Mark Bolding | St. Peter, Minnesota | Lund Arena |
| 2011 | Norwich | Mark Bolding | 5–2 | RIT | Scott McDonald | Rochester, New York | Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena |
| 2012 | RIT | Scott McDonald | 4–1 | Norwich | Mark Bolding | Rochester, New York | Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena |
| 2013 | Elmira (3) | Dean Jackson | 1–0 | Middlebury | Bill Mandigo | Superior, Wisconsin | Superior Ice Arena |
| 2014 | Plattsburgh State (3) | Kevin Houle | 9–2 | Norwich | Mark Bolding | Plattsburgh, New York | Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena |
| 2015 | Plattsburgh State (4) | Kevin Houle | 3–2 | Elmira | Dean Jackson | Plattsburgh, New York | Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena |
| 2016 | Plattsburgh State (5) | Kevin Houle | 5–1 | Wisconsin–River Falls | Joe Cranston | Plattsburgh, New York | Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena |
| 2017 | Plattsburgh State (6) | Kevin Houle | 4–3 (ot) | Adrian | Chad Davis | Adrian, Michigan | Arrington Ice Arena |
| 2018 | Norwich (2) | Mark Bolding | 2–1 | Elmira | Tim Crowley | Northfield, Vermont | Kreitzberg Arena |
| 2019 | Plattsburgh State (7) | Kevin Houle | 4–0 | Hamline | Natalie Darwitz | Mendota Heights, Minnesota | St. Thomas Ice Arena |
| 2020 | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||
| 2021 | |||||||
| 2022 | Middlebury (4) | Bill Mandigo | 3–2 (ot) | Gustavus Adolphus | Mike Carroll | Middlebury, Vermont | Chip Kenyon Arena |
| 2023 | Gustavus Adolphus | Mike Carroll | 2–1 (3ot) | Amherst | Jeff Mathews | Amherst, Massachusetts | Orr Rink |
| 2024 | Wisconsin–River Falls | Joe Cranston | 4–1 | Elmira | Greg Haney | River Falls, Wisconsin | Hunt Arena |
| 2025 | River Falls, Wisconsin | Hunt Arena | |||||
Team titles
edit| Team | # | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Plattsburgh State | 7 | 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 |
| Middlebury | 4 | 2004, 2005, 2006, 2022 |
| Elmira | 3 | 2002, 2003, 2013 |
| Amherst | 2 | 2009, 2010 |
| Norwich | 2 | 2011, 2018 |
| Gustavus Adolphus | 1 | 2023 |
| RIT | 1 | 2012 |
| Wisconsin–River Falls | 1 | 2024 |
Result by school and year
edit32 teams have appeared in the NCAA DIII Tournament in at least one year starting with 2002. The results for all years are shown in this table below.
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
- • Opening round (did not exist until 2018)
- x 2 teams who lost in 2020 before the tournament was canceled.
- QF Quarterfinals
- x 8 teams selected in 2020 who were in the quarterfinals before the tournament was canceled.
- F4 Frozen Four
- RU National Runner-up
- CH National Champion
| School | Conference as of 2024 |
# | F4 | CG | CH | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plattsburgh State | SUNYAC | 19 | 15 | 8 | 7 | F4 | F4 | RU | CH | CH | QF | QF | F4 | F4 | CH | CH | CH | CH | F4 | CH | x | F4 | F4 | QF | |||
| Middlebury | NESCAC | 19 | 10 | 6 | 4 | QF | QF | CH | CH | CH | RU | QF | F4 | F4 | QF | RU | QF | F4 | QF | QF | x | CH | QF | F4 | |||
| Elmira | NEHC | 18 | 12 | 8 | 3 | CH | CH | QF | RU | QF | F4 | RU | F4 | CH | QF | RU | F4 | QF | RU | QF | x | F4 | RU | ||||
| Amherst | NESCAC | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | F4 | QF | CH | CH | QF | QF | x | RU | QF | |||||||||||||
| Norwich | NEHC | 11 | 7 | 5 | 2 | QF | RU | CH | RU | QF | RU | F4 | F4 | CH | • | x | • | ||||||||||
| Gustavus Adolphus | MIAC | 17 | 10 | 2 | 1 | F4 | QF | F4 | F4 | QF | QF | QF | F4 | F4 | F4 | F4 | F4 | • | x | RU | CH | QF | |||||
| RIT | moved to NC | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | QF | RU | CH | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin–River Falls | WIAC | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | F4 | F4 | QF | QF | QF | QF | F4 | F4 | RU | QF | QF | x | QF | QF | CH | |||||||
| Manhattanville | UCHC | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | RU | RU | F4 | QF | QF | QF | RU | QF | ||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin–Stevens Point | WIAC | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | RU | QF | F4 | F4 | QF | |||||||||||||||||
| Adrian | MIAA | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | QF | QF | RU | QF | F4 | x | QF | F4 | ||||||||||||||
| Hamline | MIAC | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | RU | F4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| St. Thomas | moved to NC | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | QF | F4 | QF | QF | QF | F4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Bowdoin | NESCAC | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | F4 | F4 | QF | QF | QF | |||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | NESCAC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | F4 | QF | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin–Superior | WIAC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | QF | F4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin–Eau Clare | WIAC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | QF | x | QF | ||||||||||||||||||
| Williams | NESCAC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | QF | • | |||||||||||||||||||
| Endicott | CCC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | • | x | QF | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nazareth | UCHC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | • | QF | • | |||||||||||||||||||
| Trinity | NESCAC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | QF | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lake Forest | Midwest | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | QF | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Colby | NESCAC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | QF | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Saint Mary's | MIAC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Concordia | MIAC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | |||||||||||||||||||||
| St. Norbert | NACC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | |||||||||||||||||||||
| UMass Boston | NEHC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Morrisville State | SUNYAC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | QF | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Aurora | NACC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | • | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Suffolk | CCC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | • | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Cortland | SUNYAC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | • | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Western New England | CCC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | • |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Staff, USCHO (2022-03-08). "After no championship since 2019, women's college hockey Division III national tournament returns with 10-team field for 2022". College Hockey | USCHO.com. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
- ^ "DIII Women's Ice Hockey Championship History | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2022-03-12.