The 1996 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament was the culmination of the 1995–96 season, the 13th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Middlebury defeating RIT in the championship game 3–2. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in River Falls, Wisconsin.
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.
East West School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Bowdoin ECAC East 18–5–1 At-Large 1st Never Saint John's MIAC 17–8–4 Tournament champion 1st Never Colby ECAC East 19–4–0 At-Large 1st Never Wisconsin–River Falls NCHA 23–4–2 Tournament champion 6th 1995 Middlebury ECAC East 22–2–2 At-Large 2nd 1995 Wisconsin–Superior NCHA 18–9–4 At-Large 5th 1995 Potsdam State SUNYAC 18–8–2 Tournament champion 1st Never RIT ECAC West 22–5–1 Tournament champion 6th 1994
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# of BidsRecordWin %Frozen FourChampionship GameChampions ECAC East 3 4–4 1 1 1 NCHA 2 5–3 2 - - ECAC West 1 3–1 1 1 - SUNYAC 1 0–2 - - - MIAC 1 0–2 - - -
References
External links Division III Men's Ice Hockey Record Book