Nebulous Beginning Source:
In 1973 the NCAA changed its classification system to a numerical method. Schools were reclassified in three separate divisions with Division III being the lowest. The former College Division teams were mostly slotted into Division II despite a majority coming from D-III schools. Because the NCAA did not hold a national tournament for either D-II or D-III at the time there was no need to have a formal delineation between the two lower divisions, however, ECAC 3 had already been formed out of schools from ECAC 2 in order to allow them to participate in a more balanced conference. While there was no formal classification of ECAC 3 as a D-III conference until much later, the teams in ECAC 3 and the independents who later joined the conference are sometimes regarded as NCAA Division III programs during the first decade of play.
No. Season Tournament Start Finish 11973–74None November March 21974–75None November March 31975–76None November March 41976–77None November March 51977–78None November March 61978–79None November March 71979–80None November March 81980–81None November March 91981–82None November March 101982–83None November March
Tournament Play Begins In 1983 the NCAA announced they would hold an NCAA Division III Championship for the upcoming season. While most of the teams that were eligible for tournament continued to play at the Division II level, they submitted bids for the new championship at the end of the season. Due to the level of interest the tournament was founded as an 8-team championship with no automatic bids being offered. Prior to the tournament, because no conference championships were yet held for western teams, an 8-team qualifying tournament was held instead to determine which teams would receive bids to the national tournament. The regional tournament was discontinued after 1985 when the western conferences began their league playoffs.
Because the Division III level was skewed towards eastern teams, that region received more bids than the western teams for the first three years. Afterwards, both the eastern and western regions received 4 bids each.
No. Season Tournament No. of teamsin tournament Start Finish NCAA Champion(number) ChampionConference ChampionRecord Championship Site 111983–8419848November March 18 ECAC 2(27–5–1)Rochester, New York 121984–851985 8 November March 23 ECAC West(26–6–1)Schenectady, New York 131985–8619868November March 22 NCHA(34–9–2)Bemidji, Minnesota 141986–8719878November March 21Vacated ——Elmira, New York 151987–8819888OctoberMarch 25 NCHA(31–6–1)Elmira, New York 161988–8919898OctoberMarch 25 NCHA(34–5–2)Rochester, New York 171989–901990 8 October March 24 (2) NCHA(28–4–6)Stevens Point, Wisconsin 181990–9119918October March 16 (3) NCHA(27–9–0)Elmira, New York 191991–921992 8 October March 21 ECAC West(32–2–2)Plattsburgh, New York 201992–9319938October March 27 (4) NCHA(25–5–2)Maplewood, Minnesota
Increased Participation In 1994 the NESCAC, the primary conference for several eastern teams, announced that they were rescinding their policy barring member schools from participating in national tournaments. Their new policy, however, restricted members to only one postseason tournament. Because of that, some ECAC East schools had to decide whether or not they would participate in their conference tournament or sit out and hope that the selection committee would choose to offer them a bid. Williams was the first teams to take the gamble in 1994, but they did not receive a bid. The following year Middlebury sat out the ECAC East Tournament and received a bid. This began a five-year run for the Panthers as NCAA champions, the longest unbroken streak for a champion at any level of college hockey.
No. Season Tournament No. of teamsin tournament Start Finish NCAA Champion(number) ChampionConference ChampionRecord Championship Site 211993–9419948October March 19 (2) NCHA(21–8–4)Superior, Wisconsin 221994–9519958October March 25 ECAC East(22–2–2)Middlebury, Vermont 231995–9619968October March 16 (2) ECAC East(26–2–0)River Falls, Wisconsin 241996–9719978October March 22 (3) ECAC East(22–3–2)Middlebury, Vermont 251997–9819988October March 21 (4) ECAC East(24–2–2)Plattsburgh, New York 261998–9919998October March 20 (5) ECAC East(21–5–1)Norwich, Vermont
Tournament Expansion and Exclusion In 1999 the NCAA announced a plan to begin offering automatic bids for the Division III NCAA tournament. As part of this new policy, they would only offer bids to conference tournament champions of eligible Division III leagues. To qualify, none of the postseason participants could be ranked above Division III and the conference must have at least 7 members playing during the season. This caused several changes to college hockey, including the NESCAC sponsoring ice hockey as a sport for the first time and the termination of its policy restricting member teams to only one postseason tournament.
Due to five eastern conferences and two western conferences qualifying, the NCAA also abandoned its policy of having an equal number of eastern and western teams participate in the tournament. One at-large bid would be offered to the non-league champion with the best record but, after two years, the tournament was expanded to 9 teams with a second at-large bid included so that each region could provide an additional team. A further at-large bid was added in 2006 which could go to either region. The tournament was expanded to 11 teams in 2009 with an additional at-large bid which was converted into an automatic qualifier once the MCHA met NCAA regulations in 2010. No. Season Tournament No. of teamsin tournament Start Finish NCAA Champion(number) ChampionConference ChampionRecord Championship Site 271999–0020008October 22March 18 ECAC East(29–2–1)Superior, Wisconsin 282000–0120018October 20March 17 (2) SUNYAC(29–5–0)Rochester, New York 292001–0220029October 19March 16 NCHA(24–5–5)Middlebury, Vermont 302002–0320039October 18March 22 (2) ECAC East(27–3–0)Norwich, Vermont 312003–042004 9 October 18 March 20 (6) NESCAC(27–3–0)Norwich, Vermont 322004–0520059October 15March 19 (7) NESCAC(23–4–3)Middlebury, Vermont 332005–06200610October 15March 19 (8) NESCAC(26–2–2)Elmira, New York 342006–07200710October 15March 19 SUNYAC(23–3–3)Superior, Wisconsin 352007–08200810October 19March 23 NCHA(27–1–4)Lake Placid, New York 362008–09200911 October 17March 21 ECAC West(21–9–2)Lake Placid, New York
Conference realignment and dissolution In 2009 the MASCAC began sponsoring ice hockey for the first time. The 5 member schools, along with 2 associate members, formed the league's new ice hockey division but despite meeting the NCAA's requirements for an automatic bid, the conference didn't receive one until 2012. The following year, 2013, the WIAC began sponsoring ice hockey for the first time. As a result, all 5 member schools that fielded teams left the NCHA. The NCHA responded by absorbing all members of the MCHA in order to retain its automatic qualifier. Due to the WIAC not having enough members the conference champion did not receive an automatic qualifier, bringing the number of at-large bids back to 4 since the MCHA no longer existed.
In 2017 the NCAA increased the number of tournament participants to 12 and offered the additional bid to one conference tournament champion whose league did not meet the minimum NCAA membership requirement. This bid was later given to the UCHC champion.
No. Season Tournament No. of teamsin tournament Start Finish NCAA Champion(number) ChampionConference ChampionRecord Championship Site 372009–10201011October 23March 20 (3) ECAC East(26–1–4)Lake Placid, New York 382010–112011 11 October 22March 26 (2) NCHA(25–4–1)Minneapolis, Minnesota 392011–12201211 October 21March 17 (3) NCHA(21–5–5)Tampa, Florida 402012–13201311 October 18March 16 NCHA(24–5–2)Lake Placid, New York 41 2013–14 2014 11 October 26 March 22 (4) NCHA (28–3–1) Lewiston, Maine 42 2014–15 2015 11 October 31 March 28 NESCAC (25–3–1) Minneapolis, Minnesota 43 2015–16 2016 11 October 30 March 26 (5) WIAC (24–5–2) Lake Placid, New York 44 2016–17 2017 12 October 28 March 25 (4) NEHC (27–1–3) Utica, New York 45 2017–18 2018 12 October 21 March 24 (5) NCHC (27–4–1) Lake Placid, New York 46 2018–19 2019 12 October 13 March 23 (6) WIAC (29–0–2) Stevens Point, Wisconsin 47 2019–20 2020 12 November 1 March 8 Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic Buffalo, New York 48 2020–21 — — October 30 April 5 Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
Continued expansion and realignment In the wake of COVID, Division III hockey saw many new programs while some also reappeared for the first time in many years. From 2021 to 2025, nine Division III schools founded ice hockey programs while three college restarted their dormant programs after at least 20 years away. However, due to financial difficulties that were exacerbated by the pandemic, three schools were forced to close permanently during the same time frame. With all of the changes occurring, conference realignment was almost unavoidable and two all-sport leagues began sponsoring ice hockey for the first time. The Little East Conference and Middle Atlantic Conferences siphoned member teams out of the NEHC and UCHC respectively. While the UCHC was able to get enough new teams to sign on and remain a viable league, the NEHC saw almost all of remaining members leave for other conferences, effectively signaling an end for one of Division III's oldest leagues.
At the same time, the NCAA's Division III Management Council made two small but significant changes to the selection process. First, the minimum number of member teams required for a conference to receive an automatic bid was lowered from seven to six. Two years later, the council also lowered the desired ratio of tournament bids to active programs from 1:6.5 to 1:6. For college hockey, this allowed the addition of new conferences as previously outlined but it also continued the D-III tournament's expansion.
No. Season Tournament No. of teamsin tournament Start Finish NCAA Champion(number) ChampionConference ChampionRecord Championship Site 49 2021–22 2022 12 October 16 March 26 NCHA (31–1–0) Lake Placid, New York 50 2022–23 2023 12 October 19 March 25 NEHC (29–2–0) Beverly, Massachusetts 51 2023–24 2024 13 October 27 March 23 (2) NEHC (28–2–1) Hartford, Connecticut 52 2024–25 2025 14 November 1 March 30 (3) NEHC (29–1–1) Utica, New York 53 2025–26 2026 14 October 31 March 29 NESCAC (23–5–2) Utica, New York
Conference timeline
Note: MIAC had been operating a college hockey division since 1921 but did not participate as an official Division III league until 1984. Note: NCHA Was founded as a Division II league in 1980. Note: ECAC East and ECAC West both began the 1984–85 season as divisions within ECAC 2. During the season, the conference was split into two separate leagues. Note: SUNYAC began an unofficial ice hockey conference in 1985 but did not formally support ice hockey as a sport until 1992.
See also List of NCAA Division III men's ice hockey champions
References
External links USCHO.com