1994 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

1994 NCAA Division III men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams8
Finals site
ChampionsWisconsin–River Falls Falcons (2nd title)
Runner-upWisconsin–Superior (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachDean Talafous (1st title)
Attendance10,448

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.

East West
School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
Elmira ECAC West 21–5–1 At-Large 7th 1993 St. Thomas MIAC 19–4–4 Tournament Champion 7th 1992
Fredonia State SUNYAC 23–0–3 Tournament Champion 1st Never Wisconsin–River Falls NCHA 17–8–4 At-Large 4th 1993
RIT ECAC West 20–7–1 Tournament Champion 5th 1989 Wisconsin–Stevens Point NCHA 17–7–3 At-Large 7th 1993
Salem State ECAC East 22–4–2 Tournament Champion 5th 1993 Wisconsin–Superior NCHA 21–5–3 Tournament Champion 3rd 1993

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

Quarterfinals
March 11–12 		Semifinals
March 18 		National Championship
March 19
           
Fredonia State 3 7 -
RIT 3 0 -
Fredonia State 3
Wisconsin–River Falls 4
Wisconsin–River Falls 4 4 -
Wisconsin–Stevens Point 2 3 -
Wisconsin–River Falls 6
Wisconsin–Superior 4
Salem State 6 4 -
Elmira 4 4 -
Salem State 2 Third Place Game
Wisconsin–Superior 3*
Wisconsin–Superior 3 5 - Fredonia State 7
St. Thomas 3 1 - Salem State 4

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

Record by conference

Conference # of Bids Record Win % Frozen Four Championship Game Champions
NCHA 3 6–3–1 .650 2 2 1
ECAC East 1 1–2–1 .375 1 - -
ECAC West 2 0–2–2 .250 - - -
SUNYAC 1 2–1–1 .625 1 - -
MIAC 1 0–1–1 .250 - - -

References

  • "Division III Men's Ice Hockey Record Book" (PDF). NCAA. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.