2003 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

2003 NCAA Division III men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams9
Finals site
ChampionsNorwich Cadets (2nd title)
Runner-upOswego State Lakers (2nd title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachMike McShane (2nd title)
Attendance12,609

The 2003 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2002–03 season, the 20th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Norwich defeating Oswego State in the championship game 2–1. All First Round and Quarterfinal matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Northfield, Vermont, where Norwich University coincidentally hosted the Frozen Four the year they won.

Qualifying teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament. Automatic bids were offered to the conference tournament champion of seven different conferences with one at-large bid for the best remaining team from each region.

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
1 Middlebury (2) NESCAC 21–4–2 At–Large 9th 2002 1 St. Norbert (1) NCHA 26–1–2 Tournament Champion 5th 2002
2 Oswego State (3) SUNYAC 23–6–1 Tournament Champion 7th 1998 2 Wisconsin–River Falls NCHA 22–6–1 At–Large 9th 2001
3 Norwich (4) ECAC East 24–3–0 Tournament Champion 6th 2002 3 Saint John's MIAC 20–6–1 Tournament Champion 4th 2001
4 Trinity NESCAC 19–5–2 Tournament Champion 1st Never
5 Wentworth ECAC Northeast 21–4–3 Tournament Champion 3rd 2002
6 Elmira ECAC West 18–7–2 Tournament Champion 9th 1997

Format

The tournament featured four rounds of play. All rounds were Single-game elimination. For the three eastern Quarterfinals, the teams were seeded according to their rankings with the top three teams serving as hosts. For the western quarterfinal, the top-ranked team awaited the winner of a play-in game between the lower-ranked teams. The quarterfinal brackets were arranged so that were all higher-seeded teams to advance, the first overall seed would play the fourth overall seed in the semifinals.

Tournament bracket

First Round
March 12 		Quarterfinals
March 15 		Semifinals
March 21 		National Championship
March 22
W1 St. Norbert (1) 5
W2 Wisconsin–River Falls 2 W2 Wisconsin–River Falls 2
W3 Saint John's 0 W1 St. Norbert (1) 3
E3 Norwich (4) 6
E3 Norwich (4) 6
E4 Trinity 4
E3 Norwich (4) 2
E2 Oswego State (3) 1
E1 Middlebury (2) 5
E6 Elmira 1
E1 Middlebury (2) 0
E2 Oswego State (3) 6
E2 Oswego State (3) 4
E5 Wentworth 3

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Record by conference

Conference # of Bids Record Win % Frozen Four Championship Game Champions
NCHA 2 2–2 .500 1 - -
NESCAC 2 1–2 .333 1 - -
ECAC East 1 3–0 1.000 1 1 1
SUNYAC 1 2–1 .667 1 1 -
ECAC West 1 0–1 .000 - - -
ECAC Northeast 1 0–1 .000 - - -
MIAC 1 0–1 .000 - - -

References

  • "Division III Men's Ice Hockey Record Book" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved March 4, 2019.