2006 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

2006 NCAA Division III men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams9
Finals site
ChampionsMiddlebury Panthers (8th title)
Runner-upSt. Norbert Green Knights (2nd title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachBill Beaney (8th title)
MOPNone (not awarded)
Attendance13,671

The 2006 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2005–06 season, the 23rd such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Middlebury defeating St. Norbert in the championship game 3-0. All First Round and Quarterfinal matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played at the First Arena in Elmira, New York.

The tournament was expanded to 10 teams with an additional at-large bid offered to a team judges to be the best who had neither received an automatic bid nor one of the regional at-large bids.

Massachusetts–Dartmouth was the first NCAA tournament game for any team from ECAC Northeast.

Qualifying teams

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

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
1 Middlebury NESCAC 23–2–2 Tournament Champion 12th 2005 1 St. Norbert NCHA 23–4–3 At–Large 8th 2005
2 Manhattanville ECAC West 20–4–2 At–Large 2nd 2005 2 Wisconsin–Superior NCHA 17–9–3 Tournament Champion 11th 2002
3 Norwich ECAC East 22–4–2 Tournament Champion 8th 2004 3 St. Olaf MIAC 12–9–5 Tournament Champion 1st Never
4 Hobart ECAC West 19–7–0 At–Large 2nd 2004
5 Elmira ECAC West 17–8–2 Tournament Champion 10th 2003
6 Geneseo State SUNYAC 19–8–2 Tournament Champion 3rd 2005
7 Massachusetts–Dartmouth ECAC Northeast 24–4–0 Tournament Champion 1st Never

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. The two lowest-seeded eastern teams played a first round game while the remaining five teams received byes into Quarterfinal round. The top-seeded eastern team played the winner of the eastern first round game. For the western quarterfinal, the top-ranked team awaited the winner of a first round game between the lower-ranked teams. The higher-seeded team served as host for each game of the first round and quarterfinals.

Tournament bracket

First Round
March 8 		Quarterfinals
March 11 		Semifinals
March 18 		National Championship
March 19
W1 St. Norbert 8
W2 Wisconsin–Superior 2 W2 Wisconsin–Superior 2
W3 St. Olaf 1 W1 St. Norbert 5*
E4 Hobart 4
E3 Norwich 1
E4 Hobart 3
W1 St. Norbert 0
E1 Middlebury 3
E1 Middlebury 3
E6 Geneseo State 2 E7 Massachusetts–Dartmouth 1
E7 Massachusetts–Dartmouth 8 E1 Middlebury 2
E5 Elmira 1
E2 Manhattanville 1
E5 Elmira 2**

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Record by conference

Conference # of Bids Record Win % Frozen Four Championship Game Champions
ECAC West 3 2–3 .400 2 - -
NCHA 2 3–2 .600 1 1 -
NESCAC 1 3–0 1.000 1 1 1
ECAC Northeast 1 1–1 .500 - - -
MIAC 1 0–1 .000 - - -
ECAC East 1 0–1 .000 - - -
SUNYAC 1 0–1 .000 - - -

References

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