2010 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

2010 NCAA Division III men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams11
Finals site
ChampionsNorwich Cadets (3rd title)
Runner-upSt. Norbert Green Knights (4th title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachMike McShane (3rd title)
MOPB. J. O'Brien (St. Norbert)
Attendance19,879

The 2010 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2009–10 season, the 27th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Norwich defeating St. Norbert in the championship game 2-1 in overtime. All First Round and Quarterfinal matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York.

Qualifying teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament. Automatic bids were offered to the conference tournament champion of seven different conferences. Four at-large bids were available for the highest-ranked non-conference tournament champions (overall seed in parentheses). ECAC West, which had fewer than the number of requisite teams (seven) to qualify for an automatic bid for several years, lost its automatic bid.

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
1 Norwich (1) ECAC East 23–1–4 Tournament Champion 11th 2008 1 St. Norbert (3) NCHA 21–3–3 Tournament Champion 11th 2008
2 Oswego State (2) SUNYAC 25–2–0 Tournament Champion 9th 2007 2 Gustavus Adolphus MIAC 19–6–2 At–Large 5th 2009
3 Middlebury (4) NESCAC 19–4–4 Tournament Champion 14th 2007 3 St. Thomas MIAC 13–10–4 Tournament Champion 14th 2008
4 Plattsburgh State SUNYAC 18–5–4 At–Large 15th 2009 4 Adrian MCHA 24–3–0 Tournament Champion 1st Never
5 Bowdoin NESCAC 19–6–1 At–Large 3rd 2002
6 Elmira ECAC West 18–8–1 At–Large 13th 2009
7 Curry ECAC Northeast 19–8–1 Tournament Champion 3rd 2005

Format

The tournament featured four rounds of play. All rounds were Single-game elimination. The top four teams were arranged so that were they all to reach the national semifinal, the first overall seed would play the fourth seed while the second seed would play the third seed. Because only one Western team could have received a bye into the quarterfinals, all western teams played in the first round to prevent lower-seeded teams from having to travel long-distances in the first two rounds. The other first round participants were the two lowest-seeded eastern teams.

The winners of the two western first round matches would play one another in the quarterfinals. The top eastern seed would play the winner of the eastern first round game while the other two quarterfinal matches were played between eastern teams as follows: the second-seeded eastern team played the fifth-seeded team while the third-seed played the fourth-seed. The higher-seeded team served as host for all first round and quarterfinal meetings.

Tournament Bracket

First Round
March 10 		Quarterfinals
March 13 		Semifinals
March 19 		National Championship
March 20
            
E2 Oswego State (2) 9
E5 Bowdoin 2
E2 Oswego State (2) 3
W1 St. Norbert (3) 4
W1 St. Norbert (3) 4
W4 Adrian 3
W1 St. Norbert (3) 3
W2 Gustavus Adolphus 1
W2 Gustavus Adolphus 3
W3 St. Thomas 0
W1 St. Norbert (3) 1
E1 Norwich (1) 2*
E3 Middlebury (4) 2
E4 Plattsburgh State 3*
E4 Plattsburgh State 2
E1 Norwich (1) 3
E6 Elmira 4
E7 Curry 1
E1 Norwich (1) 2*
E6 Elmira 1

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

All-Tournament Team

  • G: Ryan Klingensmith (Norwich)
  • G: B. J. O'Brien* (St. Norbert)
  • D: Steve Coon (Norwich)
  • D: Sam Tikka (St. Norbert)
  • F: Chad Anderson (Norwich)
  • F: Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Norwich)
  • F: Johan Ryd (St. Norbert)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

Record by conference

Conference # of Bids Record Win % Frozen Four Championship Game Champions
SUNYAC 2 2–2 .500 2 - -
MIAC 2 1–2 .333 - - -
NESCAC 2 0–2 .000 - - -
ECAC East 1 3–0 1.000 1 1 1
NCHA 1 3–1 .750 1 1 -
ECAC West 1 1–1 .500 - - -
ECAC Northeast 1 0–1 .000 - - -
MCHA 1 0–1 .000 - - -

References

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