The 2012 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2011–12 season, the 29th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with St. Norbert defeating Oswego State in the championship game 4-1. 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.
This tournament is notable for the fact that no team scored more than 1 goal in any losing effort.
Qualifying teams The following teams qualified for the tournament. Automatic bids were offered to the conference tournament champion of eight different conferences. Three at-large bids were available for the highest-ranked non-conference tournament champions (overall seed in parentheses).
East West Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid1 Norwich (1) ECAC East 23–2–2 Tournament Champion 13th 20111 St. Norbert NCHA 17–5–5 Tournament Champion 13th 20112 Oswego State (2) SUNYAC 22–3–2 At–Large 11th 20112 Gustavus Adolphus MIAC 16–6–5 Tournament Champion 6th 20103 Amherst (3) NESCAC 23–3–1 Tournament Champion 3rd 20093 MSOE MCHA 22–6–1 Tournament Champion 1st Never4 Plattsburgh State (4) SUNYAC 19–4–4 Tournament Champion 17th 20114 St. Thomas MIAC 18–5–2 At–Large 15th 20105 Elmira ECAC West 15–8–3 At–Large 15th 20116 Plymouth State MASCAC 17–6–3 Tournament Champion 1st Never7 Wentworth ECAC Northeast 20–6–1 Tournament Champion 5th 2004
Format The tournament featured four rounds of play. All rounds were Single-game elimination. The top four ranked teams received byes into the quarterfinal round and were arranged so that were they all to reach the national semifinal, the second seed would play the third seed.
Because the top four ranked teams were all eastern teams, all four western participants were placed in the same quarterfinal bracket. The teams were arranged to that the top western seed would play the fourth western seed while the second western seed would play the third western seed all in the first round. The winners would advance to the same quarterfinal match and the winner would advance to play the winner of the eastern quarterfinal that possessed the top eastern seed.
The remaining three quarterfinal brackets were arranged as follows: the two lowest ranked eastern teams would play in the first round with the winner advancing to play the top eastern seed, the second eastern seed would play the fifth eastern seed and the third eastern seed would play the fourth eastern seed in the quarterfinals.
In the First Round and Quarterfinals the higher-seeded team served as host.
Tournament Bracket
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
Results
First round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National Championship
All-Tournament Team G: David Jacobson* (St. Norbert) D: Mike Baran (Amherst) D: Zach McDonald (St. Norbert) F: Ian Boots (Oswego State) F: Cody Keefer (St. Norbert) F: Johan Ryd (St. Norbert) * Most Outstanding Player(s)
Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Frozen FourChampionship GameChampions SUNYAC 2 2–2 1 1 - MIAC 2 1–2 - - - NCHA 1 4–0 1 1 1 ECAC East 1 1–1 1 - - NESCAC 1 1–1 1 - - ECAC Northeast 1 1–1 - - - ECAC West 1 0–1 - - - MCHA 1 0–1 - - - MASCAC 1 0–1 - - -
References