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2015 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

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2015 NCAA Division III men's
ice hockey tournament
Teams11
Finals site
ChampionsTrinity Bantams (1st title)
Runner-upWisconsin–Stevens Point Pointers (8th title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachMatthew Greason (1st title)
MOPNathaniel Heibron (Trinity)
Attendance8,456

The 2015 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2014–15 season, the 32nd such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Trinity defeating Wisconsin–Stevens Point in the championship game 5-2. All First Round and Quarterfinal matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played at the Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Qualifying teams

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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-automatic qualifiers (overall seed in parentheses).

East West
Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid Seed School Conference Record Berth Type Appearance Last Bid
1 Amherst (2) NESCAC 21–4–2 Tournament Champion 4th 2012 1 Adrian (1) NCHA 23–3–3 Tournament Champion 5th 2014
2 Plattsburgh State (3) SUNYAC 20–5–2 Tournament Champion 18th 2012 2 Wisconsin–Stevens Point WIAC 21–6–1 At–Large 11th 2014
3 Norwich (4) ECAC East 24–3–1 Tournament Champion 16th 2014 3 Hamline MIAC 14–10–4 Tournament Champion 2nd 2011
4 Trinity NESCAC 21–3–1 At–Large 4th 2008
5 Hobart ECAC West 21–6–0 At–Large 5th 2009
6 Oswego State SUNYAC 18–4–4 At–Large 14th 2014
7 Nichols ECAC Northeast 21–3–3 Tournament Champion 3rd 2014
8 Plymouth State MASCAC 16–8–3 Tournament Champion 2nd 2012

Format

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The tournament featured four rounds of play. All rounds were Single-game elimination. The top two teams from each region received byes into the quarterfinal round. These teams were arranged so they were all four to reach the semifinal round the second eastern seed would play the top western seed and vice versa.

Because only three western teams received byes for the tournament, the third western seed was given the remaining bye into the quarterfinals and matched against the second western seed.

the remaining six eastern teams were placed in the first round and seeded as follows: the second eastern seed would play the eighth eastern seed, the fourth eastern seed would play the seventh eastern seed and the fifth eastern seed would play the sixth eastern seed. The winner between the fifth- and six-seeded teams, would advance to play the top overall seed. Because the fourth overall seed was required to play in the first round as the third eastern seed, the winner of its first round match would advance to play the second overall seed rather than the third overall seed. This was done to divide top four seeds evenly between the two semifinal brackets.

In the First Round and Quarterfinals the higher-seeded team served as host.

Tournament Bracket

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First Round
March 14
Quarterfinals
March 21
Semifinals
March 27
National Championship
March 28
E1 Amherst (2) 4*
E3 Norwich (4) 3 E3 Norwich (4) 3
E8 Plymouth State 2 E1 Amherst (2) 2
W2 Wisconsin–Stevens Point 6
W2 Wisconsin–Stevens Point 4
W3 Hamline 2
W2 Wisconsin–Stevens Point 2
E4 Trinity 5
W1 Adrian (1) 5
E5 Hobart 1 E6 Oswego State 4
E6 Oswego State 6 W1 Adrian (1) 3
E4 Trinity 5
E2 Plattsburgh State (3) 1
E4 Trinity 4 E4 Trinity 5
E7 Nichols 2

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

  • G: Nathaniel Heibron* (Trinity)
  • D: Alex Brooks (Wisconsin–Stevens Point)
  • D: Michael Flynn (Trinity)
  • F: Nick D'Avolio (Wisconsin–Stevens Point)
  • F: Michael Hawkrigg (Trinity)
  • F: Sean Orlando (Trinity)

* Most Outstanding Player(s)

Record by conference

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Conference # of Bids Record Win % Frozen Four Championship Game Champions
NESCAC 2 5–1 .833 2 1 1
SUNYAC 2 1–2 .333 - - -
WIAC 1 2–1 .667 1 1 -
NCHA 1 1–1 .500 1 - -
ECAC East 1 1–1 .500 - - -
ECAC West 1 0–1 .000 - - -
MIAC 1 0–1 .000 - - -
ECAC Northeast 1 0–1 .000 - - -
MASCAC 1 0–1 .000 - - -

References

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