The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I championships, it is the highest level of NCAA men's hockey competition. The NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Championship is a single elimination competition that has determined the collegiate national champion since the inaugural 1948 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.
The road to the Frozen Four began on Sunday with the 2025 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament bracket reveal.
Tournament Structure and Selection Process
The tournament features 16 teams representing all six Division I conferences in the nation. The Championship Committee seeds the entire field from 1 to 16 within four regionals of 4 teams. The winners of the six Division I conference championships receive automatic bids to participate in the NCAA Championship. In setting up the tournament, the Championship Committee seeks to ensure "competitive equity, financial success and likelihood of playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site." A team serving as the host of a regional is placed within that regional.
The top four teams are assigned overall seeds and placed within the bracket such that the national semifinals will feature the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed should the top four teams win their respective regional finals. Number 1 seeds are also placed as close to their home site as possible, with the No. 1 seed receiving first preference.
Need to know how the selection committee decides the schools for the 2020 Division 1 NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament? Look no further. The NCAA Tournament features 16 teams. Of the 16 teams, six conference champions will receive automatic qualification with the remaining best 10 teams being selected on an at-large basis by the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee.
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The six conferences that receive automatic bids are: Hockey East, ECAC Hockey, Big Ten, NCHC, CCHA and Atlantic Hockey (AHA).
Historical Evolution of Selection
Up until 1976, the NCAA tournament invited two teams from each of the two major regions: East and West. Initially, all teams were invited based upon their regular season performance with the NCAA selection committee occasionally deferring to an in-season or unofficial tournament to make their selection easier. Over time, as each of the two regions became dominated by single conferences, the selection committee would just choose the top two teams from each of the two leagues or, when held, the champion(s) and runners-up of the conference tournaments.
During the first three decades of the national tournament other conferences did exist, however, most of these were either unofficial or contained teams that were largely regarded as inferior (MIAC for example) and were ignored by the selection committee. Things began to change in the 70s when several new programs joined the top level of play. For the first half of the decade, the NCAA tournament continued its recent pattern of only inviting two teams from both ECAC Hockey and the WCHA.
However, after several years of petitioning by the new league, the selection committee finally changed the tournament format for the 1976 series. While it could continue to invite two teams from the more established leagues, the committee gave itself the ability to invite up to 4 additional teams to the tournament as it saw fit. Under this policy, the CCHA tournament champion was given a de facto automatic bid but the committee was reticent to include any additional teams in the field.
After failing to use most of the additional slots made available by the rule chance, the NCAA tournament was expanded into three full rounds in 1981. At the time, with just one large conference comprising all eastern teams, the ECAC subdivided itself into three regions. The conference's tournament champion as well as the two division champions from the other groups would receive automatic bids. For the west, the WCHA would continue to name two tournament co-champions who would each receive an automatic bid while the single CCHA champion would also receive an automatic bid.
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Within two years this cumbersome policy was abandoned and the NCAA tournament would only offer a single automatic bids to each of the three conferences with the rest of the field being made up of at-large bids.
Ranking Systems and At-Large Bids
Beginning in 1981, when at-large bids were first officially introduced, the selection of teams that were offered bids was based upon their national rankings in polls. These were primarily done by some combination of head coaches and sports writers and tended to favor more established programs. In the early 1990s, the selection committee began to try and compare teams objectively by instituting a new ranking system.
Some of the initial rankings that resulted were decried as some of the tournament invitees possessed arguably subpar records and their inclusion pushed out teams that were widely regarded as superior, such as Brown in 1993. Since then, at-large bids were offered to teams based upon their PairWise ranking which provided a single number for each program based upon several categories. The categories were altered and changed over time with each receiving different weights or priorities, however, by 2014 the system was largely seen by the committee as sufficient and went unchanged for several years afterwards.
A computer ranking system comprised of three different criteria compares each of the 60 men’s Division 1 teams against one another. The more comparisons a team can claim over opponents, the higher it will be ranked. Each game counts the same for tournament consideration, whether it happens on October 5th or March 23rd.
For the first two criteria, the usage is straightforward. A team earns a point for the better record and for each win in head-to-head play.
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RPI combines a team’s win-loss record (25 percent), its opponents’ winning percentage (21 percent) and its opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage (54 percent) into a ranking. Teams also can get quality win bonuses for beating teams in the top 20 and home/away wins are weighted differently. So there’s math.
The manual notes, "If the points awarded in the RPI for a win in a postseason conference tournament game are fewer than the average regular-season RPI point value per game, then points awarded for the postseason tournament game will be deleted. This is being done so that an institution is not penalized for a win in a postseason conference tournament by having its overall RPI decrease." Head-to-head competition, results versus common opponents, the quality wins bonus (QWB) and home/away weighting are also factored in. Each of the above criteria carries one point, aside from head-to-head competition, "which will carry the number of points equal to the net difference in the results of these games (e.g., if Team A defeats Team B three out of four games, Team A would receive two points in the selection process)." In the comparisons between teams, the team with the most points will be selected.
It’s important to note that the PairWise rating, which outlets like the USCHO and College Hockey News compile, is not the same thing as the RPI. The PairWise is used to mimic the committee’s process, comparing teams via the RPI, records against common opponents and head-to-head competition. A team receives a point for each comparison it wins.
Bracket Development
Once the six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams are selected, the next step is to develop four groups from the committee’s rankings of 1-16. The top four teams are No. 1 seeds and will be placed in the bracket so that if all four teams advance to the Men’s Frozen Four, the No. 1 seed will play the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed in the semifinals. The next four are targeted as No. 2 seeds. The next four are No. 3 seeds and the last four are No. 2.
Programs that are hosting regionals and qualify for the tournament will be placed at home. The committee tries to steer away from matchups between teams from the same conference while also maintaining bracket integrity.
Step two is to place the home teams.
Step three is to fill in the bracket so that first-round conference matchups are avoided, unless it corrupts the integrity of the bracket. If five or more teams from one conference are selected to the championship, then the integrity of the bracket will be protected (i.e., maintaining the pairing process according to seed will take priority over avoidance of first-round conference matchups).
To complete each regional, the committee assigns one team from each of the remaining seeded groups so there is a No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No.
Those are the basic ideas. There are other, more advanced factors that may come up later as March gets closer, but for now, keep those main Bracketology 101 ideas in mind.
2025 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament
Leading the way was Boston College, as the Eagles received the No. 1 overall seed in the 16-team field. It is the 38th NCAA Tournament appearance for Boston College, which had an early exit in the Hockey East tournament to Northeastern. Overall, the league received six bids to the field, the most of any conference in the country and its most to the field since 2016.
Joining Boston College on the 1-seed line were Michigan State (No. 2 overall seed), Maine (No. 3 overall seed) and Western Michigan (No. 4 overall seed).
The men's NCAA hockey bracket reveal show created some history for two programs, as Bentley and Connecticut heard their names called for the national tournament for the first time in their respective program histories. The Falcons will play their first tournament game against Boston College in the No. 1 vs. No. 4 game of the Manchester Region. Meanwhile, the Huskies will open up against their cross-state rival Quinnipiac in the Allentown Region.
Defending national champion Denver (29-11-1, 15-8-1 in NCHC play) was given the third seed in the Manchester Region on Sunday. Nine additional programs were selected to the field as at-large bids.
Here's a full breakdown of the teams in the 2025 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament:
- Boston College
- Michigan State
- Maine
- Western Michigan
- Boston University
- UConn
- Providence
- Bentley
- Denver
- Ohio State
- Cornell
- Penn State
- Quinnipiac
- Minnesota
- UMass
- Minnesota State
Bentley and UConn heard their names called to the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament, for the first time on Sunday during the bracket reveal down on ESPNU.
UConn is coming off a 5-2 loss to Maine, the No. 3 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament in the Hockey East championship game on Friday. The Huskies are 22-11-4 overall on the season and a dark horse team to make the Frozen Four, per former Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player Colby Cohen on the ESPNU bracket reveal show.
Bentley defeated Holy Cross 6-3 in the Atlantic Hockey championship game on Saturday, the first Atlantic Hockey title in program history for the Falcons.
The Boston College Eagles were tabbed as the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament bracket by the NCAA selection committee. It is the 38th NCAA Tournament appearance for Boston College, which is looking for its first back-to-back Frozen Four appearances since 2006-08.
Hockey East had six of its programs selected to the 2025 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament, the most selections to the field of any conference.
Of its six bids to the Frozen Four, Hockey East received two No. 1 seeds in No. 1 overall seed Boston College and No. 3 overall seed Maine. Joining the Eagles and Black Bears was Boston University, UConn, Providence and UMass.
The final No. 1 seed in the Frozen Four bracket goes to No. 2 overall seed Michigan State, who is coming off a thrilling double-overtime win over Ohio State on Saturday to claim the Big Ten trophy.
Maine is rewarded the No. 1 seed in the Allentown Region, and the No. 3 overall seed in the 2025 Frozen Four Bracket. Maine gets a tough draw in the first round of the Allentown Region against Penn State. Then there is the Connecticut Rivalry between UConn and Quinnipiac in the other Allentown Region first-round game.
The top seed in the Fargo Region goes to Western Michigan, which is the No. 4 overall seed in the Frozen Four bracket. The Broncos are coming off their first-ever NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship title in program history on Saturday over Denver thanks to a double-overtime goal scored by forward Alex Bump.
Despite losing in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East quarterfinals to Northeastern, Boston College was still given the No. 1 seed in the Manchester Region. At 26-7-2, the Eagles enter the Frozen Four tournament as one of the top teams in the field. An intriguing Manchester Region quarterfinal matchup could be Boston College and Providence, a New England region rivalry. The Eagles took all three regular-season matchups against the Friars this year, while outscoring Providence 10-3 in those.
The first round of the 2025 men's NCAA hockey tournament will begin on Thursday, March 27, carrying on into Friday, March 28.
The men’s Frozen Four will occur on Thursday, April 10 and Saturday, April 12. The men’s Frozen Four will take place at Enterprise Center, the home of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, in St. Louis this year. It is the first time that the Frozen Four has returned to St. Louis since the 2007 Frozen Four, when Michigan State defeated Boston College 3-1 in the national championship game.
Here is the full schedule for the 2025 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship:
- First round: Thursday, March 27-Friday, March 28
- Second round: Saturday, March 29-Sunday, March 30
- Frozen Four: Thursday, April 10
- Men's NCAA hockey championship: Saturday, April 12
Denver is coming off a win in the 2024 Frozen Four, and also won the national championship in 2022.
Here's a look at the 10 most recent national champions:
| Year | Champion |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Denver |
| 2023 | Quinnipiac |
| 2022 | Denver |
| 2021 | UMass |
| 2020 | Canceled |
| 2019 | Minnesota Duluth |
| 2018 | Minnesota Duluth |
| 2017 | Denver |
| 2016 | North Dakota |
| 2015 | Providence |
| 2014 | Union (N.Y.) |
At each site, four teams will compete in single-elimination Regional Semifinal competition. The two winning teams will then compete against each other in single-elimination Regional Final competition at the same site. The winning team from each of the four Regionals will advance to the Men's Frozen Four in St. The 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Championship will be held at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO. The National Semifinals will be held on April 10, 2025.
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Frozen Four Bracket Schedule
Here's a full breakdown of the schedule for the Frozen Four, including first-round game information:
Manchester
- No. 1 Boston College (1) vs. Bentley
- Providence vs. ET | ESPNU
Fargo
- 1 Western Michigan (4) vs. ET | ESPNU
- Minnesota vs. UMass
Allentown
- No. 1 Maine (3) vs. Penn State
- UConn vs. ET | ESPNU
Toledo
- Boston University vs. Ohio State
- No. 1 Michigan State (2) vs. ET | ESPN+