List of NCAA Division II men's ice hockey seasons

Schism

In 1964, after three years of existence, the 29-team conference ECAC Hockey was split in two. This was done partly due to its ponderous size but also because many of the programs in the conference were competing with differing levels of investment. The conference was divided between teams that, in essence, had indoor, artificial-ice arenas and those that didn't. A special provision was made for a few programs but by and large the 14 teams that were placed in ECAC 2 either couldn't or wouldn't fund their programs to a level where they could compete with the upper-echelon programs. The split resulted in the first official delineation of divisions in college ice hockey.

At the start there was no NCAA-sponsored tournament. Between the two extant conferences (ECAC 2 and MIAC) only ECAC 2 played a conference tournament, making the ECAC champion a de facto College Division champion (the MIAC would not hold a conference tournamkent until 1986).[1]

No. Season Finish De Facto Champion
(number)		 Champion
Record
11964–65-None-
21965–66March 12Colby[a 1]13–12–1
31966–67March 11Merrimack13–9–0
41967–68March 9Merrimack (2)18–8–0
51968–69March 8American International15–8–0
61969–70March 14Vermont16–8–0
71970–71March 13Bowdoin19–4–1
  1. Boston State, an independent program, finished their season with a 20–0 record. They are sometimes credited as the College Division champion for 1966.

Second Schism

Less than a decade after splitting from ECAC Hockey, ECAC 2 had swollen to more than 30 teams and a further, lower division was made (ECAC 3). ECAC 3 began its conference tournament immediately, however, as they were lower-tier than their parent conference, the ECAC 2 champion was still the de facto College Division champion.

In 1973 the NCAA reclassified its sporting divisions numerically. The first official Division II season was 1973–74 yet no second-tier national championship was held until 1978.

No. Season Finish De Facto Champion
(number)		 Champion
Record
81971–72March 11Massachusetts19–7–0
91972–73March 10Vermont (2)24–7–0
101973–74March 9Vermont (3)28–5–0
111974–75March 8Bowdoin (2)14–9–0
121975–76March 6Bowdoin (3)18–9–0
131976–77March 16Merrimack (3)23–11–1

    Tournament Play Begins

    The NCAA began holding a lower-tier national tournament in 1978. While most of the teams that played as Division II ice hockey programs actually belonged to schools who were classified as Division III, due to the relatively small number of programs the NCAA did not require the teams to be D-II.

    The NAIA had been holding an ice hockey tournament since 1968 which was used mostly by western schools. With the advent of the NCAA tournament many western programs began to gravitate back to the NCAA and eventually caused the discontinuation of the NAIA Championship.

    In 1983 the NCAA created a championship for the Division III level and began requiring that teams participate only in the championships at their level. Due to the low numbers of teams at the Division II level, the D-II tournament survived for only one more season before being discontinued.

    No. Season Tournament Start Finish NCAA Champion
    (number)    		 Champion
    Conference    		 Champion
    Record    		 Championship Site
    141977–781978March 18MerrimackECAC 2(21–9–2)Springfield, Massachusetts
    151978–791979March 17LowellECAC 2(27–6–0)North Andover, Massachusetts
    161979–801980March 15Mankato StateIndependent(30–9–1)Elmira, New York
    171980–811981March 14Lowell (2)ECAC 2(27–5–0)North Andover, Massachusetts
    181981–821982March 20Lowell (3)ECAC 2(31–4–0)North Billerica, Massachusetts
    191982–831983March 19RITECAC 2(23–9–0)North Billerica, Massachusetts
    201983–841984March 18Bemidji StateNCHA(31–0–0)Bemidji, Minnesota

      Tournament Returns

      The NCAA agreed to restart the NCAA tournament due to increased interest from Division II programs. With no D-II conferences, the selection committee was left with only the overall records of teams to use when deciding the participants. Bemidji State participated in 6 of the first 7 championships, winning 4, but by 1998 most of the teams at the Division II level had left to join the top division, leaving the second tier with just a handful of programs and the tournament was, once again, discontinued.

      No. Season Tournament Start Finish NCAA Champion
      (number)      		 Champion
      Conference      		 Champion
      Record      		 Championship Site
      211992–931993March 20Bemidji State (2)NCHA(24–7–0)Bemidji, Minnesota
      221993–941994March 12Bemidji State (3)NCHA(22–10–3)Huntsville, Alabama
      231994–951995March 18Bemidji State (4)NCHA(25–7–2)Erie, Pennsylvania
      241995–961996March 9Alabama–HuntsvilleIndependent(26–0–3)Huntsville, Alabama
      251996–971997March 15Bemidji State (5)NCHA(25–7–2)Bemidji, Minnesota
      261997–981998March 14Alabama–Huntsville (2)Independent(24–3–3)Huntsville, Alabama
      271998–991999March 13Saint Michael'sECAC Northeast(16–10–2)Colchester, Vermont

        Northeast 10

        After the NCAA Division II tournament was discontinued in 1999, the few remaining D-II programs were barred from participating in conference tournaments in order for those conferences to retain automatic qualifiers. As a result, the eastern teams began holding a separate cross-conference tournament. This arrangement continued until the teams formally created the ice hockey division of the Northeast 10 in 2009. Because there were no Division II teams outside the conference there was no need for the NCAA to resurrect the National Championship leaving the tournament champion as the de facto Division II champion.

        No. Season Start Finish De Facto Champion
        (number)        		 Champion
        Record
        282009–10November 3March 6Saint Anselm(15–11–1)
        292010–11October 29March 5Saint Anselm (2)(13–11–2)
        302011–12October 22March 3Saint Anselm (3)(14–8–5)
        312012–13October 26March 2Saint Anselm (4)(16–8–3)
        322013–14November 1March 1Southern New Hampshire(17–8–1)
        332014–15October 31February 28Saint Anselm (5)(11–13–3)
        342015–16October 23February 27Stonehill(13–9–4)
        352016–17October 28February 25Saint Anselm (6)(12–12–2)
        362017–18October 27March 3Saint Anselm (7)(17–9–1)
        372018–19October 26March 2Southern New Hampshire (2)(16–13–2)
        382019–20November 1March 7Stonehill (2)(13–11–5)

          Conference Timeline
          Northeast-10 ConferenceNorthern Collegiate Hockey AssociationNew York Collegiate Hockey AssociationWorcester Collegiate Hockey LeagueMinnesota Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceECAC 2NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
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          gollark: How bad.
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          gollark: We have no SLA and some backups.

          See also
          • List of NCAA Division II men's ice hockey champions

          References
          1. "MIAC Men's Hockey Recordbook". MIAC. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
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